Runic Written Monuments in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Since the middle of the XIX century, ancient inscriptions written on silver bowls, bracelets, and bronze mirrors have been found in large numbers on the territory of Kazakhstan from the surface of the earth and archaeological excavations. Currently, the number of such Turkic runic inscriptions is increasing every year. The first Kazakh scientist who found and tried to reveal their meanings was A. Amanzholov. He named such inscriptions found from Kazakhstan, summarizing them by local values as Irtysh, ili, Syrdarya and Ural. The most valuable was the inscription on the silver bowl, found as a result of archaeological excavations from the Issyk mound. Linguists who came from the Academy of Sciences of the former Soviet Union made a categorical conclusion, without presenting any arguments, that the Issyk inscription is in the Iranian language, and cannot be read in the Turkic languages. But Kazakh researchers, not agreeing with this conclusion, began to read this inscription in the ancient Turkic language. Comparing and analyzing these studies, we published our reading in 1993. After that, until 2009, we updated and supplemented our readings three times. One of the Irtysh inscriptions tells about the danger of vodka and wine for human life. And the second tells about the coolness inside the mountain gorge. In the inscriptions found in the Zhetysu area, special attention was paid to hunting. They describe the sensitivity and extreme caution of the mountain goat. The Talgar inscription speaks of yarn and the spinning profession. In one of the aulieatinsky inscriptions, on the seal is written the phrase «my word», and on a large stone about the immensity of the country of the Karakhanids. And the Syrdarya inscription mentions the greatness of the Syrdarya river.