Syncretism of spiritual culture of city residents of Kazakhstan (illustrated anthropomorphic vessel VIII-XII c.)

In the course of many years of excavations in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan an impressive collection of vessels with anthropomorphic features was collected. The detailed study of these objects, dated VIII-XII centuries, allowed us to connect them with specific religious conceptions. Cult ceramics, being an attribute used in ritual practice, often characterizes religious and cultural life of the population. The article presents the classification of anthropomorphic vessels collected from 26 cities of Semirechye, and southern Kazakhstan. In general, 33 vessels with anthropomorphic features were studied, 8 of them were fragmentarily preserved. We can distinguish types of anthropomorphic pottery according to their motifs and pictorial form. Thus, on vessels with anthropomorphic features with three vertically extending zones are transferred the spatial zones - the sphere of the sky, the earth sphere and the sphere of water. So the first type includes vessels with the clear "upper zone", the second type includes vessels with the "middle zone", and the third - with the "bottom zone." Common stylistic elements and motifs of ornament that are typical of artistic culture of Semirechye and of southern Kazakhstan as a whole were distinguished. Common plant and geometric motifs, create the same storylines as in decorating of the walls of the temples and mosques, as on the vessels, discovered in the premises of these buildings. Common types of ornament on the items under consideration are floral and geometric. It is important for the development of style how a new interpretation of the story change an art form, causing the opposite effect on the art content. For example, one of the motifs of floral ornament is a spiral or a circle which reflects "eternal time" that is cyclical, repeating, and the usual chronological time seemed the same. Rhomboid shapes in the geometric ornament symbolize the earth. Spruce ornament on vessels under consideration denotes a braid, indicating an upward direction and it is the link between the torso - the "ground" and a vessel neck - "sky." On some vessels from the collection in the so called area of the "middle world" images of animals are found. One of the main characteristics that distinguish the vessels from South Kazakhstan from the vessels of the Talas valley, is the absence of images of eyes, nose and ears. The realistic art form, developed under the influence of myth in the early Middle Ages (of Late on metal), under the influence of archaic shamanic cults, has become more conditional and abstract and decorative in paintings of XII-XIII centuries, and then, and especially in decorating utensils of XII- early XIII century, in the entire Middle East. Thus, the analysis of the anthropomorphic pottery gives us an opportunity to identify it as a cult ceramics used in the rituals of the Buddhist, Avesta, Zoroastrian, Islamic religions, cults of fire and animals, based on several features and also supports the syncretic culture of the region.

Keywords

Authors

References