Dagger with the zoomorphic decor of the sak time from the Central Kazakhstan

The iron dagger with a zoomophic decor was found near the Temirshi mountain in Central Kazakhstan. The object was found by shepherds in 1978 and subsequently transferred to the regional museum of Karaganda. During the repeated investigation of the dagger’s location in 2011, no barrows were revealed in this district. The area of the Temirshi mountain, what is translated from the Kazakh language as "artisan of iron (smith)", is rich with barrows of the early Iron Age. In 2010-2012 the author discovered over 20 burial grounds and single barrows there. The topping of the dagger from Temirshi is decorated in the form of two sculptural heads of the eagle griffins which are turned to each other. The length of the dagger is 26 cm. The analysis of the available data shows that analogies to daggers with vulture heads are traced in the East, the main areas being regions of the Minusinsk Hollow and Kazakhstan where stylistic similarity of zoomorphic images is traced. Typologically similar products are known in the barrow Issyk (Zhetysu, Kazakhstan) and among Central Asian findings. The majority of such daggers has a butterfly crossline. In the western regions of the Scythian-Sak world the griffin images differ ichnographically and stylistically. On the basis of stylistic parallels and typologically close categories of objects in the territory of the Southern Ural area, Kazakhstan, Sayan-Altai, Northern China the direction of cultural ties is tracked and the range of stylistically close monuments from the VI - V centuries BC is revealed. As for the images of eagle griffins, the roots of such art traditions lie in the art of the Sak and Altai tribes of the Scythian time. Probably, the closest analogy to a dagger from the Central Kazakhstan is presented by an iron dagger from the burial ground Rogozikha-1 on the left bank of the Ob in the Altai territory. The heads of mythical eagles from Southern Siberia and Kazakhstan differ by their uniformity: they have no cops, manes, crests, their beak is bent, but not in the form of a spiral and etc. In the early pazyryk time in Altai and the adjacent territories of the Southern Ural area there was a special form of the mythical eagle’s head, placed only on toppings and dagger cross lines and combining Western and Eastern features. Relying on the provided short review of analogies to the dagger found in the mountain with the symbolical name Temirshi, it is possible to assume that it dates back to the VI - 1st half of the V century BC. In the ancient time the decor of such object of armory as a dagger duplicated its properties and mission. The combination of the images of a bird of prey or an eagle griffin with the hoofed animal in the decor of the subject is a well-known technique revealed in the monuments of the early Sak time (Zhalauly, Shilikty, Taldy-2). The scene of a torment of a hoofed animal by a predator or a mythical syncretic being is common for the art of ancient nomads. It had various forms of expression, including the form of combination in the decor of an object of predator images (bird of prey) and stylized hoofed animals.

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