Metal Signet Rings from Yakut Burials of the 18th - 19th centuries

Metal signet rings are a very attractive category of finds in the archaeological sites of the Yakuts of the XIV -XIX centuries, but at the same time there are practically no resumptive works on them. The purpose of the article is to study the origin and iconography of the Yakut signet rings based on their historical and comparative analysis with small forms of toreutics, mainly belt ornaments of Eurasian nomads of the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. The sources were the materials of the archaeological excavations of Yakut burials of the XVIII - XIX centuries, made in the regions of Central Yakutia. On the plates of most of signet rings from the Yakut burials the initials of the owners were engraved in Russian letters. That was the main reason for the formation of the opinion in scientific literature that Yakut signet rings appeared under the influence of Russian culture. However, in private and museum collections there are signet rings with runic signs of Orkhon-Yenisei script. Moreover, in the first layer of the settlement Kerdyugen, dating back to the XIV century, a bronze signet ring with the image of a lion and a unicorn was found. This image is also found on the front metal plates of Yakut parade saddles of the 19th century, matched by decor with ornamented overlays on the bows of the Kudyrginsky saddles. According to the researchers, the images of heraldic style reflect the ancient Turkic early medieval tradition, inherited in its turn from the neighboring civilizations - Sassanian Iran and China. The artistic and decorative design of the Yakut signet rings, along with the traditional floral ornament, contains the elements of the so-called steppe omamentalism: the motifs of “crown”, “flaming pearls”, “tied palmetta” and “fig flower”. The most extensive analogies of them are found in the decoration of the belt and harness sets in the Khoitsegorsk cemetery in Western Transbaikalia and cultural monuments of the Yenisei Kyrgyz in Central Tuva and the Kuznetsk Basin of Altai. The motives under consideration, although present in the engraving of Yakut silver products, including band patches, are still beyond the attention of specialists. Indeed, a German anthropologist U. Johansen once noted that the individual motifs of Yakut ornament show similar features with the elements of the fine arts of Asia Minor cultures. The presence of ornamental motifs of religious content in the art of the Yakuts is accompanied by the presence of a number of elements of Manichaean mythology and early Buddhism in their worldview and beliefs, apparently received from the medieval population of Pribaikalye or the Yenisei Kyrgyz. It is noteworthy that in the engraving of single silver products of the Yakuts Manichaean symbols are fixed. The article suggests that signet rings in a jewelry set of the Yakuts, along with earrings in the form of a “question mark”, neck hryvnias with loop-like folds, could be the heritage of the medieval Kypchaks culture, and the elements of their iconography - toreutics of Yenisei Kyrgyz. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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