Sayano-Altai Epigraphic Mission, IOS RAS

Epigraphic mission of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Southern Siberia (in Tuva, Khakassia, Kyrgyzstan, Eastern Kazakhstan) during the 2011 field season.

Head: Head of the Department of Oriental History, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, prof. D.D. Vasiliev

RF, South Siberia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republic of Khakassia and Tuva

52 days in July-August 2011

A group of five people conducted a comprehensive survey and research in July-August 2011 of the monuments of the Turkic runic writing in Tuva, Khakassia, Kyrgyzstan, East Kazakhstan. Head of the Epigraphic Expedition of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Southern Siberia - D.D. Vasiliev, expedition research associates Ph.D. A.D. Vasiliev, S.A.Mart-ool - all of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the participation of Dr.V.Ya.Butanaeva (Khakassky State University named after N.F.Katanov), local historian, researcher of rock art N.I.Rybakov (Krasnoyarsk).

The purpose of the mission's work was to: search for new epigraphic monuments of the ancient Turkic time, digital copying of previously unpublished monuments of Turkic runic writing in the Sayano-Yenisei region, collecting archival information in local history museums on the history of studying monuments, participation in regional scientific conferences. As a result of the field studies, four Turkic runic inscriptions were recorded and examined for the first time. In addition, digital copies of 18 monuments of the Turkic runic writing, located on the sites of the original construction of monuments, were made. As a result, it was possible to work with high-quality copies of the texts of the monuments, which made it possible to make textual clarifications, to reveal features of the graphics and, in some cases, to fill the lacunae existing in previous editions of the monuments.

Digital copies of several rock inscriptions were made in the mountain-steppe regions of Khakassia and Tuva. During the field surveys, new finds were made and unpublished inscriptions were found, which were also copied, deciphered, commented on the content and were put into print. New discoveries published in the Epigraphic of the East Yearbook, Vol. 29, M., Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2011. Surveys were conducted along a route that coincides with the path made by the expedition of D.G. Messerschmidt and I. Stratenberg in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the abandoned and overgrown Petrine Wheel Road existed. When examining the basin. Kizilki in the north of Khakassia in the mouth of the Kandeevsky log on the slabs of the Tagar type barrow were found finely scratched runic inscriptions.