The Era of "Kyrgyz Great Power"

The Flourishing of Medieval Kyrgyz Culture

The era of "Kyrgyz Great Power" became a time of the greatest spread and flourishing of medieval Kyrgyz culture. The monuments of their culture - burial mounds with rounded and ring-shaped stone embankments, next to which stone steles with clan tamga signs and runic inscriptions-epitaphs are installed, under which the cremated remains of the deceased are buried in shallow pits and at the horizon - are widespread in the territory of the Minusinsk Basin and the Mountain Altai. There are particularly many such burial mounds in Tuva.

Individual Kyrgyz burials have been discovered in the territory of Central Siberia, Mongolia, Eastern Transbaikalia, and Upper Priirtyshye. Monuments of Kyrgyz rock art and writing have been recorded in the Middle and Upper Yenisei and in Mongolia. Items of Kyrgyz culture have been found throughout Central Asia.

During this era, the development of weaponry reached a significant level in the Kyrgyz state, with an increase in the species and typological diversity of weapons. Armored horsemen were protected by conical helmets, lamellar armor, supplemented by additional shields, arm guards, and greaves, as well as shields.

Battle horses were also protected by armor. In ranged combat, Kyrgyz warriors shot arrows from composite bows, with a quiver containing a wide range of non-armored and armored arrows. Kyrgyz warriors possessed a diverse set of close combat weapons, universal and armor-piercing spears, sabers and sabers, and battle axes (Khudyakov, 20036. pp. 109-111).

The artistic processing of metal, including the ornamentation of torques, reached a very high level in Kyrgyz culture. Characteristic items included belt and harness buckles, plates, fittings, and casings, decorated with floral patterns, images of birds, fish, animals, and religious symbols.

In the early 10th century, in the Pre-Tian Shan region, the eastern and central areas of Mongolia were invaded by the armies of the Khitan Liao Empire. During these campaigns, they no longer encountered the Kyrgyz in the Mongolian steppes. As a result of these campaigns, Mongolic-speaking nomadic tribes began to settle in the steppe regions of Central Asia. In the subsequent period, Mongolian nomads advanced westward to the Mongolian Altai. This led to the isolation of the Kyrgyz living in the mountainous regions of Sayan-Altai and those who settled in the eastern areas of Pre-Tian Shan. From this time on, the ethnocultural development of the Yenisei and Tian Shan Kyrgyz continued completely independently.

The Kyrgyz Kaganate: The Leading Nomadic State in Central Asia in the Mid-IX to the First Quarter of the X Century