Abstract
The article is devoted to the publication, interpretation and dating of a small stone plate bearing a depiction of bird, discovered during emergency excavations by the archaeological expedition of Gorno-Altaisk State University at the medieval settlement of Kupchegen-1 in Central Altai. Work on the site has been underway since 2020, and so far, this is the only fi nd related to the fi ne arts. The context of discovery of the plate in the settlement indirectly indicates its connection with the main cultural layer of the site dating back to the Middle Ages. The miniature fi gure is engraved onto a fragment of a small plate, which was probably originally used as an abrasive. Ornithologists attributed the depicted bird to the order Anseriformes, most likely its belonging to the Anas genus. It is noted that the images of birds in petroglyphs are not so common in comparison with other animals. Figures of ducks were used to decorate the nonferrous small-form toreutics of the Sayan-Altai and adjacent territories at the end of the 1st – the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. Apparently, the image was borrowed from Chinese samples, but it got accustomed well here, taking into account the signifi cance of geese and ducks in the worldview of the local population. Ethnographic sources report that in the Altai cosmogonic myths the goose acts as a bird-demiurge and is closely associated with the supreme deities, and also appears in shamanic mysteries as an assistant to the shaman. Ducks participate in the heroic epic in various plots, usually related to the transfer of information, including marriage scenes. Dating of the image of a duck is established within the last centuries of the 1st – the first centuries of the 2nd millennium AD, and the tile belongs to the main cultural layer of the Middle Ages at the Kupchegen-1 site.
Keywords
Altai, archeology, image of a duck, petroglyphs, engravings, ornithomorphic images, Middle Ages, Kupchegen-1 settlement
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