25.ULUSLARARASI ORTAÇAĞ VE TÜRK DÖNEMİ KAZILARI VE SANAT TARİHİ ARAŞTIRMALARI
KİPCHAK-CUMAN STATUES THAT BELONG TO THE TURKISH STONE STATUE TRADİTİON
Yayıncı:
Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Yayınları
The ancestors of the Turks (Proto-Turks) and the Turks have a tradition of erecting of obelisk and stone statues, whose origin goes back to the menhirs.It is understood that this is a tradition had passed through the Neolithic period and developed.It is possible to put the stone statue in Göbekli Tepe /Turkey at the beginning of the Neolithic period. Common or parallel beliefs that emerged over time, formed the tradition of erecting obelisk and stone statues, depending on the ancestral cult. In this respect, we may come across with other statues with similar characteristics in Anatolia. For example, a Phrygian statue found in the museum in Polatlı, Ankara could possibly be included in the same iconography. Examples that are in the literature as Hakkari Stones are also included in this group. Two stone statue in the style of Göktürk Stone Fathers found in Erzurum is already a Turkish (possibly Kipchak or Oguz) statue. The beginning of the tradition of Turkish stone statues can be considered as Okunyev Culture. The Obelisks (stels) and statues, which were continued to be erected with regional differences in the period from Andronovo to the Tagar and Tastik cultures which are the later Inner Asian cultures, reached to the Göktürk era by being shaped according to the ancestral beliefs of those times in the Scythian-Hun periods. These ancestor statues, which increased in number during the Göktürk period, spread to almost all of Inner Asia and Central Asia in parallel with the expansion of the State’s borders. The statues probably turn into tombstones representing humans to a large extent during the Turkish-Islamic period. In regions where non-muslim Turks are concentrated, stone statue continues in accordance with its classical shape and meanings. In this regard, striking examples are encountered in the north of the Black Sea, in Crimea and Ukraine.These statues, which we have examined on some samples before and accepted as belonging to Kipchak-Cumans, are generally linked to Turkish stone statues iconography with their location, meanings, forms and features.However, here, as in every region and period, we encounter a different expression and style stemming from the distinctive lives of Turkish communities and regional differences. Although most of the statues are in museums today, they were located in places that could be called ancestral tombs, ancestral authorities or ancestral temples, or on kurgans (sometimes on the road), similar to those in earlier Turkish times. Stone statues, as seen in ancient times, are shown as men and women, sometimes with details of their dress, and with certain postures and ways of holding, as well as holding various pots and objects in their hands.