25.ULUSLARARASI ORTAÇAĞ VE TÜRK DÖNEMİ KAZILARI VE SANAT TARİHİ ARAŞTIRMALARI
COMB OF THE AVARS AND THE ANCIENT TURKS ACCORDING TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS (6TH-8TH CENTURIES AD)
Yayıncı:
Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Yayınları
The hygiene and beauty habits of the Eurasian steppes have never been a research topic. However, changes in these customs and the objects used for them are important both for cultural history and for the relationship and interaction between different cultures. One of the such hygiene objects is the comb. Among the archaeological finds of the Eurasian steppes, combs made of wood, bone, horn, and sometimes metal are rare finds. Although we can trace it from the Scythian period through the Huns, Avars, Turks, Kipchaks to the Golden Horde, no comprehensive scientific studies have been conducted on this subject so far. In the presentation combs from 6-8. centuries will be examined. During this period, combs are visible only in the Avar-age material of the Carpathian Basin and in the Turkic archaeological finds of the Altai region; but they never occur in the large areas between these two extreme regions of the Eurasian steppes. Among the Avars, combs appear in both female, child and male burials; between combs there are single- and double side types and types consisting of one or more pieces. The double side comb type is of antique-Germanic origin, and the Avars probably took it from the German communities living together in the Carpathian Basin. The one side comb type is one of the objects of Inner Asian archaeological heritage of the Avars. In Turks, the combs are found male and female graves and are similar to the single side type of combs of Avars. It is likely that these male combs were used to maintain plaited hair braids typical of Eurasian nomads which well-known based on contemporary Byzantine sources and especially pictorial representations. In the presentation the combs found in the Avar and Turkic graves, their types and habits of wear will be presented. We will approach the question of their origin with a brief introduction the antecedents of the Scythian and Hun-Sarmatian periods.