Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
A Mongolian Age Iron Shield from the Khakass-Minusinsk Region
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.067-076
Abstract
We describe a partially preserved iron shield discovered in the Uybat steppe, Republic of Khakassia, in 2019. Measuring 65 cm in diameter and weighing over 4 kg, it is fl at, rounded, and riveted from 14 identical segmentshaped iron plates. The edge is decorated with a pattern of fi ne serrations. In the central part, the plates are joined by a two-piece boss with a narrow belt-clip located on the inside of the shield. The perimeter of the boss on the front side is decorated with rectangular cutouts and openwork crescents with protrusions. Graphic reconstructions of the outer and inner surfaces of the shield are presented. Variants of its use in combat and marching positions are discussed. The shield was made at one of the Near Eastern workshops. An exact parallel is an iron shield excavated from a medieval settlement of Beshtam-Kala on the Zhana-Darya River, the Aral region, which had been destroyed during the Mongol conquest of northeastern Khorezm in the early 1200s. We propose that the Uybat specimen was used during the feud between Genghis Khan’s ancestors, in which peoples of the Altai-Sayan belonging to the Great Khan’s ulus were embroiled. Its owner could have been a Kyrgyz or Mongolian warrior fi ghting in Tutuha’s army, which in 1293 conquered all the “Five Tribes” of the Yenisei Kyrgyz. The fi nd evidences political and socio-economic ties between major regions of Central Asia and southern Siberia during the High Middle Ages.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: This study was carried out under the research state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under Project No. FSUS-2025-0009 “Specifi c Aspects of Formation of Intercultural Communications in Siberia—from the Stone Age to the Early Modern Age (According to Archaeological and Written Sources)” (O.A. Mitko).
About the Authors
A. I. Poselyanin
Katanov Khakass State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Poselyanin A.I., Associate Professor, Head of the Museum for History, Archaeology and Ethnology, Institute of History and Law
Pr. Lenina 90, Abakan, 655000
O. A. Mitko
Novosibirsk State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Mitko O.A., Associate Professor
Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090
References
1. Alekhin Y.P. 1998 Miroviye religii i mirovozzreniye narodov Yuzhnoy Sibiri v VIII–X vv. (po materialam Rudnogo Altaya). In Sibir v panorame tysyacheletiy, vol. 1. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 12–20.
2. Aleksinsky D.P. 2013 Antichnoye vooruzheniye v sobranii Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha. St. Petersburg: Izd. Gos. Ermitazha. 120 p.
3. Borisenko A.Y., Hudiakov Y.S. 2008 Representations of warriors on Early Medieval Turkic bronze plaques from Eastern Central Asia. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 4: 43–53. (In Russian and English).
4. Butanaev V.Y., Butanaeva I.I. 2010 My rodom iz Khongoraya. Khakasskie mify, legendy i predaniya. Abakan: Zhurnalist. 240 p.
5. Devlet M.A. 2008 Shchity i ikh izobrazheniya na olennykh kamnyakh. In Problemy sovremennoy arkheologii: Sbornik pamyati V.A. Bashilova. Moscow: Taus, pp. 96–124.
6. Evtyukhova L.A. 1948 Arkheologicheskiye pamyatniki yeniseiskikh kyrgyzov (khakasov). Abakan: Sov. Khakasiya. 111 p.
7. Gerodot. 1972 Istoriya v devyati knigakh. Leningrad: Nauka. 600 p.
8. Gorbunov V.V. 2003 Voyennoye delo naseleniya Altaya v III–XIV vv. Pt. 1: Oboronitelnoye vooruzheniye (dospekh). Barnaul: Izd. Alt. Gos. Univ. 174 p.
9. Gorelik M.V. 1987a Ranniy mongolskiy dospekh (IX – pervaya polovina XIV v.). In Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Mongolii. Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 163–208.
10. Gorelik M.V. 1987b Sakskiy dospekh. In Tsentralnaya Aziya. Noviye pamyatniki pismennosti i iskusstva. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 110–133.
11. Gryaznov M.P. 1979 Tashtykskaya kultura. In Kompleks arkheologicheskikh pamyatnikov u gory Tepsei na Yenisee. Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 89–146.
12. Hudiakov Y.S. 1976 Voyennoye iskusstvo yeniseiskikh kyrgyzov. In Yuzhnaya Sibir v skifo-sarmatskuyu epokhu. Kemerovo: Izd. Kemer. Gos. Univ, pp. 98–105.
13. Hudiakov Y.S. 1980 Vooruzheniye yeniseiskikh kyrgyzov VI–XII vv. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 176 p.
14. Illustrations of Timurids in the Zafarnama of Sultan Husayn or “Garrett Zafarnama”. (s.a.) URL: https://warfare.6te.net/Persia/Timurid/Timurid-Garrett_Zafarnama-Johns_Hopkins-11-12.htm (Accessed December 7, 2025).
15. Kisel V.A. 2024 Pazyrykskiye shchity: Voyna i magiya. Camera praehistorica, No. 1: 132–145.
16. Kocheev V.A. 1998 K voprosu o zashchitnom vooruzhenii drevnikh kochevnikov Gornogo Altaya v skifskoye vremya. In Drevnosti Altaya. Gorno-Altaisk: Izd. Gorno-Alt. Gos. Univ., pp. 83–88. (Izvestiya lab. arkheologii; No. 3).
17. Korol G.G. 2008 Iskusstvo srednevekovykh kochevnikov Yevrazii. Ocherki. Moscow, Kemerovo: Kuzbassvuzizdat. 332 p.
18. Kubarev V.D. 1987 Kurgany Ulandryka. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 302 p.
19. Kungurova N.Y., Oborin Y.V. 2013 A hoard found on the Uibat River, Minusinsk Basin. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 2: 126–136.
20. Kyuner N.V. 1961 Kitaiskiye izvestiya o narodakh Yuzhnoy Sibiri, Tsentralnoy Azii i Dalnego Vostoka. Moscow: Izd. vost. lit. 391 p.
21. Levashova V.P. 1939 Iz dalekogo proshlogo yuzhnoy chasti Krasnoyarskogo kraya. Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyar. krayev. gos. izd. 68 p.
22. Mitko O.A. 2025 “Etot dolgiy devyatiy vek”: Yeniseiskiye kyrgyzy v Usinskoy kotlovine. Povolzhskaya arkheologiya, No. 2 (52): 109–119.
23. Mitko O.A., Poselyanin A.I., Davydov R.V., Polovnikov I.S., Petrenko A.L. 2023 Otsenka funktsionalnoy effektivnosti trekhlopastnykh nakonechnikov strel (po rezultatam eksperimentov). In “Poyushchiye strely Maodunya”: Khunnu ot neizvestnosti do imperii: Materialy Mezhdunar. nauch. konf., posvyashch. 75-letiyu Sergeya Stepanovicha Minyaeva (1948–2020). St. Petersburg: IIMK RAN, pp. 143–146.
24. Mogilnikov V.A. 1981a Kimaki. In Arkheologiya SSSR. Stepi Yevrazii v epokhu srednevekovya. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 43–45.
25. Mogilnikov V.A. 1981b Srostkinskaya kultura. In Arkheologiya SSSR. Stepi Yevrazii v epokhu srednevekoviya. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 45–46.
26. Molodin V.I., Garkusha Y.N., Moroz M.V. 2012 Katalog predmetov iz kurgana No. 1 mogilnika pazyrykskoy kultury Olon-Kurin-Gol-10. In Zamerzshiye pogrebalniye kompleksy pazyrykskoy kultury na yuzhnykh sklonakh Sailyugema (Mongolskiy Altai). Moscow: Triumf print, pp. 188–204.
27. Molodin V.I., Parzinger H., Tseveendorj D. 2012 Zamerzshiye pogrebalniye kompleksy pazyrykskoy kultury na yuzhnykh sklonakh Sailyugema (Mongolskiy Altai). Moscow: Triumf print. 566 p.
28. Mylnikov V.P. 2012 Obrabotka dereva v skifskoye vremya na Mongolskom Altaye. In Zamerzshiye pogrebalniye kompleksy pazyrykskoy kultury na yuzhnykh sklonakh Sailyugema (Mongolskiy Altai). Moscow: Triumf print, pp. 409–489.
29. Natif M. 2002 “The Zafarnama [Book of Conquest] of Sultan Husayn Mirza”. In Insights and Interpretations. Studies in Celebration of the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art, C. Hourihane (ed.). Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, pp. 211–228.
30. Novgorodova E.A. 1989 Drevnyaya Mongoliya. (Nekotoriye problemy khronologii i etnokulturnoy istorii). Moscow: Nauka. 384 p.
31. Orlov Y.S. 1968 Mogilnik v padi Syraya Sosnovaya. In Arkheologicheskie otkrytiya 1967 goda. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 184–185.
32. Ovchinnikova B.B. 1981 K voprosu o vooruzhenii kochevnikov srednevekovoy Tuvy (po materialam raskopok mogilnika Aimyrlyg). In Voyennoye delo drevnikh plemen Sibiri i Tsentralnoy Azii. Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 132–146.
33. Ovchinnikova B.B. 1982 Pogrebeniye drevnetyurkskogo voina v Tsentralnoy Tuve. Sovetskaya arkheologiya, No. 2: 210–218.
34. Ovchinnikova B.B. 2013 Pogrebalno-pominalniy kompleks drevnikh tyurok na mogilnike Dag-Arazy. In Drevniye tyurki v Tsentralnoy Tuve (po materialam rabot Sayano-Tuvinskoy ekspeditsii). St. Petersburg: ElekSis, pp. 139–172.
35. Petrenko A.L., Minor L.V. 2020 K voprosu o tashtykskikh shchitakh, izobrazhennykh na tepseiskikh plankakh. Vestnik Khakasskogo gosudarst- vennogo universiteta, No. 2: 20–29.
36. Polosmak N.V. 1992 Derevyanniye shchity iz pazyrykskikh kurganov. In Problemy sokhraneniya, ispolzovaniya i izucheniya pamyatnikov arkheologii. Gorno-Altaisk: Gorno-Alt. Gos. Ped. Inst., pp. 58–59.
37. Poselyanin A.I., Lesnikova O.A. 2015 Noviye danniye o planigrafii pamyatnika Uibatskiy chaatas. In Sbornik materialov Chetvertykh mezhregion. krayeved. Chteniy, posvyashch. Leonidu Romanovichu Kyzlasovu. Abakan: Khakas. kn. izd., pp. 158–165.
38. Puteshestviya v vostochniye strany Plano Karpinii Rubruka. 1957 Moscow: Gos. izd. geogr. lit. 272 p.
39. Raspopova V.I. 1973 Shchit s gory Mug. KSIA. Iss. 136: Arkheologiya Sredney Azii, Sibiri i Povolzhiya: 124–129.
40. Tarakanov V.V. 2025 Keramika razvitogo i pozdnego Srednevekovya Khakassko-Minusinskogo kraya. In Trudy VII (XXIII) Vseros. arkheol. syezda: In 3 vols., vol. II. Krasnoyarsk: Sib. Feder. Univ., pp. 464–467.
41. Tishkin (jr) Al.Al. 2025 Forma i ornamentatsiya shchitov drevnikh kochevnikov Vnutrenney Azii (po materialam izobrazheniy na “olennykh” kamnyakh). In Trudy VII (XXIII) Vseros. arkheol. syezda: In 3 vols., vol. II. Krasnoyarsk: Sib. Feder. Univ., pp. 467–470.
42. Tolstov S.P. 1962 Po drevnim deltam Oksa i Yaksarta. Moscow: Izd. vost. lit. 324 p.
Review
For citations:
Poselyanin A.I., Mitko O.A. A Mongolian Age Iron Shield from the Khakass-Minusinsk Region. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2026;54(3):67-76. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.067-076
Views:
35
JATS XML
Email this article 