<< Our Photo Pages >> Karakol Park - Sculptured Stone in Kyrgyzstan
Submitted by h_fenton on Sunday, 14 August 2022 Page Views: 9207
Multi-periodSite Name: Karakol ParkCountry: Kyrgyzstan
NOTE: This site is 73.722 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Karakol
Latitude: 42.491690N Longitude: 78.399514E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Stone Sculptures known as Balbal, Bal-bals, Kurgan Stelae, Kurgan Obelisk, Tums, Tuhms, Tuhmy were used as burial markers and through Eastern Europe to Central Asia. The Earliest Examples date from around 4000 BCE. In Kyrgyzstan, balbals mostly date from the 6th-10th century CE with a few examples from 10th-12th century CE. In Kyrgyzstan these bal-bals are associated with Turkic groups who moved into the area from the 6th century CE, the decline of the use of bal-bals coincides with the spread of Islam into this area.
Bal-bals vary from being just heads to having a body that end at the waist with enough space to show a sword. Their size ranges from 30cm to over 2metres tall. The carving may be done in relief or as basic lines etched into the stone (which may also be polished). In some case it is just a natural stone that has been selected for its shape and had a little carving done to create the balbal; in other cases the balbals extensively shaped and carved do you cannot tell the shape of the stone it came from. In some rare instances the back of the balbal is also carved.
In Kyrgyzstan the stone used for balbals this is often granite although limestone was also used. The carved features show faces with strong mongoloid features with either a moustache or a beard. Head dresses may also be shown, the chin is well defined and the neck is represented this maybe accompanied by shoulders. Usually the lower at least the lower arms are shown with the hands carved in good detail. The right hand is usually slightly raised and holds stemmed drinking cup (chalice) or a bowl. The left hand clutches the hilt of a sword that goes through a belt. Sometimes there is a dagger on the belt on the right side of the figure.
There are two interpretations of what these balbals represent:
1.Carved representation of the buried individual.
2.Carved representation of enemy's killed in battle.
The second interpretation is considered to be the most likely correct as multiple balbals are sometimes found in association with single burials.
In Kyrgyzstan, most balbals that you will see are in towns either at museums or in public parks and so are no longer in their original positions. This means that they are easy to see but then they are easy to vandalise and there may be no information about where they are from, another consequence of this is that the original burial sites are often lost since their markers have been removed.
In other countries stones similar to balbals are found with a much wider and often earlier date range.
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