DOI 10.31554/2222-9175-2019-35-10-66-72
SOME NOTES ON THE USE OF THE TAMGA-SIGNS AMONG THE QURÏQAN: IN THE LIGHT OF THE PROBLEM OF A STUDY OF THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE POPULATION OF THE WESTERN BAIKAL REGION IN OLD TURKIC PERIOD)
Tishin V. V.
The article draws attention to the mention in the Chinese source “Táng huì yào” (唐會要) of the absence, at least in the 7th century A. D., of the practice of tamga-sign marking of horses among the Qurïqan (Chinese: Gǔ-lì-gàn, 骨利幹) tribal group, while it was here a customary to make cuts on the face and ears of the animals. This undoubtedly indicates the existence of private-family livestock ownership expected, but makes it possible to speak of the absence of large social associations of the same type, which are fixed among other tribal groups in Inner Asia. Although other sources hint at the existence of several tribal or administrative associations of Qurïqan in different historical periods, this do not allow to assert anything about the character of the intermediate links of social organization between them as its highest taxonomic units and the lower ones, which are families households whose typical character we also know nothing about.
