TY - JOUR

T1 - A central Asian helmet from the Northern Kazakhstan Regional Museum

AU - Bobrov, L. A.

AU - Ismailov, D. M.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/1/1

Y1 - 2019/1/1

N2 - We describe a richly decorated iron helmet owned by the Northern Kazakhstan Regional Museum in Petropavlovsk. It consists of a low solid hemispherical crown, a slightly convex plate, made of copper alloy, with an opening for a (missing) tube in which the plume was inserted, a wide iron hoop, and a bipartite visor of the box type. The two last-named elements are covered with Arabic inscriptions inlaid in gold. Those on the hoop are verses from the Quran 2, 255-257, Al-Baqarah-The Cow. That on the "shield" of the visor is a prayer for protection, known as the "message of peace " read before a long journey or a difficult and dangerous enterprise, such as a battle. Such helmets were common in Central Asia between the late 16th and the mid-18th centuries. This specimen was likely manufactured in Mawarannahr, Xinjiang, or some town on the Syr Darya, for a high-ranking Uzbek, Uyghur, or Kazakh warrior. This accounts for the combination of a solid crown and a hoop with Arabic inscriptions with a box-type visor typical of helmets worn by Mongolian and Turkic nomads during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age. The closest parallels are found in the museums of Kazakhstan. Judging by the traces of repair and reconstruction, this helmet was used for a long time.

AB - We describe a richly decorated iron helmet owned by the Northern Kazakhstan Regional Museum in Petropavlovsk. It consists of a low solid hemispherical crown, a slightly convex plate, made of copper alloy, with an opening for a (missing) tube in which the plume was inserted, a wide iron hoop, and a bipartite visor of the box type. The two last-named elements are covered with Arabic inscriptions inlaid in gold. Those on the hoop are verses from the Quran 2, 255-257, Al-Baqarah-The Cow. That on the "shield" of the visor is a prayer for protection, known as the "message of peace " read before a long journey or a difficult and dangerous enterprise, such as a battle. Such helmets were common in Central Asia between the late 16th and the mid-18th centuries. This specimen was likely manufactured in Mawarannahr, Xinjiang, or some town on the Syr Darya, for a high-ranking Uzbek, Uyghur, or Kazakh warrior. This accounts for the combination of a solid crown and a hoop with Arabic inscriptions with a box-type visor typical of helmets worn by Mongolian and Turkic nomads during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age. The closest parallels are found in the museums of Kazakhstan. Judging by the traces of repair and reconstruction, this helmet was used for a long time.

KW - Armor

KW - Central Asia

KW - Helmet

KW - Kazakhstan

KW - Mawarannahr

KW - helmet

KW - Mawarannahr armor

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068870251&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=41618138

U2 - 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.113-118

DO - 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.113-118

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068870251

VL - 47

SP - 113

EP - 118

JO - Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia

JF - Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia

SN - 1563-0110

IS - 1

M1 - 10

ER -