The collection of medieval arms from the museum "Manas ordo" in the Talas valley (Kyrgyzstan)

Purpose: The article examines the findings of armaments from the military Museum's collection «Manas Ordo» in the Talas Valley in Kyrgyzstan. The items under study were classified into various types of weapons for ranged combat, infighting and melee combat as a result of typological analysis. The Museum's collection includes items from Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia and South Siberia. They can be attributed to various medieval periods on the basis of data from well-documented excavations. Among the exhibits of the weapons collection of the museum we identified items of arms that could be used by Turkic nomads of the Tien Shan. Most of these findings were found on the territory of the medieval fortification Sheldzhi, which is located in the Talas Valley of Kyrgyzstan. Among the items studied we specified various forms of iron arrowheads of three-blade, flat, lens-shaped, flattened-rhombic and square shape in cross-section. Three-blade and flat arrows were used by Talas's soldiers to fire enemies not protected by metal armor. The arrowheads with tetrahedral, flattenedrhombic and lens-shaped shape in cross-section were applied to pierce armor-clad armor. A similar set of arrows was in the inventory of Turkic nomads during the periods of state formations on the territory of the Tien Shan and Semirechye in the Middle Ages. As part of the weapons collection we studied a battle-ax and a dagger, which belonged to the warriors who lived in the Talas Valley in the early centuries of the II millennium A.D. The collection under study gives an idea of different types of weapons among the complex combat weapons belonging to the medieval nomadic population of Kyrgyzstan. Results: The description of the armaments from the Museum's collection «Manas Ordo» is supplemented by drawings. One of them depicted a collection of iron stemmed arrows of the various forms from the collection under study. Among them there were arrows with three-bladed and flat cross-sectional arrowheads, which were designed to destroy enemies lightly. The collection includes arrowheads of rhombic and lens-shaped cross-sectional shape. Among the armor arrows studied there were some tetrahedral in section arrowheads. Thus, medieval warriors of Talas valley had a diverse set of arrows for different purposes. The weapons of melee combat were shown in another drawing. Among these weapons there was a battleaxe with a semicircular blade and low butt. Moreover, in medieval times melee warriors of the Talas valley could strike enemies with iron daggers. One of these daggers with a direct double-edged blade and a short stem was studied as a part of the museum collection. The armory collection analyzed vividly characterizes the complex of weapons which nomads of Talas valley of the Middle Ages had. During this period, a medieval warrior in Central Asia had to face western Khitan and later Mongolian troops on the battlefield. Conclusion: The article considered a set of weapons which included those used for ranged combat, infighting and melee combat. It is especially important for characterizing military affairs of Turkic nomads not only in Kyrgyzstan, but in the entire Central Asian historical and cultural region of the first half of the II millennium A.D. The items from the museum's collection of weapons «Manas Ordo» may be called upon to carry out a comparative analysis of the weapons complexes of adjacent regions.