"Half-baidana" of a Kazakh warrior stored in the Karaganda Region Museum of Local History

Purpose. We aim at introducing detailed information on the mail hauberk stored in the Karaganda Region Museum of Local History, Kazakhstan (KRMLH, item № 3574). Results. The hauberk was made of rings of varying diameters (Fig., 3-5 ). Dominating are flattened punched rings, riveted (Fig., 3 ) and welded (Fig., 5 ). They were used for the chest and back parts of the mail, as well as the lower hem and parts of the sleeves. The armpit part of the mail was made with oval rings (Fig., 4 ). A «fabric» of interlocked metal rings forms a strong, flexible, mesh armor. Each ring is linked through four others, two in the row above it and two below. Such a «4-in1» pattern was by far the most prevalent (Fig., 2 ). The riveted rings had their two ends «lapped» with a tong or a nail (less often), and either the entire link or just the lapped area was flattened with a hammer (Fig., 3). Fragments of the mail consist of alternating rows of riveted and welded rings (Fig., 2, 5 ). The size of the rings varies according to their location in the «fabric». Biggest and most massive rings measured 1.7-1.8 cm in diameter were used for the chest part. The sleeves were manufactured from smaller rings 1.5-1.6 cm in diameter, and the smallest rings (1.3-1.4 cm) were weaved into the lower hem. The whole mail looks like a thick canvas rubakha (shirt) with long sleeves and a lower hem (Fig., 1, 6, 7 ). It is generally 67 cm long, 120 cm wide (with the sleeves), 56 cm across the chest, 47cm across the waist, 50 cm across the lower part. The right sleeve measures 32 cm long and 18 cm wide; the left one is 34 cm long and 15.2 cm wide. The mail has a wide open for the head and the neck with cuts on the chest part (15 cm long) and front and back cuts on the hem (18 cm and 5 cm long respectively). The chest cut was tightened and fixed with buckles made of leather or metal hooks (Fig., 6 ). The main feature of mail is the form and the structure or the rings weaved. In our case both riveted and welded rings are almost flat, which allows us to attribute such a mail as a « half-baidana » with a combined system of harnessing (using both tongs and nails). Similar mails stored in the KRMLH come from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and are dated as manufactured in the Late Middle Ages and Early modern period. During this period of time, Mawarannahr cities specialized in manufacturing mail armor, including baidana and half-baidana which were later spread on the territories occupied by the Turkic nomads (the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks, etc.). Conclusion. According to the mail construction, its design and ring linking, as well as the cut of this hauberk, we date this item as manufactured in the XVII- beginning of the XIX century. The half-baidana analyzed is likely to have been made by Central Asian armorers. It was then sold to a wealthy nomad from North Kazakhstan and was used in warfare (according to the traces left by weapons on the surface of the hauberk). Up to the beginning of the XX century, the hauberk was stored as a family heirloom in the Konurovs family (North Kazakhstan).