The new rock art site of Durdana (Talas region) in Kyrgyzstan with tamgas and two new Sogdian inscriptions

The rock art site of Durdana in Kyrgyzstan (Bakaiyr, Talas Region) was discovered in May 2024 and prospected in June and July 2024. A systematic prospection of the site permitted the documentation of 593 petroglyphs but also of two Sogdian inscriptions. 45% of the engravings are dated back to the Medieval period, some of them of very small dimensions and executed by thin lines in the so-called “graffiti” technic. Furthermore, ten tamgas corresponding to eight different types were discovered, seven medieval and three from the 18th -19th centuries. Among these tamgas, three types were documented for the first time in the Talas Region. After a brief presentation of the petroglyphs of every period, the paper will focus on the Sogdian inscriptions and on the tamgas. The two late Sogdian inscriptions belong to the group of the Turko-Sogdian vertical rock inscriptions and can be dated between the 9 th and the early 11 th century with the presence of the Uyghur letter l. The main value of the inscriptions of Durdana is the presence of the title sarθang within the social or military stratification of the Turko-Sogdian milieux.