Iron arrow tips from the Western Pamir mountains

Purpose. The article deals with the iron tips of arrows that were gathered at different times by the Tajik archaeologist A. Babayev on the territory of the Western Pamir Mountains. We considered the main scientific results attained by Russian and Tajik archaeologists during the preceding period of studying armament and military science of the nomads who inhabited the Pamir uplands in the periods of Ancient history and the Middle Ages. We study iron stalked tips of arrows from the col lection of weapon for long-range combat; these arrows differ in the section and the form of the feather as they were intended for hitting different targets. Result. Among the objects from the collection under analysis, tips with the plane section of the feather prevail; they were intended for hitting light-armed adversaries, those who were not protected with metal armor. We single out five types of tips in this group of arrows. The collection of arrows from the Western Pamir Mountains contains some tips with a rhombic section of the feather, which were intended for hitting of heavy-armed warriors protected with armor from iron plates. We single out two types of arrows with such tips. Analogies to the iron arrow findings from the Western Pamir Mountains were found in the contiguous and distant to it territories of Central Asian historical and cultural region. We analyzed how plane and rhombic iron tips of arrows spread among the Central Asian peoples since their appearance in the Xiongnu and Xianbei times till the periods of the High and Late Middle Ages. Having studied the analogies, we define the chronology of how the types of iron tips of arrows analyzed spread on the territory of the Western Pamir Mountains during the periods of the High and Late Middle Ages. The collection of iron arrows found by A. Babayev on the territory of the Western Pamir Mountains contained two types of arrows different in the section of the feather. There were arrows with plane and rhombic section of the feather among them. The arrows with the plane iron tips were intended for hitting adversaries who were not protected with metal armor. Altogether, six different forms of arrow tips were singled out in the collection from the Western Pamir Mountains that we studied. The arrows with rhombic iron tips were intended for hitting iron armors. Conclusion. The collection studied included arrow tips of two different forms. Judging by the analogies described in the article, it is possible to conclude that among the iron arrow tips found on the territory of the Western Pamir Mountains most objects refer to the periods of the High and Late Middle Ages. The collection essentially broadens the existing ideas about the armament of long-range combat of the medieval inhabitants in the Western Pamir Mountains.