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Kurgan stelae or Balbals ( ; most probably from Turkic languages word balbal meaning "ancestor" or "grandfather"O. D. Forostyuk, Луганщина релігійна, Luhansk, Світлиця, 2004.) are anthropomorphic stone , images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around (i.e. tumuli), in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhir ".
Spanning more than three millennia, they are clearly the product of various cultures. The earliest are associated with the Pit Grave culture of the Pontic–Caspian steppe (and therefore with the Proto-Indo-Europeans according to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesisDavid W. Anthony, (2007).). The Iron Age specimens are identified with the Scythians and Middle Ages examples with Turkic peoples.
Such stelae are found in large numbers in Southern Russia, Ukraine, Prussia, southern Siberia, Central Asia, Turkey and Mongolia.
When used architecturally, stelae could act as a system of stone fences, frequently surrounded by a moat, with sacrifice hearths, sometimes tiled on the inside.
The simple, early type of anthropomorphic stelae are also found in the Alpine region of Italy, southern France and Portugal.Richard Harrison and Volker Heyd, The Transformation of Europe in the Third Millennium BC: the example of ‘Le Petit-Chasseur I + III’ (Sion, Valais, Switzerland), Praehistorische Zeitschrift, vol. 82, no. 2 (2007), pp. 129–214; John Robb, People of stone: stelae, personhood and society in prehistoric Europe, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 16, no. 3 (September 2009), pp. 162–183.[1] Examples have also been found in Bulgaria at Plachidol, Ezerovo,D. W. Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language (2007), fig.13.11. (misprint "Yezevoro") and DurankulakIgor Manzura The Proto-Bronze Ace cemetery at Durakukak: a look from the east, in Lolita Nikolova, John Fritz and Jude Higgins (eds.), Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropological Theory and Education. RPRP 6-7 (2005), p. 5155.[2] and at Hamangia-Baia, Romania.
The distribution of later stelae is limited in the west by the Odesa district, Podolsk province, Galicia, Kalisz province, Prussia; in the south by Kacha River, Crimea; in the south-east by Kuma River in the Stavropol province and Kuban region; in the north by Minsk Voblast and Oboyan district of the Kursk Oblast (in some opinions even the Ryazan province), Ahtyr district in the Kharkiv Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Balash and Atkar districts in the Saratov Oblast to the banks of Samara River in Buzuluk districts in the Samara Oblast
In the east they are spread in the Kyrgyzstan (Kazakhstan) steppe to the banks of the Irtysh River and to Turkestan (near Issyk Kul, Tokmak district), then in upper courses of rivers Tom River and Yenisei River, in Sagai steppe in Mongolia (according to Potanin and Yadrintseva).
The of the early 1st millennium BC left a small number (about ten are known) of distinctive stone stelae. Another four or five "" dating to the same time are known from the northern Caucasus.
From the 7th century BC, Scythian tribes began to dominate the Pontic steppe. They were in turn displaced by the from the 2nd century BC, except in Crimea, where they persisted for a few centuries longer. These peoples left carefully crafted stone stelae, with all features cut in relief.
Early Slavic peoples stelae are again more primitive. There are some thirty sites of the middle Dniestr region where such anthropomorphic figures were found. The most famous of these is the Zbruch Idol (c. 10th century), a post measuring about 3 meters, with four faces under a single pointed hat (cf. Svetovid). Boris Rybakov argued for identification of the faces with the gods Perun, Makosh, Lado and Veles.
The anthropomorphic stelae so far found in Anatolia appear to post-date those of the Kemi Oba culture on the steppe and are presumed to derive from steppe types. A fragment of one was found in the earliest layer of deposition at Troy, known as Troy I.D.W. Anthony, The Horse, The Wheel and Language (2007), p. 339 and fig. 13.11.
Later in the 19th century, data about these statues was gathered by A.I. Kelsiev, and in Siberia, Turkestan and Mongolia by Potanin, Pettsold, Poyarkov, Vasily Radlov, Ivanov, Adrianov and Yadrintsev, in Prussia by Lissauer and Gartman.
In the 1850s Piskarev, summing all information about kurgan obelisks available in literature, counted 649 items, mostly in Dnipro province (428), in Taganrog (54), in Crimea province (44), in Kharkiv (43), in the Don Cossacks land (37), in Yenisei province, Siberia (12), in Poltava (5), in Stavropol (5), etc.; but many statues remained unknown to him.
Writing about Altai kurgans, Lev Gumilev states: "To the east from the tombs are standing chains of balbals, crudely sculpted stones implanted in the ground. Number of balbals at the tombs I investigated varies from 0 to 51, but most often there are 3–4 balbals per tomb". Similar numbers are also given by L. R. Kyzlasov.Kyzlasov L.R. Tuva... p. 62. They are memorials to the feats of the deceased, every balbal represents an enemy killed by him. Many tombs have no balbals. Apparently, there are buried ashes of women and children.
Balbals have two clearly distinct forms: conic and flat, with shaved top. Considering the evidence of Orkhon inscriptions that every balbal represented a certain person, such distinction cannot be by chance. Likely here is marked an important ethnographic attribute, a headdress. The steppe-dwellers up until present wear a conic malahai, and the Altaians wear flat round hats. The same forms of headdresses are recorded for the 8th century.(Gumilev L.N. Statuettes...)." "We can note that fight against steppe was more successful, as from 486 balbals we investigated, 329 were conical, and 157 flat." "Sudden raids on the steppe pastures were more successfully than endless struggle with moutaineers, who knew each tree in the forest and each rock in the gorges. Maybe this is a reason why the flat-headed balbals, as a rule, are more massive than conical" Lev Gumilev, "Ancient Türks", Moscow, 1993, p. 261 Another observation of Lev Gumilev: "From the Tsaidam salt lakes to the Kül-tegin monument leads a three-kilometer chain of balbals. To our time survived 169 balbals, apparently there were more. Some balbals are given a crude likeness with men, indicated are hands, a hint of a belt. Along the moat toward the east runs a second chain of balbals, which gave I. Lisi a cause to suggest that they circled the fence wall of the monument. However, it is likely that it is another chain belonging to another deceased buried earlier".Lev Gumilev, "Ancient Türks", Moscow, 1993, p. 329
Some kurgan obelisks are found still standing on kurgans, others were found buried in the slopes. Not always can be stated if they were contemporary with the kurgans on which they stand, existed earlier, or were carved later and lifted onto the kurgan. Kurgan obelisks are of sandstone, limestone, granite, etc. Their height is from 3.5 m to 0.7 m, but more often 1.5–2 m. Some of them are simple stone columns, with a rough image of a human face, on others the head (with the narrowed neck) is clearly depicted; in most cases not only the head is depicted, but also body, arms, and frequently both legs, and Headgear, and dress. On more crude statues is impossible to discern sex, but mostly it is expressed clearly: men are with moustaches (sometimes with beard, one bearded kurgan obelisk is in the courtyard of the Historical Museum in Moscow), in a costume with metal and belts, sometimes with a sword, etc.; women are with bared breasts, wearing peculiar headdresses, with or on the neck, etc.
Other obelisks show figures completely naked and usually only their head is covered, and legs are shod. Kurgan statues are sitting (frequently females), and standing (mostly males); in both cases the legs are not depicted. If the legs are depicted, they are either barefoot, or more often shoed, in high or low Boot ( bashmaks), sometimes with distinguishable trousers with ornaments. Many female kurgan obelisks (and some male) are naked above the belt, but below a belt and dress are visible, sometimes two dresses, one longer underneath, and another on the top, as a semi-'kaftan' or a short furcoat, with appliques and inserts (the ornaments of inserts consist of geometrical lines, double spirals, etc., or even cuirass). Others have stripes on the shoulders, many have two stripes (seldom three, or one wide across), plates (apparently, metal) on the breast attached to a belt or, more often, to two belts. On the belt sometimes is possible to distinguish a buckle in the middle or thongs hanging from it with sometimes attached bag, a round metal pocket mirror, knife, comb, sometimes also is shown (male statues) a dagger or a straight sword, a bow, a ‘kolchan’ (quiver), a hook, an axe. On the neck the men wear a metal band, women wear a necklace of beads or scales, sometimes even 2 or 3 are visible, some have a wide tape or a belt dropping from the necklace, ending with a 4-corner cloth. On the hands, wrists and shoulders (especially for nude figures) are (rings) and cuffs, in the ears, for women and men, are earrings, on the head (forehead) sometimes is an ornamental bandage or a diadem. The female can not always be distinguished from or , they also are depicted for men. In some cases the male hat undoubtedly represents a small helmet (‘misyurka’), sometimes with crossing metal strips. The female headdress is more diverse, like a hat with curved brims, ‘bashlyk’, Kyrgyz (Kazakh) hat, etc.
The type of the face is not always depicted clearly. The vast majority of women join hands on the navel or at the bottom of the stomach, and hold a vessel, frequently cylindrical, like a cup or a glass. Sometimes it is so blurred that it can be taken for a folded scarf. One male figurine holds a bowl in the left hand, and a sword in the right; and another has hands simply joined, without a bowl, one female figurine holds a ring, some hold a rhyton (drinking horn).
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