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Orlat plaques
Orlat plaques
	Orlat plaques
Material	Bone
Size	11 cm × 13.5 cm (4.3 in × 5.3 in)
Created	1st–4th century CE
Place	Nomadic tomb, Orlat cemetery, Kurgan
Present location	Institute of Art Studies, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Culture	Saka
	Orlat Orlat

The Orlat plaques are a series of bone plaques that were discovered in the mid-1980s in Uzbekistan. They were found during excavations led by Galina Pugachenkova at the cemetery of Orlat, by the bank of the Saganak River (a tributary of the Zeravshan), immediately north of Samarkand.^[1]^[2] Pugachenkova published her finds in 1989. The left half is decorated with an elaborated battle scene, while on the other side is depicted a hunting scene.

The plaques

The plaques are thought to have been decorative belt buckles. They are decorated with battle scenes between soldiers armed as cataphracts, and one hunting scene. There are three other plaques, smaller in size, on which are depicted a vulture, fighting Bactrian camels, and warriors.^[1]^[3] The date and attribution of the plaques are disputed, although the consensus tends to suggest a 1st-century CE date.

The plaque with the battle scene depicts a clash with armored warriors. There are soldiers battling on foot, and before them there is a horseman brandishing a sword clashing with another horseman relying on his lance. A warrior has been deprived of his horse down to the right. His lance is broken and he prepares, with his sword, to fight his opponent, a horseman lunging on him with a lance.^[3]^[1]^[4] According to Markus Mode, the composition was originally larger, and it was copied from another source.^[1]

One hypothesis is that the plaque depicts a battle between the sedentary Sogdians and the nomadic invaders. In it, the Sogdian hero, leader of his group, repels the attacks of the groups of nomads. For the Sogdians the nomadic incursions were a real threat. According to Mode there is more to it than the record of a battle. The plaque is "a very early manifestation of the narrative imagery that characterizes Sogdian art—one that finds its supreme expression in the painted cycles of 7th- and early 8th-century Panjikent."^[1] Thus, the purpose of Sogdian art was to transmit narrative. In their paintings and carvings, "Sogdian artists would include only the essentials. Lines, blocks of color, and a few landscape elements to set the scene create an easy-to-read two-dimensionality that helps advance the progress of the depicted tale." As noted by Mode, this style's origin may be seen in two Orlat plaques.^[3]^[1]

Yury Khudyakov found numerous similarities between the plaques and other Xiongnu-Sarmatian finds from Mongolia and Altay, particularly a group of plaques retrieved from Tepsei Mount near the Yenisey River, usually attributed to Tashtyk culture.[1]

Pugachenkova believes the plaques were made by the inhabitants of Kangju, thought to have been closely related to the Kushans and Tocharians. The Kangjus were probably Scythians, opposed to the Kushans, as seen in Khalchayan.^[5] Overall, the soldiers would be either Sogdians or Sakas,^[6] much less probably Yuezhis or Parthians.

Full drawing of one of the Orlat plaques.
Orlat plaque horserider.
Detail of one of the Orlat plaques.^[7] A severed head is probably hanging in front of the horse.^[8]
Orlat archer (detail of the plaque).
Orlat axeman (detail of the plaque).
Orlat plaque encounter.
Orlat plaque encounter.
Orlat plaque hunter.

Parallels

The equipment of the warriors in the Orlat plaques is comparable to the equipement of the Indo-Scythians as seen in coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II.^[9] The figures of the hunters on the reverse are also comparable to the depictions of hunters on an ivory plaque from Takht-i Sangin.^[10] These designs are broadly consistent in identifying the Saka or the Saka-Kangju tribes of Central Asia, which were regularly in conflict with the Yuezhis.^[10]

A coin of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II with equipment similar to that of the Orlat plaque.^[11]
Orlat warrior and warrior on a coin of Azes I.
Hunters in an ivory plaque from Takht-i Sangin, with design comparable to the hunting scenes of the Orlat plaques.^[12]
Model of a Saka cataphract armour with neck-guard, from Khalchayan. 1st century BCE. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, nb 40.^[13]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Lerner, Judith A. "Orlat Plaques". Freer, Sackler - Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ Thomas A. Green; Joseph R. Svinth (2010). Joseph R. Svinth, Thomas A. Green (ed.). Martial Arts of the World An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation · Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-78671-699-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bellemare, Julie; Lerner, Judith A. "The Sogdians at Home - Art and Material Culture". Freer, Sackler - Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ Baumer, Christoph (2018). History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume Set. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.
^ Cribb, Joe; Herrmann, Georgina; Academy, British (26 July 2007). After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam. OUP/British Academy. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0-19-726384-6. "The engraved bone plaques found at Orlat in the region of Koktepe and dated by Jangar Ilyasov (2003) to the first-second centuries AD present the portraits of Kangju warriors and hunters", the Kangjus were the "western 'Scythian' neighbours" of the Yuezhi/ Kushans.
^ Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ "Orlat Plaques The Sogdians". sogdians.si.edu.
^ Grenet, Frantz (2012). "« The nomadic element in the Kushan empire (1st - 3rd century AD)". Journal of Central Eurasian Studies. 3: 14.
^ Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ ^a ^b Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ Betts, Alison; Vicziany, Marika; Jia, Peter Weiming; Castro, Angelo Andrea Di (19 December 2019). The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-78969-407-9.
^ Frantz, Grenet (2022). Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbékistan. Paris: Louvre Editions. p. 56. ISBN 978-84-125278-5-8.

Sources

Les Saces, Iaroslav Lebedynsky, Paris: Errance, c2006. ISBN 2-87772-337-2
Худяков Ю.С. Образ воина в таштыкском изобразительном искусстве // Семантика древних образов. Novosibirsk, 1990. Page 112.
(in Russian) Detailed description of Orlat finds
The Orlat Battle Plaque and the Roots of Sogdian Art, Markus Mode, in M. Compareti, P. Raffetta, and G. Scarcia (eds.) Ērān ud Anērān: Studies Presented to Boris Il'ič Maršak on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, Venice: Libreria editrice Cafoscarina