A horse in the funeral rites of the Turks as an ethnocultural marker

Abstract

The presented article is dedicated to such an element of funeral rites of various Turkic cultures as the accompanying burial of a horse and the use of horses in the funeral rites of nomadic and settled peoples of Central Asia. According to the author’s hypothesis, based on source study and own research, the presence of a horse in funeral rites is one of the ethnocultural markers uniting Turkic cultures, starting from the ancient Turkic time and ending in the late Middle Ages. Thus, the purpose of the article is to investigate the transformation of the Turkic funeral rite in the Middle Ages in order to substantiate the ritual of horse burial as a common cultural marker of the Turkic peoples. The research results propose a comprehensive periodisation of this phenomenon, critically analysing the unique attributes of each period. The materials under study span across several cultures from the Middle Ages to the New Age. Each period is scrutinized to elucidate its features and peculiarities that shaped its evolution and exerted influence on the subsequent progression of traditions. The research underscores the key determinants driving the trajectory of these traditions within specific historical epochs for each of the investigated peoples.