Abstract:
For several millennia, the horse was not only a means of transportation but also a particularly revered animal among nomads. The huge role of the horse in the economic, political, and military spheres of life of nomads led to a special attitude towards it in the sphere of their spiritual culture, particularly in religious ideas. As the role of the horse increases in the system of traditional economic life of ancient nomads, it becomes the most important element of the ritual and mythological system of many peoples of Eurasia. The earliest traces of horse veneration among the population of the Kazakh steppe are known from materials from Botai and Tersek antiquities, which characterizes the initial stage of the formation of the horse cult with complex and multi-stage cult-ritual actions back in the Chalcolithic. Subsequent tribes entered the historical stage together with a horse, and the horse was always their faithful friend and patron, with the help of which they overcame all difficulties both in everyday economic life and on the battlefield. The material world, the spiritual sphere, traditions, rituals, customs, worldview, art - all segments of traditional culture become understandable and explainable when viewed through the prism of the “horse”. The horse here acts as a kind of key to understanding the culture of the ancient and medieval population of Kazakhstan.
Speaker:
Dr. Rinat Zhumatayev serves as the Head of the Department of Archaeology, Ethnology, and Museology. His primary research focus lies in the Bronze and Early Iron Age within the territories of East Kazakhstan, particularly in the foothills of the Tarbagatai mountains. He is actively engaged as a field archaeologist, lecturer, and has authored dozens of articles.
***Please note that this is a hybrid event, it will be hold on Zoom and at McDonald Seminar Room***
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7212046194?pwd=ZjVtSnBydnp5THpnQ3dtVWN4N1ROdz09
