Early Turkic Enclosures of the Ak-Dag Complex

The article presents the publication and diverse interpretation of materials from the excavations of the enclosures of the Ak-Dag complex, located in the Erzin district of the Tuva Republic. The objects under study were investigated by the archaeological expedition under the leadership of M.Kh. Mannay-ool in 1961. Despite the importance of the information obtained during the excavations, these data were not published and were not used in the development of well-known concepts of the history of the region. The article provides a detailed description of the studied enclosures, as well as an analysis of the fixed features of structures, elements of ritual practice and inventory items. It has been established that the dating of objects can be determined by the framework of the second half of the 5th – 6th centuries AD with the possibility of narrowing the chronology, taking into account the known historical context, to the middle – the second half of the 6th century AD. The Ak-Dag enclosures, as well as other, so far a very few complexes of Tuva of this period, testify to the emergence in this region of a new population group, close in tradition to the Altai nomads. There is every reason to assert that these processes are associated with the military campaigns of the Turks, which led to the creation of the First Khaganate.