Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (1) 2012

Annotation:  Bairaki – a Lower Paleolithic Site on the Lower Dniester The Denticulate Mousterian as a Supposedly Distinct Facies in Western Central Asia Non-utilitarian Lithic Objects from the European Paleolithic Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from Section VI of the Gorbunovsky Peat-Bog An Alakul Funeral and Ritual Site in the Eastern Orenburg Region Medieval Amulet Illustrating the Divine Horseman Myth, Rozhdestveno, Perm Territory Face Images in Lower Angara Rock Art Boats in the Rock Art of Kanozero and Northern Europe New Data on Bronze Age Jewelry in the Southeastern Urals The Old Russian Male Funerary Attire (Based on Finds from the 10th–11th Century Burial Mounds at Goc Investigation of Wooden Burial Structures in the Process of Archaeological Excavations A Contribution to the Study of the Eastern Links of the Bronze Age Culture of the Northern Middle Vo Secular Imagery in the Islamic Space of Medieval Zirikhgeran Stone Statue of Ailyan, Gorny Altai Jurchen Pendants of the Netsuke Type Elements of Religious Ritualism in Popular Medicine among the Izhma Komi of the Lower Ob Region Early Metal Age Crania from Bolshoy Oleniy Island, Barents Sea   

Secular Imagery in the Islamic Space of Medieval Zirikhgeran

Z.V. Dode.

According to Dagestan scholars, the long process of Islamization of the Dagestan state entities in Kubachi was completed by the end of the 13th century. Scholars correlate the fl ourishing of Kubachi medieval art with the establishment of Islam. In the late 13th–early 14th century, stone reliefs decorating monumental structures were created in Kubachi. In the Islamic cultural space there appeared magnifi cent images of secular scenes with fi gures of people dressed in the garments of Northern Caucasus, Cuman, and Mongolian nobility, as well as real and imaginary animals. The Mongol Empire, whose policies were distinguished by the tolerance of all religious and cultural phenomena, could have neutralized the infl uence of Islam and given an impetus to secular multicultural art. The study of imagery and subject matter of the Kubachi reliefs in the cultural and political landscape of the Mongol Empire makes it possible to reveal the semantics of the subjects. The scenes on the stone reliefs refl ect not the regional but the imperial dimension of the situation in which medieval Zirikhgeran, now known under the Turkic name of Kubachi, found itself.

Keywords: Mongol Empire, Northern Caucasus, Dagestan, Kubachi, Islam, stone reliefs, Muslim Art, Sharia prohibitions, costume, Medieval fabrics, Mongols, Cumans, semantics.