Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of History, sa.86, ss.1-14, 2025 (ESCI)
Music is a vital element of culture, expressing emotions and thoughts through notes and melodies. In Turkic culture, music, the instruments used to perform it, and the melodies themselves hold significant importance. The nomadic lifestyle that characterized pre-Islamic Turkic states and communities made intangible cultural assets, such as music, more prominent than written works. Despite their tangible nature, these cultural assets are inherently portable.In recent years, archaeological studies in kurgans and memorial tombs from the Hun and Göktürk periods in regions like Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan -along with areas such as Altai, Khakassia, and Abakan in the Russian Federation- have revealed valuable information about the cultural life of pre-Islamic nomadic Turkic peoples. These findings indicate that music was an indispensable aspect of the socio-cultural life of the Turkic tribes during this era.In 2008, a cave was accidentally discovered by a shepherd in a region called Cargalant Hairhan in southwestern Mongolia, revealing artifacts from the Göktürk Period. Among the various items recovered, which included weapons and war tools such as arrows, bows, saddles, knives, and thin iron armor, was a musical instrument that is the focus of this study. This instrument later became known as the Altai Harp and is considered a rare specimen among musical instruments discovered in Eurasia to date.The Altai Harp stands out from other harps found in Eurasia due to its runic script in the Göktürk language, which contains approximately 60 characters and six lines, along with various figures and depictions. This means that the Altai Harp is not only a musical instrument but also provides insights into the artistic and aesthetic sensibilities of pre-Islamic Turkic people. Furthermore, the engravings offer significant information about the geographical features of the regions they inhabited and the creatures that once lived there. The runic script, with its inscriptions, represents a unique example for Turkologists studying this field. This emphasizes the importance of considering the existence of schools, or places where writing was taught, across various levels of society.Shortly after its discovery, this magnificent harp, dating back approximately 1,500 years, was restored and reconstructed in Bonn, Germany, under bilateral agreements between Germany and Mongolia. Based on this reconstruction, the harp now serves as a traditional Mongolian instrument, bringing the beautiful melodies of the steppes from centuries past into the present day.