The Khöshöö Tsaidam Monuments (Mongolian: Хөшөө цайдам, also spelled Khoshoo Tsaidam, Koshu-Tsaidam) are two memorial installations in the Khöshöö Tsaidam region on the western Orkhon River in Mongolia, near Ögii Lake. They were erected by the Göktürks in the early 8th century and today are part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape UNESCO world heritage site. They commemorate the brothers Bilge Qaghan (683-734) and Kul-Tegin (684-731), one a politician and the other a military commander. Three smaller memorials, one of which was only recently discovered, are located nearby.
The Göktürks have left artifacts and installations all over their domain, from China to Iran. But only in Mongolia have any memorials to kings and other aristocrats been found. The ones in Khöshöö Tsaidam consist of tablets with inscriptions in Chinese and Old Turkic characters. Both monuments are stone slabs originally erected on carved stone turtles within walled enclosures. Bilge Kagan's stone shows a carved ibex (the emblem of Göktürk Kagans) and a twisted dragon. In both enclosings, evidence of altars and carved depictions of human couples were found, possibly depicting the respective honorary and his spouse.
The Old Turkic inscriptions on these monuments are the oldest extant attestation of that language.[1][2][3]
The inscriptions were discovered by Nikolay Yadrintsev's expedition in 1889, published by Vasily Radlov and deciphered by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893.[4]
Mongolian and Turkish archeologists have studied the area and performed excavations since 2000. The site is now protected by fences, with buildings for research work and storage of artifacts.
The inscriptions relate in epic language the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese, and their liberation by Bilge.[4]
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