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 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-07-05 
ISSN 2767-472X 
©2021 Master Journals 

   
  Accepted 15th July, 2021 &  Published 20thJuly, 2021  

 

 
 

 

CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY                           
ISSN – 2767-472X 

21 

   https://masterjournals.com/index.php/CRJH 

 

IMAGE OF BIRDS IN KHOREZM ART CRAFTS (BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
MATERIALS) 

 

Bakhit Gurbanbaevich Turanov 

Associate professor, Candidate of historical sciences,  Department of “social and specialty sciences”, Regional branch of the 
Center for professional development under the International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan in the Republic of 
Karakalpakstan Nukus, Uzbekistan 

Salamat Kudaybergenovich Allambergenov 

Assistant Lecturer Department of “methods of teaching history” Nukus State Pedagogical Institute named after Ajiniyoz,  
Nukus Uzbekistan 

 

INTRODUCTION 

It is known that the art and artistic craft of each 
nation is formed on the basis of the worldview 
and thinking of these ground peoples. Even in the 
Khorezm Oasis peoples, such as the ancient 
Eastern countries, animals and birds aks 
reflection was found in the handicraft items as a 
product of totemism in ancient times. Mile in the 
region.avv. The influence of the "wild style" of 
sak-Scythians in the making of art objects from 
the middle of the I millennium is evident. In the 
minds of the peoples of the oasis of that period, 
the search for a way of life in the image of these 

creatures came into a strict rule and tradition.    

In the wall paintings and artefacts of the 
monuments of the ancient and antiquity of 
Khorezm, many of the items made in the images 
of birds, animals and mythical animals and their 
depiction are uçraydi. In ancient times, some 
representatives of the animal and bird world 
who served as the totem of paganism dinida the 
doctrine of Zoroastrianism developed in ancient 
times and in the samples of the material culture 
of the first Middle Ages with a symbolic divine 
meaning and meaning. 

THE MAIN FINDINGS AND RESULTS 

ABSTRACT  
 
The article is devoted to the research of archeological findings of art of khorezm people in ancient and 
middle-aged period of time the image of birds in the examples of art items. That time in the mythological 
ideas of khorezm folk art the image of birds was mighty and superficial symbol.   
 
 
KEYWORDS: - Ancient world, middle aged time, fine art, peacock, pigeon, eagle, pheasant, swan, 
mythological outlook. 



CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY 2(7): 21-25, July 2021      
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-07-05 
ISSN 2767-472X 
©2021 Master Journals 

   
  Accepted 15th July, 2021 &  Published 20thJuly, 2021  

 

 
 

 

CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY                           
ISSN – 2767-472X 

22 

   https://masterjournals.com/index.php/CRJH 

In Zoroastrianism, birds were recognized as 
divinely powerful beings, and some were 
considered symbols of the gods in the minds of 
the local people. According to the Avesta, the 
sacred book of Zoroastrianism, Humo is a bird of 
divine power with happiness and wealth. He was 
invisible to anyone, and it was believed that if his 
shadow fell on a man, he would be very happy 
and rich. The image of sausage in the arts and 
crafts of the peoples of Central Asia dates back to 
the IV century. 

In the minds of the peoples of the ancient and 
early medieval Khorezm oasis, in addition to 
humus, birds such as peacocks, white birds, 
pigeons, roosters were recognized as symbols of 
divinity. Inostrantsev noted that in the pre-
Islamic religious and mythological thinking and 
worldview of the peoples of the Khorezm oasis, 
birds expressed the soul or its spirit, which was 
separated from the human body. Yu.A., an expert 
on the history of the ancient religions of the 
peoples of the oasis. Developing this idea, 
Rapoport admits that "birds are not only the 
symbol of the human soul, but also the white bird 
and the peacock as a symbol of the goddess 
Anaxita" [5, -P.94]. 

In the pre-Islamic period, the image of birds such 
as humo, peacock, pigeon, white bird, and 
rooster had a divine meaning in the thinking and 
artistic handicrafts of the peoples of the oasis. 
Typically, some representatives of the bird world 
are depicted in art objects as images of gods. 

This is evidenced by the images of birds depicted 
on the thresholds of ancient and ancient 
Khorezm monuments [5, -P.93.-Fig.47-50]. In the 
monuments of Mizdakhon and Qubatag, some 
ostodons have the image of birds. 

As a celestial bird, the eagle is represented in the 
art of the peoples of the East as a symbol of the 
sun and in folk epics as a creature possessing 
power and authority. The ruler's crown on the 
murals of Khorezm's Akshakhan Fortress (5th-

4th centuries BC) is in the form of a bird, the 
ruler of Qoyqrilganqala (4th-3rd centuries BC) is 
depicted as a ruler wearing a large helmet in the 
form of a legendary bird. a sculptural statue 
wearing a ruler's crown in the form of a white 
eagle was found on his head [7, -P.27, 88]. 

The images of the crown of the ruler Vaziramir 
on Khorezm coins (2nd half of the 3rd century 
and the beginning of the 4th century) and the 
crown of the ruler on the melodic III century 
copper coins found in Angola are reflected in the 
form of an eagle [7, -P.27,88]. Images of a ruling 
crown in the form of an eagle are also found on 
Parthian and Kushan coins. Undoubtedly, the 
image of birds on coins and murals represented 
the image of a divine ruler. 

It is known that with the spread of Islam, due to 
religious prohibitions, the nature of the 
decoration of objects in architecture and artistic 
crafts, the forms and stylistic features of fine arts 
also changed. In Islam, the doctrine of kalam, 
which has a negative attitude to the depiction of 
living beings, was formed in the late eighth and 
early ninth centuries. Nevertheless, pre-Islamic 
emblems, plots, and themes continued to be 
reflected in many ceramics, bronze, wood, and 
glass ornaments of applied art. 

At the beginning of the IX-XIII centuries, the 
peoples of the Khorezm oasis were not yet 
complete in the decoration of artifacts, but under 
the influence of Islam we can see a gradual 
increase in Islamic-handicraft and handicraft 
patterns. The artistic style of expressing the 
image of birds also changes radically, i.e. it is 
reflected in a stylized way. Although the image of 
birds takes on a more abstract form and merges 
with Islamic patterns, it still continues as an 
integral part of the traditional style. Appearances 
of art objects, including jewelry, were in the form 
of bracelets made of bird, animal, fish, mythical 
creature, two ends resembling the head of a 
snake. In addition to jewelry, the image of birds 



CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY 2(7): 21-25, July 2021      
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-07-05 
ISSN 2767-472X 
©2021 Master Journals 

   
  Accepted 15th July, 2021 &  Published 20thJuly, 2021  

 

 
 

 

CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY                           
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is also common on glazed pottery. 

Early medieval pottery depicts birds such as 
pigeons, pheasants, and eagles. 

In the cultural layers of the Kardar fortress of the 
IX-X centuries were found a mysterious ceramic 
bowl with a generalized image of an eagle, a 
snake and a fish [3, -P.105-109.]. The diameter of 
the bottom of the bowl is 13 cm, the diameter of 
the preserved upper part is 22-24 cm. The eagle, 
reflected in the inside of the bowl, held the snake 
tightly to its body with its claws on both feet, 
with flower petals dropped in three places on the 
snake. Both wings of the eagle have an image of a 
fish on the outside. 

In the mythological imagination of the peoples of 
Central Asia, the eagle was considered the ruler 
of the sky, the prophetic sunbird. Birds in 
general, including the eagle, are a symbol of the 
human soul. Legend has it that the eagle is a bird 
that takes the soul of a dead person to heaven. 

  Another mysterious ceramic vessel of the IX-X 
centuries in the Kardar monument depicts a 
pheasant and a dove [3, -P.105-109]. Similar 
pottery with the image of a pheasant and a dove 
is common in medieval monuments in Central 
Asia, such as Merv, Termez, Fergana, Shosh. 

The peoples of Central Asia are represented in 
folklore, heroic epics as peacocks and pheasants 
as symbols of light, kindness and auspicious day. 

In the XII-XIV centuries there are many images of 
"sitting" or "flying" duck, "peacock", "peacock's 
eye". Such images are reflected in glazed pottery. 
They are recorded from such monuments of 
Khorezm as Old-Urgench, Qizilqala, Mizdakhon, 
Qavatkala. The emergence of this image is 
associated with the religious outlook and artistic 
traditions of the ancient Khorezm peoples. 
According to the concepts in Zoroastrianism, the 
peacock and the dove are the birds that walk 
with the goddess Anaxita. Typically, their images 
are reflected in the image of birds walking 

around the goddesses. 

Yu.A. According to the report, in the religious 
worldview of the ancient Khorezm peoples, the 
peacock was understood as a symbol of the 
goddess Anaxita. The seal found in the first 
medieval monument of Yakkaparson (VIII 
century) has an image of a peacock on its beak, 
possibly carrying a crown [4, -P.14. –Fig.7]. 
According to experts, these images reached the 
samples of material culture of the Volga (Palace), 
North Caucasus (Madjar), Moldova (Old Orhei), 
Russian (Great Novgorod) as a result of the 
influence of Khorezmian masters after the 
Mongol invasion [2, -B.128]. In the XIII-XIV 
centuries, these territories, like Khorezm, were 
under the control of the Golden Horde. The 
similarity of the pottery forms (bowls, bowls) 
and even the images and patterns (duck, 
peacock, peacock's eye) found in Khorezm and 
Eurasia at that time show that the Khorezmians 
had strong cultural and economic ties with the 
local peoples. [8, -B.33-37]. 

In the finds of the oasis monuments, the image of 
birds is also found in artistic metal objects. One 
of them depicts a white bird spreading its wings 
in a bronze mirror recorded from Mizdakhon 
mahallas of XIII-XIV centuries [6, -Mizdakhon. Kp 
391. inv 8951/19]. The perimeter of the white 
bird is decorated with plant motifs. The image of 
a white bird in the mirror is probably a pair. 
Because white birds live in pairs by nature. In the 
imagination of the peoples of Central Asia, white 
birds are represented as a symbol of happiness, 
wealth, purity and love from ancient times to the 
present day. 

The bronze ring of the belt, found in the cultural 
layers of the city of Khiva in the XII century, 
depicts a relief image of two opposite birds, 
surrounded by Arabic inscriptions [7, -P.50]. 
During this period, the depiction of Arabic 
inscriptions in Kufu calligraphy was reflected in 
artistic ornaments as a new style. 



CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY 2(7): 21-25, July 2021      
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-07-05 
ISSN 2767-472X 
©2021 Master Journals 

   
  Accepted 15th July, 2021 &  Published 20thJuly, 2021  

 

 
 

 

CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY                           
ISSN – 2767-472X 

24 

   https://masterjournals.com/index.php/CRJH 

Artistic handicrafts not only depict birds, but also 
some handles and lids are made in the form of 
birds. A bird-shaped ornament was placed on the 
handle of a bronze vessel found in the 12th 
century layers of the Jigarband monument in 
South Khorezm [1, -B. 87. Figure 35/11]. The 
ornament is in the form of a cuckoo bird, with a 
split tail and a lowered eye at the points of relief. 
The height of the ornament is 3.5 cm, the surface 
is flat, the lower part is square. 

In Central Asia in the XI-XIII centuries it was 
common to put bird-shaped ornaments on 
handles and other pieces of artistic metal objects. 
In particular, it has become a tradition to 
decorate bronze lanterns in the form of birds. 

Zamakhshar in the monuments of Khorezm in 
the X-XI centuries, the Red Fortress in the XII-XIII 
centuries [6, - Red Fortress. Many ornaments in 
the form of bird statues have been found. Kp. 
3602. inv. 239]. They are made of cast bronze. Of 
the three ornaments on the Zamakhshar 
monument, two resemble a duck and one 
resembles a dove. The bird statue at the Red 
Castle monument is in the shape of a dove, with 
its wings and tail depicted in a relief line. The 
bird-shaped ornament is hollow, 5.3 cm high and 
5.5 cm long. 

Similar bronze and ceramic statues have been 
recorded in the Shekhr-Islam and Palace Berka 
monuments of southern Turkmenistan in the 
13th and 14th centuries. 

In the late medieval crafts of Khorezm, the 
creation of artistic ornaments in the form of 
birds and the depiction of birds continued as a 
traditional style. Especially in the jewelry craft, it 
is common to make earrings in the shape of a 
bird or a bird in the shape of a bird. The 
ornament of the glittering "Bird's Nest" had a 
symbolic meaning. In the center and on both 
sides of the jewelry history, a replica of a three-
toothed claw is made of tubes with feathers 
attached, and between the claws are placed rings 

with a pair of bird images inside as a symbol of 
the couple [7, -P.88-89]. 

In the mythological imagination, folklore and 
applied arts of the inhabitants of the Khorezm 
oasis and the surrounding nomadic peoples, 
birds have been represented as a symbol of glory 
and divinity from ancient times to the end of the 
Middle Ages. 

According to Abulgazi Bahodirkhan's "Shajarayi 
tarokima", in the time of Oguzkhan, the falcon, 
eagle, owl, hawk, turunboy, falcon, humoy, tuyun, 
crow were considered sacred birds - totem [7, -
P.88]. Orientalist scholar V.V. Based on the 
information of Barthold Rashididdin, he writes 
that totemism was preserved in the Oguzs even 
in the Islamic period and that they respected 
every bird, considered it a member of the seed, 
did not touch them and did not eat their meat. In 
addition, the emergence of ethnonymous seeds 
in the Uzbek language, such as eagle, eagle, is 
also associated with totemistic views. 

CONCLUSION 

Thus, birds such as humo, peacock, eagle, pigeon, 
white bird, swallow, which are a symbol of glory 
and divinity in the mythological thinking of the 
peoples of the oasis, had a symbolic meaning in 
folk art until the beginning of the twentieth 
century. This was a sufficient basis for artisans to 
reflect the image and appearance of these birds 
on ancient and medieval art objects. 

 

REFERENCES 

1. Vishnevskaya N.Yu. Remeslennye izdeliya 
Djigerbenta. –M .: 2001. 

2. Grajdankina N.S., Rtveladze E.V. Influence of 
Khorezm on ceramic production 
zolotoordynskogo city of Madjara // SA. 
1971. - № 1. 



CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY 2(7): 21-25, July 2021      
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-07-05 
ISSN 2767-472X 
©2021 Master Journals 

   
  Accepted 15th July, 2021 &  Published 20thJuly, 2021  

 

 
 

 

CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY                           
ISSN – 2767-472X 

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3. Mambetullaev M.M., Turmanov J.T., Yusupov 
O.J. Polyvnaya ceramics Kerdera // Vestnik 
KKO AN RUz. 2006. - № 1-2. - S. 105-109. 

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5. Rapoport Yu.A. Iz istorii relegii drevnego 
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6. Museum of Art of the Republic of 
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7. Faxretdinova D.A. Jewelry art of Uzbekistan.-
Tashkent, Gafura-Gulyama. 1988. 

8. Yakubovskiy A.Yu. K voprosu o proisxojdenii 
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// GAIMK. - L., 1931. T. 8. Vyp. 2-3. - S. 1-48. 


