Türgesh and Karluk Coinage

The first coins struck on the spot in the region of Taraz date from the time of the Türgesh Khaganate.^[1] Chinese dynastic coinage served as a model. From it grew a local coinage that combined Turkic, Chinese and Sogdian elements.^[1] From the middle of the eighth century issues of Karluk rulers stand beside the Türgesh issues.^[2]

Legends and signs

The coins carry legends in Sogdian script, Turkic tamgas and further marks.^[3] A coin of the first type has a Sogdian legend on the obverse, transcribed βγy twrkyš γ’γ’n pny, which names the Türgesh khagan. The reverse shows the tamga of the Türgesh. It belongs to the first half of the eighth century.^[4] Coins of the middle of the century add the tamga of the Karluks beside the Türgesh sign.^[4] Some reverses bear the Sogdian word prn, glory, or m’x, moon.^[4]

Several issues name a ruler. One has a legend naming a Vakhshtuva and, on the reverse, the two tamgas and the Chinese character yuan.^[4] Others name Arslan Irkin and Arslan Küli Irkin, who are assigned to the Karluks.^[2] Two types of small coins of the early ninth century carry the legend wn’ntm’x xwβw, “ruler Wanantmakh”, on the reverse. They are given to the Türgesh khaganate.^[5] The publication gives the names as they stand on the coins and identifies none of the men from other sources.

Interpretations differ. The first takes the Vakhshtuva coin for the coin of a Lord Farn-Khutava and dates it to the end of the seventh or the early eighth century. It sees on the reverse the Türgesh tamga, a runic sign for er, “warrior”, and the Chinese character yuan.^[6] The second calls it a copper coin of Lord Vakhshtuva. Vakhshtuva is a common Sogdian word, and on this view the coin was Sogdian in origin and struck under Turkic authority.^[6]

Size and weight

The coins vary widely in size. A specimen of the first type measures 24.6 mm and weighs 4.54 g, while a coin of Wanantmakh measures 16.6 mm and weighs 0.75 g.^[2] One type is an exception. Its coins weigh 10.8 g on average and measure 27 mm, far more than the other types.^[6] Some scholars take it for a special denomination, perhaps one for fiscal use. It points to the Transoxiana of the ninth and tenth centuries, where taxes were reckoned in the coins called musayyabi, muhammadi and ghitrifi after a monetary reform.^[6]

The coins of Taraz

The excavations at Taraz in 2014 to 2017 brought up 533 Turkic coins. Of these, 444 could be classed in twelve types.^[7] Two types are the commonest, with 112 pieces each. These are the coin of the Türgesh khagan and the Vakhshtuva coin.^[8] Next come the types with 70, 45, 35, 30 and 21 pieces.^[9] The coins lay all over the excavated area, in layers of the tenth to the thirteenth century. No hoard of them was found, only single pieces.^[3]

The coin of the Türgesh khagan is the most widespread of all. Other finds of this type are 189 at Suyab, 484 at Navekat, 23 at Kuz-Ordu and 67 at Nuzket in the Chu valley, and a few in the Talas valley, at Shelji, Atlakh and Bek-tobe.^[8]

A mint at Taraz

Seven of the twelve types occur mostly or only at Taraz.^[10] The authors of the publication take this for a sign that Taraz had a mint of its own. Types known from a single find may have come in through contact with other places.^[10] An earlier study of the coins of Taraz and other sites of Semirechye found no large issues from Bukhara, Ferghana or Sogdiana among them. It took this for proof that the monetary system of the region stood by itself and was independent of the Sogdian trade network.^[1]

After the khaganates

The coins date from the eighth and early ninth centuries, but they lie in layers of the tenth to the thirteenth. They therefore kept circulating long after the khaganates, probably as small change under the Karakhanids.^[10] The publication dates the coins of Arslan Irkin and Arslan Küli Irkin to the eighth century. Another dating puts the coins of Arslan Küli Irkin in the second half of the tenth century. On this dating, the minting did not end with the khaganate but went on as a regional practice under local dynasties.^[10]

The publication gives no ancient name or denomination for these coins.