Rouran epochGöktürk epochUyghur epochKirghiz epoch
RouranFirst GöktürkTang ruleSecond GöktürkUyghurKirghizHunsWestern GöktürkTürgeshKarlukKhazar
  • 400
  • 500
  • 600
  • 700
  • 800
  • 900

The stone was found at Šine-Usu in northern Mongolia in 1909.[1] G. J. Ramstedt and S. Pälsi found it near the mountain Örgöötü, the small river Mogoitu and Lake Šine-Usu.[2] The stone has a runiform Turkic text. In the first person, the text describes the campaigns and wars of Bayanchur Khan, the second ruler of the Uyghur Khaganate.[1] According to one view, the stone is a memorial. It was set up in connection with a burial complex, in memory of the khan, who died in 759.[2] The text also speaks of the first Uyghur ruler, Kutlug Bilge Kül.[2]

Historical content

Two things in the text appear in no other source. The first is the consolidation of the Uyghur hold over the Basmıl and the Karluks. The two peoples had been allies in the overthrow of 744 and were subjects within the year, but they did not stay subject without further campaigning.[1] The second is the building of the Uyghur capital and the imperial palace on the Orkhon.[1]

Neither appears in the Chinese histories. These report Uyghur affairs in proportion to their bearing on China.

The date

The stone gives dates in the animal cycle, from the Snake year 741 to the Snake year 753.[2] The date of the stone itself is a separate question. One order of the three Uyghur stones puts the stone about 760.[2] Another order puts it in 759.[2] A third puts it in 760 or 761, because the tomb and the rites after the khan’s death took time.[3]

The Tariat and Šine-Usu stones share passages almost word for word. These passages tell of the defeat of the Göktürks and the struggles with the Karluks.[4] Tariat is the fuller text. Šine-Usu reads like an extract.[4]

Booty and captives

The stone lists herds, goods, girls and widows among the booty of the khan’s campaigns. It says that he took an enemy’s katun prisoner.[5]

Purpose of the monument

Uyghur stelae of this kind are not neutral reports. Their purpose is the glorification of a dead hero. Passages in them recall his deeds in a manner closer to epic than to history. The genre is rhetorical and prone to exaggeration, so precision of detail cannot be assumed.

The inscriptions have two advantages over the Chinese record. They are far nearer in time and place to what they describe. They were also written to record what mattered to the Uyghurs, not what mattered to a foreign court.

The stone is badly worn, and what can be read of it is less than what was cut.[1] The stele is six metres high and inscribed on all four sides. Lightning struck it and split it in two. The text on one face is gone. The others are damaged.[6]

Language

The language is practically that of the Orkhon stones. Their influence on the Uyghur inscriptions is plain.[7] Details differ. The stone has ben as an independent pronoun, where the Kül Tegin and Bilge Khan stones have men everywhere. Like those two stones, it writes the vowel e out as i.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Mackerras 1972
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rybatzki 2011, p. 65
  3. ^ Rybatzki 2011, p. 66
  4. ^ a b Rybatzki 2011, p. 66–67
  5. ^ Tokyürek 2013, p. 123, 126
  6. ^ Tsogtbaatar 2000, p. 369
  7. ^ Erdal 2004, p. 7, 14
  8. ^ Erdal 2004, p. 12

Literature

  • Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic Histories (1972)
  • Marcel Erdal, A Grammar of Old Turkic (2004)
  • Volker Rybatzki, Taryat, Tes ve Şine Usu Yazıtları Arasındaki Dil Bilimsel ve Tarihî Bağlar Üzerine Bazı Notlar (Some Notes on the Philological and Historical Relations Between the Terx, Tes and Sine Usu Inscriptions) (2011)
  • B. Tsogtbaatar, Moğolistan Bölgesindeki Eski Türk Anıtları Çalışmaları Meselesi Üzerine (2000)
  • Hacer Tokyürek, Runik Türk Yazıtlarında ve Eski Uygur Metinlerinde Kadın Hiyerarşisi (2013)

Articles resting on this source 9

Bay Balïq · Bayanchur Khan · Kutlug Bilge Kül Khan · Old Uyghur · Ordu-Balık · Orkhon valley · Toquz Oghuz · Tuğ · Uyghur Khaganate

Related

What links here9

Persons
Bayanchur Khan
Battles & Events
Uyghur victory over the Kirghiz (758)
Places
Bay Balïq · Ordu-Balık · Shiveet Ulaan
Languages
Old Uyghur
Sources
Hoyto Tamir inscriptions · Tariat inscription · Tes inscription

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Šine-Usu inscription.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/shine-usu-inscription/

Last revised: 8 November 2026