Hephthalite (White Huns) frescoes at Termez Shirabad Tavka Kurgan fortress 5th-6th C. CE

September 08, 2023

Hephthalite (White Huns) frescoes at Termez Shirabad Tavka Kurgan fortress 5th-6th C. CE

"Termez Shirabad Tavka Kurgan is an ancient fortress and archaeological site near Shirabad, Uzbekistan.

The paintings of Tavka Kurgan were excavated by the Uzbek archaeologist Šojmardon Raxmanov. They are of very high quality, and are closely related to other paintings of the Tokharistan school such as Balalyk tepe, Adžina-tepe and Kala-i Kafirnigan, in the depiction of clothes, and especially in the treatment of the faces.

Many authors have suggested that the figures in the Dilberjin Tepe or Balalyk Tepe paintings are characteristic of the Hephthalites (450–570 CE). In this context, parallels have been drawn with the figures from Kizil Caves in Chinese Turkestan, which seem to wear broadly similar clothing. The paintings of Balalyk Tepe would be characteristic of the court life of the Hephthalites in the first half of the 6th century CE, before the arrival of the Turks.

Solovyov supposes that 26 graves found in the so-called Termez “Kurgan” in the north-eastern part of Old Termez, dating from the 5th - 6th centuries AD belong to the Hephthalites."

-taken from wikipedia and The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis by Aydogdy Kurbanov