Türk Mitolojisinde Kozmik Sembolizm Arketipler, İnanç ve Ritüel (Cosmic Symbolism in Turkic Mythology - Archetypes, Beliefs, and Rituals)

Rock paintings carved into stones in the geography of Turkestan are not only early examples of prehistoric art; they are visual memory spaces that open to the deepest layers of Turkic mythology, ancient Turkic beliefs, and steppe-centered Turkic culture. This book treats rock paintings not as silent and anonymous drawings, but as material and intellectual traces of the relationship the Turks established with the universe, nature, and the sacred. In ancient Turkic belief, there are no definitive boundaries between the human, animal, and spirit worlds. Figures such as horses, deer, wolves, eagles, and mountain goats are not only elements of daily life but also carriers of cosmic order in Turkic mythology. Hunting scenes, transformation depictions, shamanic figures, and vertical compositions found in rock paintings produced in the Turkestan steppes visually reveal the understanding of earth-sky-underworld and the cyclical perception of time that forms the basis of ancient Turkic religious thought. This study interprets the iconographic continuity observed in Turkestan rock paintings not through simple formal similarities, but through the relational cosmology central to Turkic mythology. Here, the rock paintings are not passive representations; they are active tools for ritual, belief, and knowledge production. In the ancient Turkic world, the line is not merely a trace; it is the material expression of contact with the sacred, transformation, and harmony with the cosmic order. This visual heritage, encompassing the vast Turkestan basin from Afanasyevo to Andronovo, from the Karasuk and Tashtyk cultures to the Deer Stones, makes visible the deep continuity of Turkic cultural history. Rather than directly presenting a claim of "first ancestors," the book opens up a discussion on how Turkic mythological thought and the ancient Turkic belief system took shape as a long-term mentality. These images carved in stone are not silent remnants of the past; they are the visual memory of Turkic cosmology, Turkic religious thought, and steppe culture, transformed and lived through thousands of years. This work invites us to read that memory and to reconsider the language of Turkic mythology imprinted on stone.

Author: Halil Can Akgün

Publisher: Doruk Publications

Publication Date: 18.12.2025

Number of Pages: 288

Binding Type: Paperback

Paper Type: Book Paper

Dimensions: 13.5 x 21 cm

Language: Turkish