1300-year-old Turkic fingerprints brought to light in Mongolia

Turkey's official overseas development agency (TİKA) said that archaeologists have unearthed fingerprints belonging to Turks in the east of Mongolia.

The fingerprints, dating back 1,300 years, were found at the site of the earliest known example of Turkic writing found in Mongolia.

The unique discovery was made during excavation work being carried out at Tonyukuk Monument, internationally known as Bain Tsokto. A large number of ancient tools were also discovered during the excavation.

“One of the most striking findings is the one that we discovered in the no.11 trench. We uncovered fingerprints belonging to our ancestors dating back 1,300 years," said Ahmet Taşağıl, a senior academic from Yeditepe University, who led the excavation works in a report he submitted to TIKA.

The scripts are named after the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia. The epigraphs, which date back to the early 8th century, were erected 430 kilometers from Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital.

The three massive slabs of stone inscribed in ancient Turkic script, erected on the steppes of eastern Mongolia, are called Orkhon monuments. Tonyukuk monument is one of the Orkhon Epigraphes, which are still considered masterpieces of Turkish language, literature and history.