An idol from the Altyn-Emel picket
Perhaps the brightest and most interesting stone sculpture from the collection of Tomsk University comes from a place known at the end of the 19th century as Altyn-Emel station. This point was located in the Semirechensk region, in the sources of the XIX century it also appeared under the name - "Altyn-Emel picket".
Definition of "picket" or "station" indicates that the point was on the route. The distance from this point to the Ili River was 112 km. From here a direct path to Borokhudzir and Gulja opened. On the modern map of Kazakhstan, this territory is located within the Kerbulak district of the Almaty region.
Characteristics and details of the original The location of this statue is not available in the sources. Judging by the indirect instructions of V.M. Florinsky, it can be assumed that the "woman" was found in the vicinity of the mentioned picket.
Delivery of the statue from Semirechye to Tomsk and its journey to the university grove took almost two years. To organize the dispatch, the help of an official for special assignments and even the military governor of the Semirechensk region E. Mikhailovsky was needed.
Sent to Tomsk on the Ignatov steamer, upon arrival at its destination, it ended up in the city government, where it lay for more than a year. Only in July 1886 "a stone woman sent in the past 1885 from the Semirechensk region for the museum at the Siberian University" was received by V.M. Florinsky (Tomsk Museums, 2010, pp. 108-110)
According to V.M. Florinsky among In other specimens, a stone woman from the Altyn-Emel picket was distinguished by the fact that instead of a bowl, a bird (similar to a falcon) was depicted on the right hand. In addition, the woman was distinguished by careful dressing: “This figure represents a full man with a round face and a round head ... The head is a torso, the hands of a bird are carved quite distinctly and skillfully. And the legs are only outlined along the plane of the stone, without relief roundness. They are shown crossed inward, which is called kalach” (Florinskiy, 1896, p. 39).
Regarding the purpose of such statues, V.M. Florinsky notices. “Barrows and stone babas were most often placed in places where the busiest traffic took place. This achieved the goal of the monument - to serve as an edification to posterity, or, at least, to give the opportunity to remember the deceased more often (Florinskiy, 1886, p. 40). However, they could also have another purpose. Most often, women were placed on elevated places, such sites were used, for "overland travel". In the monotonous steppe plains or in mountain passes, they served as beacons for travelers. The copy delivered to Tomsk University from the Altyn-Emel picket, in his opinion, confirms this assumption. It belongs to the group of traveling idols, since this station, near which it was found, is located just on the eastern border of the Ili breakthrough of the Alatau mountains and from here a direct path opens to Borokhudzir and to Gulja (Florinskiy, 1886, p. 41).