It is believed that Yenisei Inscriptions belong to different Turkic tribes living in Yenisei region. Some of these inscriptions, which are usually erected as tombstones, are a few words, most of them 5-10 lines. These inscriptions are written in a plain and no exaggeration language.[3] It is often seen that the author tells in a sincere language that they left this world without being satiated. Traces of Shamanism is also seen in the inscriptions.[4]
Yenisei inscriptions used unique letters instead of some of the Orkhon letters that we see in Orkhon inscriptions. These are more primitive than the letters used in Orkhon inscriptions. The texts used in the inscriptions are also primitive compared to the Orkhon inscriptions and there are no long texts since all are tombstones. Therefore, it is thought to have been written before the Orkhon inscriptions.[3][5] However, dating studies point to the 8th-9th centuries.[6]
Yenisei written monuments: E-1 monument Uyuk-Tarlak, E-2 monument Uyuk-Arzhan, E-37 monument TesStele Uybat-I. The stele itself dates back to the Okunev culture, 2nd millennium BCE.[7][8]Re-used Deer stone stele (circa 1000 BCE), with Uyuk Turan Inscription.[9]
The inscriptions were named with the name of the river, village or region where they were first found, and were indicated with numbers such as E-1, E-50, e-150 in academic type. For example: Uyuk-Tarlak (Е-1), Barık I (Е-5), Barık II (Е-6), Elegest (Е-10), Begre (Е-11), Uybat I (Е-30) etc.[12][13][14][15]
^Kormushin, Igor (2019). "Yenisei runiform inscriptions and Turkic languages in the Yenisei Basin in the 8th - 10th centuries". Turkic Languages. 23 (2): 153–162.
^Rentzsch, Julian; Yıldız, Hülya (8 June 2020). "Uybat I". Uybat I. De Gruyter. p. 9. ISBN978-3-11-067577-1. The stele bears a carved-out human face at the bottom, of which Kormušin (1997: 91) states that archaeologists date it to no later than the 2nd millennium B.C.E. without specifying a concrete source. The stone was brought to the Mart'janov Museum of Local Lore in Minusinsk (Minusinskij regional'nyj kraevedčeskij muzej imeni N.M. Mart'janova) at the end of the 19th century, where it is kept under inventory no. 7 (Kormušin 1997: 91).