"Pre-Islamic Sogdian shields?" Topic

Does anybody here have some idea about what pre-Islamic Sogdian shields might have looked like, especially in terms of overall design and shape, and for foot versus mounted?

Google yielded an image of a Sogdian shield fragment with some depiction of Sogdians on it, but the fragment is so small that it is difficult to infer much about the shield itself.

Thanks!

Lighter cavalry may not have used shields.

link

Thank you!

You mean this fragment? link

You can tell that it was round, the two holes are probably two of four for fastening handgrips and would have been filled by small bossed rivets. It's made of wood covered in parchment, and apparently the inside is painted as leopardskin though I have never seen a picture of that – link

The only evidence I have seen for infantry shields is the rectangular ones made of wooden slats or perhaps of canes in Sasanian style, shown in figure 4 at PDF link – and it is possible that these are enemy shields rather than Sogdian ones anyway.

Thanks, GurKhan! That image is much clearer than the one that I had found.

Am I wrong that at least Sogdian civilians resemble their Islamic descendents, except that they wear hats instead of turbans?

Well, Skeptic, I'm not quite sure what the clothing of "their Islamic descendants" would be…

For Sogdian costume, though, have a look at link and link In the 7th-8th centuries you seem to be looking at the long coat with turned-back lapel and contrasting edging that we also see in Turkish and Tarim Basin sources; in earlier centuries some wear shorter coats or tunics.

Thanks again. "Muslim successors", then?

I wasn't querying the terminology, just not sure who you were talking about – the Samanids? the Timurids? modern Tajiks and/or Uzbeks? – let alone how their civilians dressed!

Sorry, I was thinking more in terms of the relatively undifferentiated wargames figures that serve as representations of such. I should have mentioned that shift.

Both sides of the Painted Soghdian Shield from Mug can be seen on this larger black and white image.

Surviving Sogdian clothing:
A Sogdian split tapestry (kilim) coat with animal motifs, Central Asia, 9th/10th Century
Sogdian Silk Lampas Trousers, Central Asia, 7th – 8th Century

Tokharians and Uighurs of the City States of Central Asia in Frescos etc from the Tarim Basin

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

the link to the sogdian shield is broken, druzhina

thanks for the others. I'll have to get right on painting that pattern from the silk trousers….

Try this link: Painted Soghdian Shield from Mug

Druzhina
8th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers