Arts asiatiques - Année 1990 - Volume 45 - Numéro 1 - Pages 48-60The author recalls the discovery from 1720 onwards of the Old Turkish (circa 8th-10th c.) tombstone inscriptions of the Upper Yenisey, and of those of Mongolia from 1889 onwards, then their deciphering by Thomsen and Radloff at the end of the 19th century. He describes the progress (inventory and interpretation) of epigraphy and elucidates by translations the contents of some texts. He emphasizes the linguistic and historical interest of the corpus, on part of which Chinese sources shed light. Mentioning the recent discovery in Mongolia of an official Turkish inscription (c. 580) in the Sogdian language and script, he discusses the date of the introduction of writing among Turkish speaking peoples, while distinguishing the cursive script of Sogdian origin (no doubt adopted in the second half of the 6th c.) from the graphic system of the inscriptions (created by the Turks shortly before 700). 13 pages Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.