The German word "runes" also refers to the outwardly similar ancient Turkic, or Orkhon-Yeniseian, script that was used in Central Asia in the 8th-10th centuries AD. The most important monuments of the Orkhon-Yeniseian script are stone steles erected in Mongolia, Southern Siberia, and Semirechye (in the area of ​​Lake Balkhash and Lake Issyk-Kul). The inscriptions have brought us unique information on the history of the Turkic Khaganates and, no less importantly, the language of that era. The Turkic runic alphabet was deciphered in 1893 by the great Danish linguist Wilhelm Thomsen.