A headdress was the brightest element of traditional costume, which made it possible to refer a person to this or that nation. Like costume, a headdress has gone through a long evolution, in the course of which various ethnic contacts took place to form its appearance. This article attempts to reveal some common features in the Karkalpak women’s headdresses and those of ancient Altai people and contemporary Turkmen, Chuvash, Bashkir and Mari, using the traditional headdress tobelik as an example. Further examination of ancient headdresses will help solve some important problems in the Karakalpaks’ historical and cultural contacts with other peoples and will become a valuable source of information on the unstudied areas in the people’s history.