ASTANA – An archaeological expedition from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) has found a Turkic Khaganate-era settlement in the Zaysan Basin of the East Kazakhstan Region, according to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Photo credit: Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Click to see the map in full size. The map is designed by The Astana Times.
The fieldwork is part of a project called “Archaeological Landscapes of the Zaysan Basin: Chronology, Spatial Analysis and Economic Systems.” The ministry’s Science Committee funds it through a research grant.
Photo: Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
The team studied the Kalzhyr settlement in depth. It lies between the villages of Kalzhyr and Boran and covers more than 25 hectares.
Archaeologists uncovered the remains of the main fortifications in the southern part of the fortress. They found that much of it had been destroyed by fire. They also found parts of the buildings’ interior structures, earthen floors, plaster that still shows traces of ornament, and fragments of reed and clay structures.
Based on the finds and radiocarbon analysis, the site dates to the 6th–7th centuries AD. Early findings suggest the settlement was built during the First Turkic Khaganate.
The artifacts include charred wheat and legume grains, ceramic vessels and a rare ceramic bird figurine with a rattle inside.
“During the research, we identified a kereksur, a burial structure from the Late Bronze Age. This find broadens scientific understanding of the western boundary of such monuments, whose main area covers Xinjiang and Mongolia. The data we collected will be used to develop digital models and a geographic information system for the region,” said expedition leader Nikita Konstantinov, who is an associate research professor at KazNU’s Department of Archaeology.
Photo: Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
KazNU history faculty scholars and students worked on the project together with specialists from the Center for Archaeological Technologies and Science at D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University and from the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology.
During the fieldwork, young researchers got hands-on practice with modern archaeological surveying methods, including aerial and thermal imaging.
