Comprehensive analysis of the design features of the burial mounds of the early iron age in the Alakol valley

Research article

Abstract

The migration routes of the Early Iron Age in the territory of Alakol, due to natural and climatic factors, passed mainly through the foothill southern part of the region. The concentration of archaeological sites well confirms this circumstance. Horse-nomadic routes accessible for movement play a special role in the foothill areas. One of the most famous sites is the “Zhongar Gate”, the burial culture monuments of which are the subject of the work. The region's archaeological sites are of interest not only in the context of regional archeology, but also provide information for broader historical reconstructions. The article examines new data on thirteen mounds studied in 2020. For a more complete and objective analysis, additional materials are used in the form of statistical data on thirty-three mounds studied during stationary archaeological work in the 1960s, directly related to the locations under consideration. It should be taken into account that the names of the burial grounds given by the authors of the excavations, as well as their conventional divisions, do not reflect the topographic or chronological gradation and were named by the authors of their discovery regarding the nearest toponym. The close geographical location of a number of the listed burial mounds allows us to link them to three locations near the villages of Usharal, Koktuma, and Zhalanashkol. At the same time, the previously studied Alakol burial grounds are attributed to the Koktuma location. Considerable attention is paid to the description of the planigraphic device and the visually detectable features of the published burial mounds. The observations carried out, in combination with the description of various building materials, allow us to discuss the different times and cultural diversity of burial traditions within one burial mound field, even at the first stage of the research. The elements of the burials subject to study and the types of grave structures are separately systematized, which made it possible to identify new design features of the burial complexes of the region. As a result of the analysis, the authors concluded about the variability of the architecture of the burial mounds, which indicates a complex ethnocultural situation in the region at the end of the 1st millennium BC. Their interdisciplinary approach, including statistical analysis, especially without dating accompanying inventory, is an urgent task in the development of the archaeology of the early Iron Age. In addition, the materials of archaeological excavations allow us to talk about the important role of the Alakol Lake basin as a connecting center between Eastern Kazakhstan and Zhetysu and, more broadly, between the East and West of Central Asia in ancient times.