Results of the study of the burial of the late Middle Ages in the Nurinsky district of the Karaganda region

Authors

A. Kukushkin Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6262-464X
Е. Dmitriev Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan; Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1440-7675
A. Raisova Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan;Durham University, Durham, UK Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4660-2501
A. Tishkin Altai State University, Barnaul, Russian Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7769-136X
A. Maken Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan Author https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4449-6207

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32523/3080-129X-2025-152-3S1-99-117

Keywords:

Central Kazakhstan , developed Middle Ages, Kipchak, burial complex, anthropological study, radiocarbon dating

Abstract

The consolidation of the Mongol tribes in the early 13th century under the leadership of Genghis Khan was of crucial importance for the population of the Eurasian continent. In a rather short period of time, the Mongol Empire was created by military means, stretching from Eastern Europe in the west to the Sea of Japan in the east. Subsequently, with the beginning of the spread of Islam and its adoption as the state religion in the Golden Horde, the traditional way of life of the autochthonal population began to change. These events naturally affected Central Kazakhstan, where they found a multifaceted reflection in the monuments of the 13th – 1st half of the 15th centuries. The article publishes the results of the study of the Izendy-6 burial ground. The structure had a stone howe measuring 7.9 x 7.3 m and contained an intact burial in an underground pit, accompanied by items of weapons, horse equipment, as well as household items. The arrowhead found is somewhat atypical for the monuments of the Golden Horde period. Its direct typological analogues are known in the materials of the Srostkin culture of the Priobsky plateau, attributed by researchers to its Shadrintsev stage, dating from the 2nd half of the 10th – 1st half of the 11th centuries. Obviously, this type of arrowheads continued to be used in the Golden Horde period, although the main form was products with a flat penetrating part. The discovered earring in the form of a "question mark" is characteristic of the Kipchak (Polovtsian) population and is a cultural marker. Their spread since the 12th century practically coincides with the next significant event – the acquisition of ethnopolitical dominance in steppe Eurasia by the Kipchaks in the 11th century. The analysis of the osteological material showed that the bones belong to an immature individual aged 9-12 years. Gender remains uncertain due to the limited expression of morphological features at this age. Signs of a healed fracture of the left humerus were revealed, as well as a moderate asymmetry of the massiveness of the bones on the left side of the body, which may indicate adaptive changes associated with recovery from injury or individual growth characteristics. According to the results of radiocarbon dating, the age of the burial at 2s is determined within the last third of the 13th – the end of the 14th centuries. However, taking into account the analogies to the products (especially the arrowhead), we consider it possible to critically consider the data of radiocarbon analysis and date the studied burial at the Izendy-6 burial ground to the end of the 12th – end of the 13th centuries.

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Author Biographies

A. Kukushkin , Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan

Director of the Saryarka Archaeological Institute
Е. Dmitriev, Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan; Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia

Researcher, Saryarka Archaeological Institute, Postgraduate student Altai State University
A. Raisova, Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan;Durham University, Durham, UK

anthropologist, research fellow, Saryarka Archaeological Institute, PhD student at the Department of Archaeology Durham University
A. Tishkin, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russian

Head of the Department of Archaeology, Ethnography and Museology, Institute of History and International Relations
A. Maken, Karaganda University named after E.A. Buketov, Karaganda, Kazakhstan

1st year PhD student Faculty of History,

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