Archaeological research of the Chirik-Rabat settlement
One of the most unique regions in terms of concentration of monuments of ancient history and culture of Kazakhstan is the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, which in the period of antiquity, thanks to the Greeks, were called Tanais and Yaksart.
Started in the 19th century. Examination of the region by scientists from Europe and Russia has recorded here hundreds of archaeological sites from the Paleolithic to the beginning of the Middle Ages, sites and "workshops" of the Stone Age, settlements, burial grounds and burial mounds of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, ancient settlements and cities of the Middle Ages. This list was significantly supplemented as a result of many years of research work of the Khorezm complex expedition of the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov and the exploration of the South Kazakhstan archaeological expedition. Dozens of settlements and burial grounds of different times were partially studied. 1
One of the important problems of ancient and medieval history is the emergence of cities, which is of paramount importance for the study of the ancient and medieval history of Kazakhstan.
The last quarter of a century has been marked by an increased interest in the study of urban topics in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The basis for the study of cities in this region was laid in the works of V.V. Barthold, P.P. Lerha, M.E. Mason, A.Yu. Yakubovsky, A.M. Belenitsky, A.Kh. Margulan, S.P. Tolstova, A.N. Bernshtam. Their research gave a historical description of the city of Central Asia and the South of Kazakhstan. In order to implement the State Program "Cultural Heritage" at the Chirik-Rabat settlement in 2004, comprehensive scientific research of the Chirik-Rabat archaeological expedition began under the leadership of the head of the Central Kazakhstan archaeological expedition, candidate of historical sciences Zh.K. Kurmankulov.
The Chirik-Rabat settlement is located 300 km south-west of Kyzylorda near the dry channel of the Zhana-darya river. It is a huge oval ancient fortress dating back to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, surrounded by a system of concentric ramparts and ditches, inside of which the rectangular layout of a later fortress of the first centuries of our era is visible.
It is believed to have been the sanctuary and residence of tribal chiefs early on. Apart from residential buildings, there were mausoleums and large mounds on the territory of the city. The defensive walls had a corridor and oval towers with loopholes.
In 1946 - 1949. KhAEE (S.P. Tolstov) lifting material was collected and grounding was carried out. In 1957 - 1959 stationary excavations have begun. According to S.P. Tolstov, the settlements are the capital of the Apasiacs - one of the Sakas tribes. 3
It should be noted that the settlement was settled several times. Its most ancient part is the northern, higher part of the hill, where there are 2 large mounds and 3 ring-shaped structures with high walls. In addition, in this part, the space between the mounds, as it turned out this year, was filled with rectangular and oval burial structures. Thus, initially, a burial ground appears on the high part of the hill.
Then, possibly at the same time, residential buildings are being erected in the southern sloping part of the hill. At this time, a new powerful adobe wall up to 4 m high and up to 4.5 m wide was being built on the outer rampart, on the wall there is a shooting gallery up to 1.8 m wide.This wall is reinforced with rectangular and, mostly oval-shaped towers that protruded from the plane of the wall by 6 m and communicated from the inside with the shooting gallery. The fortress wall and towers are cut by arrow-shaped loopholes.
The moat is surrounded by a shaft from the inside. In addition, the very top of the hill with 3 mounds is surrounded by a third row of ramparts. The ancient settlement Chirik-Rabat was of great strategic importance. It stood on a busy caravan route, at the junction of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya deltas, as if guarding the southern border, the land of the Sakas - Apasiacs. Obviously, this explains the strengthening of its multi-row defensive structures. In the course of exploration in the vicinity of the settlement, a whole system of artificial irrigation network, originating from the main channel of the Zhanadarya, was revealed. Traces of main canals and irrigated fields are well recorded. Along the canals, stretching mainly from north to south up to 40 km or more, there were a number of villages of 7-8 houses. Interestingly, in the middle of two or three such settlements there is a fortified structure of the rectangular type of tortkul, with sides of 60x80 m and with towers at the corner. They are distinguished by a clear configuration and wall heights up to 1-1.5 m. There are three such settlements around Chirik-Rabat. Judging by the finds scattered within a radius of up to 300-500 m around the villages, they existed for quite a long time. Among the finds, a large number of ceramics of various molding and easel, typical for the Saka period, are found. Often there are stone and glass beads, some of them painted, fragments of copper products. The bones of animals are extremely rare, which indicates the agricultural bias of the economy of the inhabitants of the villages.
In the current field season, excavations were started at three sites.
Renewed investigations at object-1 revealed that the object is a complex burial structure - a burial vault. In the course of excavation work, a pit was discovered, in terms of a sub-rectangular shape. In the lower part of the eastern and western walls, symmetrically located undercap chambers were recorded. The western chamber was ransacked. Probably, during the robbery, the human tubular bones and fragments of the parietal part of the skull were taken out of the lining. The nature of the burial building is determined by its eastern part, where the entrance to the lining is built up with a wall of adobe bricks, the height of which reaches 165 cm. There are also traces of a robbery. The bricks in the upper row of the wall have been hewn away, but the remains inside the sidewall have not been touched. The dimensions of the bricks are not the same and vary from 45x35x15 cm to 30x17x15 cm.
In the eastern chamber, three skeletons were recorded, with the southeastern orientation of the deceased, in an extended position, on their backs. Interestingly, two skeletons to the east of the entrance to the lining were laid on their backs, one above the other. Apparently, for some time the lining was not filled with soil, as evidenced by the skeleton of an adult, located above another, smaller skeleton, whose skull lay in a non-anatomical order relative to the body, displaced southeast of the skeleton.
The third skeleton, located separately, to the west of these remains, was probably a representative of the military nobility during his time. The discovered iron sword, located on the left, along the skeleton, speaks in favor of this judgment. The sword is more than 1 m long, with an ornamented wooden handle, the knob in the form of a truncated cone and a rhombic crosshair are made of bronze. On the right side of the skeleton there is a poorly preserved iron knife subject to erosion. Fragments of a leather belt with a bronze buckle and patch plaques have been preserved on the belt. In the region of the head and chest, hemispherical plaques and hollow tubular piercings of yellow metal were found in large numbers. At the feet was a rectangular earthen incense-burner with the remains of ash.
On the left, at the headboard, two vessels are fixed. One of them is an almost destroyed bowl made of wood. The second is a ceramic flask with handles, on the flat side of which 7 symbols were drawn on wet clay, separated by dots. The signs resemble Parthian letters. During the clearing, the remains of organic matter (felt, cloth, wool) penetrated with numerous golden threads and poorly preserved wooden flooring were found under the skeletons. Excavation work began in 2004 at object II, which is located inside the 2nd defensive wall in the Chirik-Rabat settlement. The object is an oval shape with a diameter of 70-75 m from north to south, and 75-80 m from west to east.
As a result of research work until 2006, a burial pit was revealed in the center of the object at a depth of 1.5-2 m.The burial pit has an irregular round shape with a diameter of 13-15 meters, from the southeastern wall of the pit there is a continental slope that goes down 4 m, 1.32 m wide.On the southern side of the burial pit there is a dromus entrance to the burial pit, the width of the dromus is 3.90 m.
From the southeastern part of the pit, at a deepening of 3.20 m, an accumulation of easel ceramic fragments was found at a depth of 3.90 m, and clay grease was found at the bottom of the pit.
From the western part of the pit, at a depth of 3.20 m, a width of 1.20 m, the tempo soil appeared - brown, mixed with kerch stones, it stretches along the western wall to dromus, on it the bones of a human skeleton and fragments of burnt ceramics are randomly located.
In the center of the burial pit, with a gradual deepening to a depth of 4 m, a rectangular chamber was found, a masonry of adobe bricks. The length of the burial chamber is 3.73 m, the width of the north-western wall is 1.87 m, the width of the south-eastern wall is 2.63 m, the size of the bricks is 47x45 cm.
The northwestern wall of the burial chamber has been destroyed; bricks are unevenly scattered in the southeastern part of the wall. When deepening in the burial pit at a depth of 1.70 m, a predatory manhole was found from the north-western part of the wall; in the south-western corner of the chamber, an accumulation of fragments of machine-tool ceramics, parts of the bones of a human skeleton, was recorded.
The northern part of the burial chamber has not been fully opened due to the lack of time for the field season.
As a result of the work carried out, it is possible to assume the existence of a cremation rite, since parts of the burnt bones of a human skeleton, fragmentary parts of ceramic vessels, which are scattered throughout the area, were found in the burial pit. It can be assumed that the object was plundered at one time.
At object-3, which is located 7 km east of the Chirik-Rabat settlement, the cleaning of the southern half of the mausoleum was resumed. In the 2004 field season, works were mainly carried out in the northern half of the site. The monument has a circular shape in plan and is divided into two symmetrical parts by a wall of adobe bricks. There is a small passage in the center of the wall. The southern half of the mausoleum was plundered in antiquity, the bones of people and sacrificial animals were found at different stratigraphic horizons, ceramic vessels and other finds are located chaotically. As dating material, 4 bronze three-bladed arrows with a recessed sleeve are presented, which date back to the 4th-2nd centuries. BC e. In addition, ceramic vessels, half of a stone vessel, beads made of stone, etc. were found. The mausoleum belongs to the burial structures of the Saka tribes common in the region, who lived on the plains of the middle reaches of the Zhanadarya and Inkardarya rivers. In order to clarify the upper chronological framework of the Chirik-Rabat settlement itself, a study was carried out on the inner area of a fortified structure of a rectangular shape, which S.P. Tolstov defines it as a citadel of a late settlement. The length of the walls with the remains of defensive towers at the corners reaches 100 and 130 meters.
In the southwestern part of the citadel, on a small hill, an excavation was laid with a total area of 200 m2. During the sweep, a pakhsa building was discovered, consisting of four rooms with numerous hearths and tashnau. In one of the rooms, a pavement of burnt and adobe bricks was found. Inside the premises, a large number of fragments of easel ceramics and several fragments of molded ceramics were found. Fragments of pottery found at the excavation date back to the early Middle Ages.
At a depth of 0.5-0.6 m, excavations were suspended, the object was mothballed. Final conclusions regarding the time and period of validity will be given in subsequent studies.
A.Sh. Iskakov
Started in the 19th century. Examination of the region by scientists from Europe and Russia has recorded here hundreds of archaeological sites from the Paleolithic to the beginning of the Middle Ages, sites and "workshops" of the Stone Age, settlements, burial grounds and burial mounds of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, ancient settlements and cities of the Middle Ages. This list was significantly supplemented as a result of many years of research work of the Khorezm complex expedition of the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov and the exploration of the South Kazakhstan archaeological expedition. Dozens of settlements and burial grounds of different times were partially studied. 1
One of the important problems of ancient and medieval history is the emergence of cities, which is of paramount importance for the study of the ancient and medieval history of Kazakhstan.
The last quarter of a century has been marked by an increased interest in the study of urban topics in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The basis for the study of cities in this region was laid in the works of V.V. Barthold, P.P. Lerha, M.E. Mason, A.Yu. Yakubovsky, A.M. Belenitsky, A.Kh. Margulan, S.P. Tolstova, A.N. Bernshtam. Their research gave a historical description of the city of Central Asia and the South of Kazakhstan. In order to implement the State Program "Cultural Heritage" at the Chirik-Rabat settlement in 2004, comprehensive scientific research of the Chirik-Rabat archaeological expedition began under the leadership of the head of the Central Kazakhstan archaeological expedition, candidate of historical sciences Zh.K. Kurmankulov.
The Chirik-Rabat settlement is located 300 km south-west of Kyzylorda near the dry channel of the Zhana-darya river. It is a huge oval ancient fortress dating back to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, surrounded by a system of concentric ramparts and ditches, inside of which the rectangular layout of a later fortress of the first centuries of our era is visible.
It is believed to have been the sanctuary and residence of tribal chiefs early on. Apart from residential buildings, there were mausoleums and large mounds on the territory of the city. The defensive walls had a corridor and oval towers with loopholes.
In 1946 - 1949. KhAEE (S.P. Tolstov) lifting material was collected and grounding was carried out. In 1957 - 1959 stationary excavations have begun. According to S.P. Tolstov, the settlements are the capital of the Apasiacs - one of the Sakas tribes. 3
It should be noted that the settlement was settled several times. Its most ancient part is the northern, higher part of the hill, where there are 2 large mounds and 3 ring-shaped structures with high walls. In addition, in this part, the space between the mounds, as it turned out this year, was filled with rectangular and oval burial structures. Thus, initially, a burial ground appears on the high part of the hill.
Then, possibly at the same time, residential buildings are being erected in the southern sloping part of the hill. At this time, a new powerful adobe wall up to 4 m high and up to 4.5 m wide was being built on the outer rampart, on the wall there is a shooting gallery up to 1.8 m wide.This wall is reinforced with rectangular and, mostly oval-shaped towers that protruded from the plane of the wall by 6 m and communicated from the inside with the shooting gallery. The fortress wall and towers are cut by arrow-shaped loopholes.
The moat is surrounded by a shaft from the inside. In addition, the very top of the hill with 3 mounds is surrounded by a third row of ramparts. The ancient settlement Chirik-Rabat was of great strategic importance. It stood on a busy caravan route, at the junction of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya deltas, as if guarding the southern border, the land of the Sakas - Apasiacs. Obviously, this explains the strengthening of its multi-row defensive structures. In the course of exploration in the vicinity of the settlement, a whole system of artificial irrigation network, originating from the main channel of the Zhanadarya, was revealed. Traces of main canals and irrigated fields are well recorded. Along the canals, stretching mainly from north to south up to 40 km or more, there were a number of villages of 7-8 houses. Interestingly, in the middle of two or three such settlements there is a fortified structure of the rectangular type of tortkul, with sides of 60x80 m and with towers at the corner. They are distinguished by a clear configuration and wall heights up to 1-1.5 m. There are three such settlements around Chirik-Rabat. Judging by the finds scattered within a radius of up to 300-500 m around the villages, they existed for quite a long time. Among the finds, a large number of ceramics of various molding and easel, typical for the Saka period, are found. Often there are stone and glass beads, some of them painted, fragments of copper products. The bones of animals are extremely rare, which indicates the agricultural bias of the economy of the inhabitants of the villages.
In the current field season, excavations were started at three sites.
Renewed investigations at object-1 revealed that the object is a complex burial structure - a burial vault. In the course of excavation work, a pit was discovered, in terms of a sub-rectangular shape. In the lower part of the eastern and western walls, symmetrically located undercap chambers were recorded. The western chamber was ransacked. Probably, during the robbery, the human tubular bones and fragments of the parietal part of the skull were taken out of the lining. The nature of the burial building is determined by its eastern part, where the entrance to the lining is built up with a wall of adobe bricks, the height of which reaches 165 cm. There are also traces of a robbery. The bricks in the upper row of the wall have been hewn away, but the remains inside the sidewall have not been touched. The dimensions of the bricks are not the same and vary from 45x35x15 cm to 30x17x15 cm.
In the eastern chamber, three skeletons were recorded, with the southeastern orientation of the deceased, in an extended position, on their backs. Interestingly, two skeletons to the east of the entrance to the lining were laid on their backs, one above the other. Apparently, for some time the lining was not filled with soil, as evidenced by the skeleton of an adult, located above another, smaller skeleton, whose skull lay in a non-anatomical order relative to the body, displaced southeast of the skeleton.
The third skeleton, located separately, to the west of these remains, was probably a representative of the military nobility during his time. The discovered iron sword, located on the left, along the skeleton, speaks in favor of this judgment. The sword is more than 1 m long, with an ornamented wooden handle, the knob in the form of a truncated cone and a rhombic crosshair are made of bronze. On the right side of the skeleton there is a poorly preserved iron knife subject to erosion. Fragments of a leather belt with a bronze buckle and patch plaques have been preserved on the belt. In the region of the head and chest, hemispherical plaques and hollow tubular piercings of yellow metal were found in large numbers. At the feet was a rectangular earthen incense-burner with the remains of ash.
On the left, at the headboard, two vessels are fixed. One of them is an almost destroyed bowl made of wood. The second is a ceramic flask with handles, on the flat side of which 7 symbols were drawn on wet clay, separated by dots. The signs resemble Parthian letters. During the clearing, the remains of organic matter (felt, cloth, wool) penetrated with numerous golden threads and poorly preserved wooden flooring were found under the skeletons. Excavation work began in 2004 at object II, which is located inside the 2nd defensive wall in the Chirik-Rabat settlement. The object is an oval shape with a diameter of 70-75 m from north to south, and 75-80 m from west to east.
As a result of research work until 2006, a burial pit was revealed in the center of the object at a depth of 1.5-2 m.The burial pit has an irregular round shape with a diameter of 13-15 meters, from the southeastern wall of the pit there is a continental slope that goes down 4 m, 1.32 m wide.On the southern side of the burial pit there is a dromus entrance to the burial pit, the width of the dromus is 3.90 m.
From the southeastern part of the pit, at a deepening of 3.20 m, an accumulation of easel ceramic fragments was found at a depth of 3.90 m, and clay grease was found at the bottom of the pit.
From the western part of the pit, at a depth of 3.20 m, a width of 1.20 m, the tempo soil appeared - brown, mixed with kerch stones, it stretches along the western wall to dromus, on it the bones of a human skeleton and fragments of burnt ceramics are randomly located.
In the center of the burial pit, with a gradual deepening to a depth of 4 m, a rectangular chamber was found, a masonry of adobe bricks. The length of the burial chamber is 3.73 m, the width of the north-western wall is 1.87 m, the width of the south-eastern wall is 2.63 m, the size of the bricks is 47x45 cm.
The northwestern wall of the burial chamber has been destroyed; bricks are unevenly scattered in the southeastern part of the wall. When deepening in the burial pit at a depth of 1.70 m, a predatory manhole was found from the north-western part of the wall; in the south-western corner of the chamber, an accumulation of fragments of machine-tool ceramics, parts of the bones of a human skeleton, was recorded.
The northern part of the burial chamber has not been fully opened due to the lack of time for the field season.
As a result of the work carried out, it is possible to assume the existence of a cremation rite, since parts of the burnt bones of a human skeleton, fragmentary parts of ceramic vessels, which are scattered throughout the area, were found in the burial pit. It can be assumed that the object was plundered at one time.
At object-3, which is located 7 km east of the Chirik-Rabat settlement, the cleaning of the southern half of the mausoleum was resumed. In the 2004 field season, works were mainly carried out in the northern half of the site. The monument has a circular shape in plan and is divided into two symmetrical parts by a wall of adobe bricks. There is a small passage in the center of the wall. The southern half of the mausoleum was plundered in antiquity, the bones of people and sacrificial animals were found at different stratigraphic horizons, ceramic vessels and other finds are located chaotically. As dating material, 4 bronze three-bladed arrows with a recessed sleeve are presented, which date back to the 4th-2nd centuries. BC e. In addition, ceramic vessels, half of a stone vessel, beads made of stone, etc. were found. The mausoleum belongs to the burial structures of the Saka tribes common in the region, who lived on the plains of the middle reaches of the Zhanadarya and Inkardarya rivers. In order to clarify the upper chronological framework of the Chirik-Rabat settlement itself, a study was carried out on the inner area of a fortified structure of a rectangular shape, which S.P. Tolstov defines it as a citadel of a late settlement. The length of the walls with the remains of defensive towers at the corners reaches 100 and 130 meters.
In the southwestern part of the citadel, on a small hill, an excavation was laid with a total area of 200 m2. During the sweep, a pakhsa building was discovered, consisting of four rooms with numerous hearths and tashnau. In one of the rooms, a pavement of burnt and adobe bricks was found. Inside the premises, a large number of fragments of easel ceramics and several fragments of molded ceramics were found. Fragments of pottery found at the excavation date back to the early Middle Ages.
At a depth of 0.5-0.6 m, excavations were suspended, the object was mothballed. Final conclusions regarding the time and period of validity will be given in subsequent studies.
A.Sh. Iskakov
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