On the building art of medieval Oguzes

Abstract

The article presents medieval sites of architecture – the towers, located of the lower reaches of the Syr Darya River. The descriptions of the towers are given and the folk legends associated with them are analyzed. To solve the problem of their dating and functional purpose used works of S.P. Tolstov, S.G. Khmelnitsky, E.M. Baitenov, B.A. Ibraev, M.B. Kozha, Zh.K. Kurmanulov and A.A. Tazhekeev. When solving dating issues, the main factor is the consideration towers’s in the context of the culture of «marsh sites», which opened in 1946 by S.P. Tolstov. Towers Uzuntam, Begim Ana and Saraman-Kosa are compared with the sites (Kesken kuik-kala, Kuik-kala and Jankent) of Ogyz time and date from the IX-XI centuries. These monuments were not investigated by a complex archaeological and architectural method, in connection the question of the functional purpose of the towers remains open.