RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SHIMAILY (KARAKOZ) BURIAL GROUND OF THE KARATAU RANGE

Abstract

This article deals with  the results of the archaeological excavations at the Karakoz burial ground (cemetery), dated to the Early Iron Age, which is part of a complex together with the Shimaily rock carvings, located 20 km northeast of Shalkiya village, Zhanakorgan region, Kyzylorda oblast, in the Greater Karatau ridge. Excavations have currently been carried out on three burial mounds (kurgan). The main goal of the research is to study the burial objects, structural features, typology, burial tradition, and material complex in the context of the worldview of the ancient inhabitants of the region. Based on scientific analysis, the study aims to determine the distribution areas and chronological periods of the material evidence and burial customs. The methodological basis of the research relies on the traditional comparative method widely used in archaeology, together with the results of natural sciences, (AMS 14C radiocarbon analysis), the absolute age of the monument has been established. The sample was taken directly from the human skeleton buried in Mound No. 3. The preservation of the burial mounds (kurgan) allowed for a clear determination of the arrangement order.The presence of bronze mirrors, sacrificial stones, earrings, arrowheads, swords, and ceramic vessels within the graves indicates the existence of complex religious and ideological concepts among the inhabitants of the region during the Early Iron Age. The results of radiocarbon analysis, together with the grave goods, allow the burial complexes to be dated to the 4th–2nd centuries BC. The materials obtained make a significant contribution to a deeper understanding of the funerary traditions and worldview of the tribes that inhabited the Karatau range in the Early Iron Age.