Defense structures of Zhetyasar monuments

Abstract

In the article the author gives a description of typology and fortification of early medieval monuments of Zhetyasar culture in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, and offers his point of view on the typological classification of these monuments. Zhetyasar cities are the remains of Kangyu culture monuments that existed in the basin of the ancient Syr Darya-Kuandaria river bed. Monuments are located in the tract Zhetyasar of Karmakshinsky district, Kyzylorda region and date back to the 2nd century. BC. – VІІІ century. n. e. The first mention of kangyuyas in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya is found in Chinese sources, particularly in the work of Sima Qian’s «The Journey to the Western Countries,» which dates back to the 2nd century BC. Modern studies of Zhetyasar fortifications began with the arrival of the Khorezm archaeological and ethnographic expedition in the Syr Darya region in 1946. The archaeological research (excavations) that continued until the 1990s covered dozens of fortifications and more than a thousand funerary structures. Carrying out a comparative analysis of the results of the above studies, the applicant proposes that changes in the methods of building settlements and their planning in the last period of the existence of the Zhetyasar monuments are closely related to the penetration of the Turkic tribes from the east into the Southeast Priaralie.