Pages: 333-347 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp214333347

The article addresses the main results of the activities of the South Kazakhstan State Pedagogical University’s Archaeological team in 2020 field season under the regional research program “Monuments of writing and archeology of the state of Kangyuy (Kangju) in the 2nd century BC — 4th century AD”. The team conducted systematic excavations on the Kultobe Arys settlement (rabad territory) and the Kylyshzhar burial ground (southwestern group of burial mounds, mounds 11 and 12). In the course of work on the Kultobe settlement, an assemblage of archaeological finds was obtained, including ceramics of various functional purposes, tools made of stone, bone, and an epigraphic artifact — a full text in Proto-Sogdian (Kangju) writing on a ceramic brick-table. The uncovered catacomb burials of the Kylyshzhar burial ground made it possible to obtain archaeological complexes of the 1st—3rd century BC, possibly the beginning of the 4th century AD (ceramics, jewelry, household items), which by their historical and cultural parameters are associated with the Sarmatian-Xiongnu world of Central Eurasia and the state of Kangju.

Keywords: South Kazakhstan, settlement, epigraphic artifact, catacomb, archaeological complex, Kangju, 1st century BC — 3rd century AD, Sarmatians

Information about authors:

Aleksandr Podushkin (Shymkent, Kazakhstan). Doctor of Historical Sciences. South Kazakhstan State Pedagogical University. Baytursinov St., 13, Shymkent, 160017, Republic of Kazakhstan
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrey Donets (Shymkent, Kazakhstan). Turkestan Regional Museum of History and Local Lore. Baidibek bi Ave., 115A, Shymkent, 160000, Republic of Kazakhstan
E-mail: [email protected]