Ancient Kazakhstan

The territory of Kazakhstan has been inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by archaeological excavations. Thus, on the slopes of the Karatau ridge near the village of Konyrdek, flint tools of ancient man were found, as well as at the sites of Borykazgan and Tanirkazgan. In central Kazakhstan, the Kudai-Kol site is known on the northeastern outskirts of Sary-Arka. The most famous ancient sites on the territory of Zhezkazgan Shaman-Aibat and Obalysai.

And the Paleolithic monuments of Western Kazakhstan Shakhbagata, Onezhek located near the Sarytash Bay aroused particular interest among archaeologists. All these sites belong to the Stone Age (Paleolithic). For the Late Paleolithic, the most famous sites are Kanai, Svinchatka, Peshtera, Novo-Nikolskoye, and Shulbinka, in the Irtysh region and the Irtysh River basin. During this period, religion appeared among the ancient people of Kazakhstan.

 Ancient Kazakhstan in the Bronze Age is remarkable because people were engaged in ore mining and metal smelting. The people of this era who inhabited the territory of Kazakhstan were not only excellent warriors, shepherds and farmers, but also excellent metallurgists. They made axes, knives, daggers and various jewelry from bronze. They began to develop copper deposits that are still in use today - these are the Zhezkazgan and Sayak copper quarries. These people lived in large settlements and ancient cities, surrounded by walls and moats. The cities were inhabited by warriors and artisans, priests and farmers. These tribes lived on the territory of Kazakhstan for about a thousand years - from the 17th century. BC until IX-VIII centuries. BC e. At the end of the Bronze Age, in the first millennium BC, the population of Kazakhstan switched to a nomadic lifestyle. At this time, tribal alliances emerged. Information about tribes and tribal unions that lived on the territory of Kazakhstan dates back to the middle of the first millennium before the new era. In ancient Persian sources, the tribes occupying the territory of modern Semirechye and the Syr Darya basin were called Saki. The Saki created their first state, the center of which was located in Zhetysu (Semirechye), in southeastern Kazakhstan. The Saka kings simultaneously played the role of high priests. The Sakas had their own writing, mythology and outstanding world-class art, which in scientific literature was called “animal style art.” The subjects—beasts of prey, masterpieces—made of gold and bronze, today adorn the exhibitions of museums around the world. But above all, they were excellent horsemen. The Saki were the first in the world to learn to shoot a bow at full gallop. Tribes lived in the north-west of Kazakhstan Sauromatians, on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, Caspian tribes. All tribes were engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. Around this time, in the southwest of the region there existed the states of Sogd and Bactria with their highest culture for that time. At the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 3rd century BC, new tribes of Usuns, Kangyuys and Alans were formed on the territory of Kazakhstan, who lived between Lake Balkhash and the spurs of the Tien Shan, the Kangyuys inhabited the foothills of the Karatau, and the Alans, descendants of the Sauromatians, settled in the west in steppes of Kazakhstan.

  A special place in the development of the region belongs to the Great Silk Road, which passed through the region of Kazakhstan and connected China with Byzantium. The main item of trade here was silk fabrics. Many cities arose along the northern route in the Syrdarya River basin.

 The cities of Taraz, Otrar, Ispijab, Talkhir stood on the Great Silk Road, which in ancient times and the Middle Ages connected the West and the East: Japan, Korea and China with Central Asia, Iran, the Seljuk state, Russia and Byzantium, France and Italy.

The art of dance and painting, architecture and music spread along the Great Silk Road, as well as religions: Manichaeism and Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, which, starting from the 8th century. becomes the predominant, and then the only religion of the Kazakhs. On the banks of the Syrdarya, in the city of Turkestan, it was erected at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries. the religious shrine of all Turkic-speaking peoples is the complex of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

 References:

• History of the Kazakh SSR (from ancient times to the present day). In five volumes. Alma-Ata, “Science” KasSSR, 1979
•  Klyashtorny S., Sultanov T. Kazakhstan. Chronicles of three millennia. Alma-Ata, 1992.
•  Gumilev L.N. Ancient Turks. Alma-Ata, Nauka, 1993.