Archeology, History, History and Philosophy of Science
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Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Tamgas of the Kazakhs: A Historiographical Aspect Самат Кайроллаевич Самашев, Гаухар Аскаровна Калдыбаева, Бауыржан Берканович Бесетаев Kazakhstan Archeology, 2025 История археологического изучения тамг в казахской степи охватывает примерно 250 лет и количество научных трудов по этой теме на сегодняшний день весьма велико. Более того, резкий рост интереса к этому типу исторических источников во второй половине XX века привёл к появлению новых специалистов и исследовательских коллективов, которые углублённо изучают различные аспекты использования тамг народами, населявшими Евразийские степи в древности и средние века. Исследователи провели большую работу по сбору и анализу символов, выявленных на территории Казахстана и в приграничных регионах, по интерпретации понятия «тамга» и определению ареалов отдельных её типов. Вопросы происхождения символических знаков, их смысла и параллелей также были изучены. Однако исследователи, работая по разным причинам (политическим, языковым и др.) разрозненно, часто приходили к противоречивым выводам и не смогли выработать общую методологию изучения тамг. Это привело к увеличению не только количества исследований, но и критических замечаний к ним. Сейчас назрела необходимость объединить уже опубликованные труды, подвести промежуточные итоги и систематизировать материалы для дальнейшего развития исследований.
Tamgas from the medieval and modern periods in Southeastern Kazakhstan: an essay in comparative-typological analysis Gaukhar Kaldybayeva Kazakhstan Archeology, 2025 At the end of the 19th century, following the discovery of Old Turkic runic inscriptions, N. Aristov proposed that the runic script derived from tamgas. Based on the idea of an unbroken tradition of tamga usage, he attempted to compare the graphemes of runic writing with Kazakh tamgas. However, at that time the limited knowledge of both Old Turkic and Kazakh tamgas made it impossible to carry out a diachronic comparison. The present study aims to test the possibility of morphological continuity between tamgas of the Medieval and Early Modern periods and to determine whether there was a continuous tradition of their use. The source base includes the results of fieldwork (tamga-petroglyphs of the Medieval and Early Modern periods), compared with numismatic evidence, Old Turkic runic inscriptions, and written sources. Most of the Medieval signs identified in South-Eastern Kazakhstan that are comparable with Old Turkic runic graphemes date to the second half of the 8th – first half of the 9th century and are located near zones of traditional communication routes and medieval political-administrative centers. Tamgas of the 14th–17th centuries in South-Eastern Kazakhstan are either unknown or have not been identified, while Oirat tamgas of the 17th–18th centuries reflect the presence of different groups. Tamgas of the Early Modern period in South-Eastern Kazakhstan date to the second half of the 19th – first third of the 20th century and are concentrated mainly around contested volost borders and areas of settler land use. The depiction of tamgas in this period is associated with land scarcity and administrative-territorial changes. During this time, tamgas reveal a change in the function of the sign – from markers of group identity to legal symbols and, eventually, to the “loss of knowledge” of the sign’s form as the economic system and patterns of land use changed. Thus, no continuous tradition of tamga use has been identified in the region. The practice of carving tamgas was revived only under specific socio-economic and legal conditions, while morphological similarities between complexes of different periods are limited to simple convergent figures, insufficient for ethnic attribution.
The Turgen-II complex in Jetisu: history of objects Aigerim Aitbayeva, Alexander Goryachev, Tatyana Egorova, Gaukhar Kaldybayeva Kazakhstan Archeology, 2025 The assemblage of artifacts from the settlement and burials at the archaeological site of Turgen-II, located in the upper reaches of the eponymous gorge, includes both decorative and utility items made from iron, bone, and stone. The Early Saka period (8th–6th centuries BC) is represented by a bone comb, a bronze mirror plaque, and a bell. Artifacts from the Late Saka period (5th–3rd centuries BC) are generally utilitarian and made of iron. The funerary inventory from the Wusun period (3rd–1st centuries BC) includes stone, bone, and bronze ornaments as well as tools. A number of finds – including an arrowhead, an iron buckle, bronze bridle plaque, a bronze strap-fitting, and stirrups – are typologically attributed to the medieval period (no earlier than the 9th–14th centuries AD) and appear to have entered the archaeological context secondarily. The comparison of the core assemblage with radiocarbon data and technological features allows for tracing changes in the structure of the site throughout its different phases of use. Decorative elements on select artifacts reflect regional artistic traditions and provide evidence of cultural contacts with other regions of Central Asia.
STEPPE CODE: IDENTITY SIGNS (TAMGA—TYPE) OF THE NAYMAN TRIBE (SECOND HALF OF 18th — EARLY 20th C.) Г.А. Калдыбаева, Ж.К. Елемесова Materialy Po Arkheologii I Istorii Antichnogo I Srednevekovogo Prichernomor Ya, 2025 Исследование посвящено морфологическому и территориальному анализу тамг — знаков групповой идентичности, зафиксированных в архивных, этнографических и археологических источниках по Восточному Казахстану конца XVIII — начала XX в. Систематизированы и классифицированы графические формы знаков, выполнено их хронологическое соотнесение с изменениями административного деления региона. На основе морфологического анализа форм выделены устойчивые и адаптивные варианты знаков, которые были картированы в пределах исследуемой территории в диахронической перспективе. Сопоставление картографических данных с этнографическими материалами и сведениями о землепользовании позволило предпринять попытку реконструкции миграционных маршрутов отдельных родов и межродовые взаимодействия. Дополнительно рассмотрены механизмы использования тамг: их цели, условия и ситуативные контексты. The study focuses on the morphological and spatial analysis of tamgas — markers of group identity — documented in archival, ethnographic, and archaeological sources related to the East Kazakhstan from the late 18thto the early 20th c. The graphic forms of the tamgas were systematized and chronologically correlated with changes in the region’s administrative structure. Based on morphological analysis, stable and adaptive variants were identified and mapped across the study area in a diachronic perspective. The comparison of cartographic data with ethnographic records and information on land use enabled the reconstruction of probable migration routes of individual clans and their intergroup interactions. Additionally, the mechanisms of tamga usage were examined, including their purposes, conditions of application, and situational contexts.
On the boundaries of “Zhetysu” and “Semirechye” in scholarly works, Kazakh folklore and general fiction A.E. Rogozhinskiy, G.A. Kaldybayeva Vestnik Archeologii Antropologii I Etnografii, 2024 The article summarizes the results of the study of the macrotoponyms ‘Zhetysu’ and ‘Semirechye’ (South-Eastern Kazakhstan) widely used in archaeological science and oriental studies since the second half of the 19th century up until the present time. The aim of the study is to advance the research on the clarification of the toponyms ‘Zhe-tysu’ and ‘Semirechye’ and to propose their proper use in the archaeological science. In this paper, we expand the range of the sources in order to verify the main provisions of the previous study on the materials of Kazakh folklore and literature of the 19th — early 20th c. The results of the focused study are the following: the term ‘Zhe-tysu’ originated in the end of the 18th — beginning of the 19th century, before its Russian translation as ‘Semire-chye’. Initially, ‘Zhetysu’ denoted difficult sections of caravan roads in the north and south-east of Kazakhstan, along which Russia’s international trade with Middle Asia and China was carried out. The toponym ‘Semirechye’ appeared around 1825 and was first used as a geographical name of the Southern Balkhash region, and after the creation of the Semirechenskaya Oblast (1867) it designated its administrative-territorial boundaries. In the latter meaning, the toponym was used until the 1930s. Since the 1930s, A.N. Bernshtam, breaking with the histo-riographic tradition, introduced into scientific discourse an erroneously extended meaning of ‘Semirechye’, which includes the Chu-Talas interfluve. In the Kazakh folklore, the toponym ‘Zhetysu’ appeared not earlier than the last third of the 19th century, as the Kazakh translation of ‘Semirechye’ after creation of the Semirechenskaya Oblast. The lack of understanding by Kazakh authors of the concrete territorial boundaries of ‘Zhetysu’ makes the syn-onymous replacement of the toponym ‘Semirechye’ incorrect. The current administrative region of Zhetysu occu-pies a part of Semirechye, i.e., South-Eastern Kazakhstan, that includes only the territory north of the Ili River.
PETROGLYPHS-SYMBOLS OF THE NORTHERN BALKHASH REGION IN KAZAKHSTAN (ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES) M.V. Bedelbayeva, V.A. Novozhenov, A.E. Rogozhinsky, G.A. Kaldybaeva Materialy Po Arkheologii I Istorii Antichnogo I Srednevekovogo Prichernomor Ya, 2024 The article is devoted to the analysis of petroglyphs-symbols founded in the figurative monuments of the Northern Balkhash Region and Betpakdala and having complex mythological content, which is repeated in the form of symbolic signs similar in iconography, found over vast geographical spaces. These include images of solar signs, labyrinths, lattices, as well as some animals, chariots, anthropomorphic characters and clan’s tamgas. The analogies proposed by the authors indicate the vast geography of their distribution and contacts of the local population with the southern regions of Central Asia both in the Bronze Age and in subsequent historical periods. Статья посвящена анализу петроглифов-символов, обнаруженных в изобразительных памятниках Северного Прибалхашья и Бетпакдалы, имеющих сложное мифологическое содержание, которое повторяется в виде сходных по иконографии символических знаков, встречающихся на обширных географических пространствах. К ним относятся изображения солярных знаков, лабиринтов, решеток, а также некоторых животных, колесниц, антропоморфных персонажей и родовых (клановых) тамг. Предложенные авторами аналогии указывают на обширную географию их распространения и контакты местного населения с южными регионами Центральной Азии как в эпоху бронзы, так и в последующие исторические периоды.
THE WOODEN BOX FROM THE URYSAY-2 COMPLEX (WESTERN KAZAKHSTAN, 5th CENTURY BCE): AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Lukpanova Y., Seitov A., Altynbekov K., Altynbekova E., Antonov M., et al. Materialy Po Arkheologii I Istorii Antichnogo I Srednevekovogo Prichernomor Ya, 2024 The article is devoted to the study, restoration, and reconstruction of a poplar box originating from kurgan No. 13 of the Urysay-2 burial site. This box contained a set of ritual objects associated with a female “priestess”. The box was positioned behind the head of the deceased and was a low, square container with straight sides and a separate flat lid. The specific set of objects found in the box included a mirror, a cedar block, a “spoon” with traces of paint, a small organic vessel (leather? felt?), and silk fabric, supplemented by a small stone altar and a set of tools found nearby. During fieldwork, the box was removed in one block. Subsequently, an MRI scan was performed; a comprehensive set of procedures was conducted to identify the material of the finds, their physicochemical composition, conservation, and restoration; a 3D reconstruction of the box and the items was carried out. Статья посвящена исследованию, реставрации и реконструкции шкатулки из тополя, происходящей из кургана № 13 могильника Урысай-2. В ней находился набор ритуальных предметов женщины- «жрицы». Шкатулка располагалась за головой погребённой и представляла собой невысокий подквадратный короб с прямыми стенками и отдельной плоской крышкой. Специфический набор предметов, представлен зеркалом, бруском из кедра, «ложечкой» со следами краски, сосудиком из органики (кожа? войлок?), шелковой тканью, который дополнялся каменным алтариком и набором инструментов, найденных рядом с женщиной. В полевых условиях шкатулка была изъята блоком. Затем — выполнено МРТ сканирование; проведён комплекс работ по определению материала находок, физико-химического состава, консервации и реставрации; осуществлена 3D реконструкция шкатулки и предметов.
