Ethnocultural Processes in the Territory of Central Kazakhstan in the Late Bronze Age

Abstract

The discovery of extremely expressive burial sites of the Late Bronze Begazy-Dandybayev culture of Central Kazakhstan launched wider scientific polemics and purposeful studies of this period. The article examines the issues of the alleged cultural genesis of the Late Bronze Age antiquities in the region associated with the large-scale migration of the Srubnaya population from the Volga-Ural region in the middle of the II millennium BC. These processes are reflected in a significant increase in the number and area of settlements with a high population density. Mining and metallurgical and metal-processing production rises to a new level. Horseback riding begins, as indicated by the finds of bone and horn rod-shaped cheekpieces. The conglomerate composition of the population is noted, as documented by materials from household and funerary complexes. Their ceramic collections contain cordoned, Dandybayev, Andronoid and wheel pottery. The connection between the largest mausoleums and the burials of tribal leaders who stood at the head of migration flows is substantiated. Comparison of data on burial rituals, as well as a significant gap between traditional and radiocarbon dating made it possible to divide the entire array of sites into two large ethno-cultural formations corresponding to the Sargarin-Alekseyevsk (15th—10th centuries BC) and Begazy-Dandybayev (11th—9th centuries BC) cultures that partially intersected at the final stage of the Bronze Age.