Research of the Irrigation Detachment

The detachment of the South Kazakhstan expedition of the Institute of History, Archeology, and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR worked in the Chimkent region.

The survey showed that on the irrigation area in the center from the southeast to the northwest, the route of the medieval main canal Bozaryk, its distribution and irrigation network, along with agro-irrigation layouts, have been preserved. The source of the Bozaryk was found on the high steep bank of the old bed of the Syr Darya River. Seven head canals are traced on the ground, located at 100 to 800 m from each other. The length of the main Bozaryk ditch was 40 km. Along the main dith route and a small irrigation network, agro-irrigation layouts (fields, melons, vineyards) remain, rural settlements and cities, such as Aktobe I, Aktobe II, Zhartboe, Sazantobe, etc., can be traced. Topographically associated with it, settlements allow Bozaryk to be dated to the 10th-14th-15th centuries.

On the southwestern slopes of the Karatau ridge, the remains of irrigation facilities in the Kzylsay gorge were examined. Near the late medieval settlement of Duvaltobe, two systems of ditches, derived from the mountain river Kzylsu, were recorded. At the source of ditch system I, the remains of a stone water dam have been preserved. The width of the dam is 1.5 m, the estimated height is 2 m. The length of the canal is 250 m. The total area irrigated by it is about 0.75 ha. The source of the ditch system II is located 100 m from the end of the previous system downstream of the Kzylsu river. The length of the main ditch is about 500 m. The height difference in this area reached 7 m. The irrigated area of ​​the system was 3.6-4.4 ha. Both systems date back to the time of the life of the Duvaltobe settlement - the 15th-17th centuries.

As part of the Semnreche archaeological expedition, the detachment continued to study irrigation systems in the Kegen river valley. A ditch system was examined here at the exit from the Koksay gorge, its length is about 1.5 km. The system is topographically connected with the wintering settlements of Kystau and dates back to the 16th-18th centuries.