Ancient turkic Akbauyr fences

Large-scale works were carried out by the expedition of the Saryarkinsky Archaeological Institute under the auspices of the International Turkic Academy on two monuments of ancient Turkic time located in the foothills of the Yedrey, in the northeast of the Karkaraly district [Kukushkin et al., 2019a; 2019b]. At the Ascheken Sorana sanctuary, a chain of eight fences of various shapes, six stone mounds with paired mounds containing sub-square fences, as well as a mound with a stone layout extending eastward, were covered by continuous excavation. The cult-ritual character of the complex is confirmed by the absence of burials and explains the small number of objects found, represented by fragments of bronze clasps, a knife and a rod-shaped psalm, as well as an iron arrowhead.

More significant material was obtained at the Ketaban burial ground, where two horse burials were investigated in fences covered with a paired stone embankment. The accompanying inventory consists of two iron looped stirrups, fragments of bits, a spring buckle, a quiver hook, as well as an arrowhead. Thus, it should be noted that in recent years there has been a positive trend in the study of funerary and memorial early medieval monuments of Central Kazakhstan. However, the accumulated materials are still few and without systematic research, positive changes are not expected in the coming years, and the stage of primary data accumulation may last for more than a decade.