Research in the Eastern Semirechye

Semirechie's expedition of the Republican Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Kazakhstan kept records and excavations of crumbling monuments in the Alma-Ata and Taldy-Kurgan regions. Continuous exploration was carried out in the valley of the Kegen river (including the gorges in the Ketmen mountains) and excavations of burial mounds and fences in the areas of construction work. A variety of monuments have been registered, preliminary examined and excavated: menhir structures of the Saka time, wintering settlements of the ancient Usuns, burials of the Usun-Hunno-Turkic stages, fences of different times for religious purposes, ancient and medieval rock art, hydraulic structures, ancient irrigation fields, the remains of Kazakh wintering, burial structures and mazars of the 17th-19th centuries.

Menhir structures are made up of large stone pillars, dug in a ring on the butt, and large boulders. They are located at the beginning of chains of mounds of stone and earth, stretching down the natural slopes of the foothills. The diameter of the fence reaches 2–3 m, the height of individual stone pillars is 1.3-1.7 m.

The location of the wintering settlements is marked by some external signs - groups of rounded and rectangular pits and depressions, rows of rounded and quadrangular stone excavations. Their area is from 3 to 5 thousand square meters. The lifting material is similar to the Usun pottery found during excavations of nearby burial grounds.

Burials of the Usun and late Usun times (1st-3rd centuries) were made in ground graves lining the northern wall, fenced off by inclined logs. Inventory: earthenware, iron knives, various decorations.

Rock paintings are located on the southern, eastern and western slopes. They are carved or traced on the smooth surface of basalt rocks covered with a desert “tan”. Images of riders, wild (goats, argali, deer) and domestic (camels, horses) animals are noted. Images of symbolic signs and tamgas occupy the central place in the compositions.

Rare for this region of Kazakhstan is the Aidakhar I burial site, dated so far to the Bronze Age. It consists of two groups of fences made of uncut stones in rings and rectangles adjoining each other. The first group of five circular fences contained children's graves, while the second of six quadrangular fences contained the bones of adults. Funeral rite - corpse laying and cremation in wooden frames and boxes; the orientation of the bones is western, the position is crouched on the left side. Inventory: pot-shaped vessels without ornament, fragments of bronze bracelets, beads and sewn-on plaques, carnelian bead.