Besoba, the complex of monuments

It is an object of archeology, history, cult architecture. It is located on the territory of Besoba rural district of Karkaraly district of Karagandy region. Archaeological monuments of the Bronze Age, early Iron Age, Middle Ages, ancient Kazakh mazars and cemeteries are rather compactly located in a wide valley of the river Baikozha, fringed by mountain ranges of Zhamantas, Aksary, Tugisken, Kosshoky, Konyrzhon. The main administrative point is the village of Besoba, located in the center of the valley. It appeared at the place of concentration of a significant number of ancient Kazakh winter camps, arranged in small gorges along the mountain ranges. The middle position in relation to these winter camps occupies a relatively flat section of the river coasts several kilometers long. This area has long been called Besoba (five barrows), because of the presence of an ancient burial ground.

Within the framework of the reform on management of external districts of the Siberian (Omsk) department of 1867-1868 Kazakh parishes were renamed, clan names were replaced by geographical ones, based on the most populated and widely known, "memorable" tract. Among the three variants for the newly created parish, represented by such names as Besobinskaya (Besoba valley), Kulboldinskaya (Kulboldy mountain) and Aksarinskaya (Aksary mountain), the choice was made on the third one. It is quite probable that imperial officials, educated people of their time, were impressed by the names of Aksary, Aksarinskaya, based on the famous Russian surname of the Aksarins, which has, according to one version, Turkic origin. In Soviet times there appeared names: "Kulboldinsky village council", "collective farm/soviet farm of Besoba". These data testify to really good population density, habitability of local tract from ancient times. Small collective farms of Besoba, Kamkor, Karashoky, Kyzyltu were included in the soviet farm "Besoba", the territory of which in the 1980s occupied an area of more than 186 000 hectares.

The area represents the upper reaches of the Nura River. Baikozha, just below the village of Besoba, after flowing into it the right tributary - a small river called Nura (Balanura, Kishisu), loses its name and turns into the river Nura. This famous river of Central Kazakhstan, which then receives many tributaries (Akbastu, Sherubainura, etc.), in old times was called the Karanura (black, i.e. large, main Nura). There are also many monuments of antiquity around Besoba valley. At some remoteness, in the area of the "triangular" Kulboldy Rise (Balakulboldy, Sarykulboldy, Karakulboldy, in Kazakh "Kulboldynyn ush biyigi", "Ush tarmakty Kulboldy"), A. Kh. Margulan and A. M. Orazbayev discovered and investigated a large burial ground of Balakulboldy. The archival documents of the tsarist departments contain data on the discovery of copper deposits in the area.

Monuments of the Stone Age have not been explored and researched, the early period of settlement of the ancient tribes of the Besoba valley is represented by numerous burial structures of the Andronov era. Among them the burial ground of Besoba is remarkable, left, according to available data, by the elite group of the Nura culture (the first half of the II millennium BC).

In the area of the burial ground of Besoba, located several hundred meters south of the village of the same name, 23 burial structures have been preserved. Originally it was a vast burial field, a significant part of which is occupied by a modern village. The core of the modern burial ground consists of four earth barrows with a diameter of 28 to 40 m and a height of 1-2.5 m. The monument was unveiled in the late 1930s by the famous local specialist, director of the Karagandy Regional Museum L.F. Semenov. The research was conducted by expeditions led by L.F. Semenov and professor of Moscow State University S.V. Kiselev; academician A. Kh. Margulan; I.A. Kukushkin. Along with the large size of the central barrows, which have double fences and stone boxes under the embankment, found gold cast earrings, richly decorated ceramic vessels, which also emphasize the belonging of monuments to the highest elite of the Nura tribes of Saryarka. The slabs of the barrow No. 3 have signs in the form of an eight-beam star and a straight cross, some analogies to them are found in the petroglyphs of Kazakhstan and Eurasia. After completion of researches under the direction of I.A. Kukushkin recultivation of the burial ground with construction of metal fence around the excavated objects and installation of a security board was carried out.

The unique monument of Central Kazakhstan - Konyrzhon petroglyphs - has more than 200 images of the Bronze Age, early Iron Age, Middle Ages, applied on 15 planes. The monument was unveiled by the local ethnographer, history teacher T. Ashirbekov and according to his information in 2008 was visited by A.Z. Beisenov. In 2015, V.V. Varfolomeyev, M.V. Bedelbaeva, V.A. Novozhenov conducted a study of petroglyphs. On one plane there is an image of a horned horse made in the Saka animal style. An ancient artist gave the image of an animal in a horned mask, which admires the famous finds from the barrows with frozen Pazyryk culture (Berel barrows, etc.). The images of the horned horse are also known in the petroglyphs of Zhetysu. According to experts, the clusters of petroglyphs mark particularly favorable places that had a deep sacred meaning in the lives of ancient people. In the valley of Besoba there are many barrows of the Saka era, the largest of them are marked along the mountain Aksary. About 10 barrows with "mustache" were found, one of which was studied at the foot of the mountain Zhamantas (A.Z. Beisenov, D.B. Duisenbay). A female grave with a bronze mirror was opened. Radiocarbon analysis confirmed the date of the burial by early Saka time (VIII- VI centuries BC).

Well-preserved objects of history and cult architecture are the Kalpe cemetery with Arab-graphic kulpytas, mazars of Sultangazy and Asan Bukeykhanov. St. Kalpe was a scientist and healer, and one of his relatives, S. Aubakirov, lived in the village of Besoba for a long time. Near the old cemetery at the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century there appeared a mosque and a house of the "shyrakshy" servant, the construction of which is connected with the activity of Kalpe. Then, when Kalpe died, his mazars were built nearby. There was a small village of several houses, one of which was inhabited by Kalpe and his family. The mosque was destroyed by Soviet activists in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and its wooden roof was used to build a warehouse in the village of Besoba. St. Kalpe helped people a lot in his life, cured many of them of illnesses and taught the children of the poor. After Kalpe's death, his grave became a holy place, and people not only from surrounding villages, but also from neighboring districts came here. A. Almakhanov, a resident of the village of Besob, said that around the end of the 1950s his mother fell ill overnight, she became numb and her face curved. On the advice of the elders, she was taken to St. Kalpe's Mazar to spend the night. At night, a bearded old man appeared to the woman in her sleep and passed his palm over her face. The next morning people saw her completely recovered. Two daughters of Saint Kalpe - Akzhan and Rabiga - lived in the village of Besoba. The locals remember them as women of exceptionally kind, always following the path of St. Kalpe, who helped people in everything they could (Kolyndagy baryn beretin izgі adamdar). Both were people's physicians, as well as their father. Rabiga, who was married to Junus Kapsalanuly, who died in 1969 at the age of 105, took to her home to bring up children from large families (informants: T. Ashirbekov, born in 1952, Zarlyk Shaykenov, born in 1942; Zhaksylyk Shaykenov, born in 1948, recorded by A.Z. Beisenov, 2008). The history of Kalpe and his daughters is significant in that they were people who lived and did good in the steppe traditions, people whose sanctity was not determined by their origin (arrival) from Bukhara and Khorasan. Unlike "sheikhs" and "ishans" from the south, foolish calantars, dervishes, quacks and obscurantism, in many corners of Saryarka lived those who reached high morality and wisdom among their own people. Such were Akmustafa (Hak Mustafa, i.e. Righteous Mustafa), Balakazhy and many others.

If Sultangazy mazaar is a yurt-shaped, dome structure, the Asan mazaar has a cruciform shape, both monuments are built of raw brick, dated to the second half of the XIX century. The names of these two descendants of the Bukey khan are well known from the archival materials and folklore data. Sultangazy Bukeykhanov was one of the rich and influential persons of Central Kazakhstan. Being among the parish governors of the Karkaraly hermit, he was nevertheless suspected of disloyalty to the Russian authorities several times. His eldest son, Kudaimende, from his first wife, Boranshy, who was also a parish administrator, withdrew from Russian power and openly joined Kenesary Kasymov. After the defeat of Kenesary Kudaimende Sultangazin (in official papers - Hudaimende Gazin), who had the nickname Kudaimende Red-Eyed (Kyzylkoz Kudaimende), Kudaimende - "The owner of an old leather bow" (Kone sadakty Kudaimende), committed suicide in the area of Mayatas Mountain, which is modern Aktogay district of Karagandy region. According to oral legends, sultan Kudaimende was a determined and brave man, who thought that a group of Kazakhs was approaching him as a punitive detachment following in his footsteps and, not wanting to surrender to them alive, ripped his stomach open (a note by A.Z. Beisenov in the territory of the Saryterek rural district of the Aktogay district in 2008). Dying, he ordered people to hide his body, burying it secretly so that the Russian authorities "would not take his head like Kenesary's head" (Kenekemdiki kusatyp, altyn basymdy orys alyp ketedi degen). Winter camps of Sultangazy Bukeykhanov family were located on the territory of the modern Aktogay district, and summer camps reached the upper reaches of the Nura river in Karkaraly district. Other sons of Sultangazy, in particular Babakhan and Daiyr, lived on the Tokyrauyn River, where they had several ponds. On the initiative of the Karagandy Regional Department of Culture, restoration works were carried out on the Sultangazy mazar and a security board was installed. In the late 1920s, a group of people from Western Kazakhstan, families of Kazakh Bais, who were confiscated, were sent to the Besoba Valley. According to the oldest residents of the village of Besoba, these people were mostly from Aktobe region (informant Ginayat Nurgaliyev, born in 1929 and recorded by A. Z. Beisenov in 2002). The convicts lived in small stone and earth barracks on the territory of the modern village. Over time, a cemetery was formed here, where exiled people were buried. It is believed that some local people who died during the mass famine of the early 1930s were buried here as well. Small hasty graves have been swamped and have not survived to this day. There is no data on people buried in the cemetery, their names are unknown. In the early and mid-1950s, there were occasional visitors who were secretly interested in the cemetery and the fate of the buried, and later such searches ceased. By the efforts of local residents, the burial place of Soviet repression victims was fenced off and several memorial ceremonies were held here.

Sacralization of the Besoba Valley took place in the most ancient epoch among the Nura tribes that inhabited these places at least four millennia ago. Apparently, power over the communities was concentrated in the hands of a powerful clan of ruler leaders and influential priests. At that time, a burial ground was established, and the core of the burial ground was large earth barrows buried by the clan. The Nura tradition of settlement and management in the natural conditions of the valley was continued during the period of Begazy-Dandybay culture. In the early Iron Age, the valley was inhabited by tribes of Tasmola culture, which left numerous monuments, including large "royal" barrows. The image of the horned horse in the petroglyphs of Konyrzhon is significant in that this drawing indicates the tradition of conducting sacred rituals in honor of the sacrificial horse. Petroglyphs do not record "one-time", short-term actions, on the contrary, they appear in traditional and sacred places that occupy an important link in the environment of ancient inhabitants. Kazakhs from the ancient times considered the valley of Besoba to be a happy and blessed place ("Besobanyn zhazygy, Ush Kulboldy, Zhamantas - tanir bergen, kut meken"; a record of A.Z. Beisenov from M. Musina, born in 1904, M.Bugybayeva, born in 1922, Tegisshildik/Karatal village). Some toponyms, such as Aksary, Zhamantas, seem to be connected with the early periods of the history of Central Kazakhstan. The area is visited by tourists, pilgrims. Many monuments are in need of conservation and improvement. In preservation of monuments of Besoba valley, propaganda and distribution of knowledge about them local loreologists, teachers, employees of akimat should take active part.