07/02/2022
Dear friends,we present to your attention our unique archaeological tour of the Almaty region (Kazakhstan).
Main sites:
Tamgalytas / Tanbalytas is the site of Dzungar Lamaism, common in South-East Kazakhstan in the second half of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Tamgalytas is located 25 km north-west of Kapchagai, on the right bank of the river. Ili in the eponymous source (Talgar district of Almaty region). Lamaist deities are depicted on the coastal fragments of the rocks of the tract and numerous Tibetan-Dzungarian prayer inscriptions are carved. Tamgalytas is a unique site of Buddhist culture, has a long history of study and has been known in science for more than a century and a half. He was the first to investigate and make sketches of Buddhist images and inscriptions in the Tamgalytas gorge, which in his works is also called Tamgalyyar, Charles C. Valikhanov in 1856.
All Tamgalytas researchers focused on a large piece of rock, on the smooth plane of which three Burkhan sitting on lotuses are engraved. This stone with the deities has the most attractiveness, probably the central part of the sanctuary. In the center of the stone is majestic in size (3.46 x 3.79 m), the Burkhan’s attributes and image style, and smaller figures of deities to the left and right of it.
By definition, A.M. Pozdneeva, the majestic Burkhan in the center of the stone is called Ariya (Arya) -balo (Tib. Zhang-raik-sik, Chenraisi) by the Mongols and Dzhungars. In Mahayana Buddhism, this is the bodhisatwa Avalokiteshvara, who became one of the most popular deities in the Lamaist pantheon, personifying compassion.
Petroglyphs of Eshkiolmes (Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Middle Ages). The site is located 30 km south of the city of Taldykorgan in the territory of Eskeldinsky district of Almaty region on the southern slopes of the Eshkiolmes ridge – the western spur of the Zhetysu (Dzungarian) Alatau, descending into the valley of the Koksu river. Plates with pictures were found in 24 gorges, which are waterless sais covered with shrubs. The gorges stretch from west to east for 20 km.
It should be noted the originality of the
methods of drawing pictures on the rocks and the undoubted artistic expressiveness of the art of local ancient artists. The miniature images, sometimes not exceeding 1-2 cm, carved on the rocks using graffiti techniques, are distinguished by special grace. Due to these features, rock art is represented here much richer and more diverse than in other sites of the same type.
The most ancient plots of the Eshkiolmes cave paintings refer to the Bronze Age. Among them are found both single images of animals, and large multi-figure compositions with scenes of hunting, sacrifice, confrontation, adoration, sacred marriage. The battle scenes and compositions with chariots, of which there are more than a hundred in the petroglyphs of the Eshkiolmes ridge, look especially bright. This group of petroglyphs dates back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
The outstanding religious and mythological plots of the early Iron Age are scenes of hunting and tormenting predators of herbivores. With the help of graffiti, masters of the early Iron Age were able to give the scenes of pursuit by predators of sacrificial animal’s greater dynamism and expression. The rock carvings of the Eshkiolmes ridge reflect all stages of the development of the animal style in the art of the Saka-Wusun tribes Zhetysu of the 1st millennium BC.
The image of the standard-bearer in the visual arts of medieval nomads of Eurasia is a canonized plot, captured on the rocks, it is a kind of historical document of the Turkic military-political entities.
Bayanzhurek is a “mighty heart” although A. Kaydarov draws this oronym/ toponym from the Mongolian bayan — a rich one and a zurag — a drawing and connects it with petroglyphs.
Petroglyphs are divided into two complexes: Bayan-Zhurek on the cliffs of the western tip of the Bayan-Zhurek ridge and Tasbas – on granite boulders in the eastern part of the ridge. Both those and other petroglyphs are included in the archaeological complex of the Upper Biena Valley.
The Bayan-Zhurek complex has about 2500 drawings in six groups located throughout the first two kilometers of the ridge at altitudes from 1600 to 1800 meters.
In one of the drawings – a figure of a man with a raised hand, a triangular head framed by 7 rays, radiating in different directions. Perhaps it is a special headdress of religious senders decorated with various signs or a character equated to God. Samples of such headdresses are found in drawings painted on the walls of stone boxes with burials belonging to the Eneolithic of the Karakul mounds of Mountain Altai, on archaeological sites of the Okunev culture of Siberia, and others. Among the drawings there are many images of warrior-riders of the ancient Turkic period, some of the plots belong to the Hunnu-Sarmatian period.
Medieval city of Kayalyk (Koylyk, Antonovka) is the medieval Kailak, the largest ancient settlement of the Ili valley. It appears as the capital of the Karluk rulers (Jabga), later one of the capital centers of the Karakhanid dynasty. The most developed in the Mongolian era: the middle – the end of the XIII century. Located on the eastern outskirts with. Koylyk (Antonovka), on the banks of the river. Ashchibulak, 190 km north-east of Taldykorgan in the Sarkand district of Almaty region, 460 km from Almaty, on the route Almaty-Ust-Kamenogorsk.
The mound dates back VIII — XIV centuries. Academician K.M Baypakov first compared the city of Kayalyk – the central city of the North-Eastern Zhetysu, which arose on the northern branch of the Silk Road at the end of the VIII-beginning of the IX. with this settlement. The city of Kayalyk is mentioned in the sources of the XI – beginning of the XIII centuries, as the capital of the Karluk rulers, of the independent ownership of the Karluk Turks in the Karakhanid Khaganate. In the middle of the XIII century. The city was visited by the famous Flemish, Guillaume de Rubruck, Ambassador of the French King Louis IX. He left such notes in his diary: “We found there a big city named Kailak, in which there was a bazaar, and many merchants visited it. Also, we rested for 12 days, waiting for one secretary of Batu, who was supposed to be a friend of our guide in arranging affairs at the court of Mangu. This land was formerly called Organum”.
Route Author:
Guide – archaeologist, PhD candidate Zheleznyakov B.A
https://explorekazakhstan.net/archaeological-tour-of-zhetysu
