Золотоордынские памятники Западного Казахстана: новые исследования
Golden Horde Sites of Western Kazakhstan. New studies

Author(s): Emma D. Zilivinskaya
Subject(s): History, Archaeology, Cultural history, Historical Geography, Middle Ages, 13th to 14th Centuries
Published by: Издательский дом Stratum, Университет «Высшая антропологическая школа»
Keywords: Western Kazakhstan; Golden Horde period; medieval settlements; Zhaiyk; religious complex
Summary/Abstract: The large Zhaiyk hillfort site recently discovered in the Lower Ural River area is one of the few Golden Horde urban settlements known in Western Kazakhstan. The urban development of Zhaiyk is characteristic of the Golden Horde cities; it consisted of homesteads with structures from adobe bricks and irregular layout. A large hammam bath with a cruciform layout was discovered. Two major mausoleums of baked bricks decorated with glazed tiles were investigated on the necropolis. A cult funerary complex consisting of a tower-shaped mausoleum with hip roof and stone stelae in front was studied. Another new site in this region is the Zhalpaktal hillfort, also with farmstead buildings. There is a mosque, which currently is the only known mosque of the Golden Horde period in Western Kazakhstan, and it was uncovered and studied.

• Details
• Contents