Archaeology - The Times Of Central Asia

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Petroglyphs

1856 Sketches Lead to Rediscovery of Petroglyphs in Kazakhstan

An explorer’s sketches of deer and wild goats have led archaeologists back to ancient rock carvings, or petroglyphs, in Kazakhstan, 170 years after he recorded them. A team from Kazakhstan and Russia identified the carvings in the valley of the Koksu River on October 13, according to an expedition account published on October 20 by the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian geographer and statistician Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky recorded the carvings during his 1856 journey toward the Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia. After hearing about a rock bearing figures or inscriptions, he left his carriage and rode downstream along the Koksu River to investigate. His memoir’s August 26 entry describes deer and wild goats. At the site, archaeologists found his sketches and landscape descriptions remarkably accurate. They attribute the animal figures to the early Iron Age and the medieval period, identifying the largest deer, with its branching antlers, as an example of early Saka art. The Saka lived in what is now Kazakhstan during the first millennium BC. Gold ornaments recovered from their burial mounds include deer designs used to decorate clothing and horse equipment. The researchers compare the Koksu deer with animal designs in early Saka jewelry. The expedition is part of a Russian Geographical Society program retracing Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s journeys through present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 1856 and 1857. Researchers are returning to the places he studied ahead of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2027. His route led to Lake Issyk-Kul, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, where he investigated the course of the Chu River. European geographers had believed it flowed out of the lake, but he established that it turned away through a mountain gorge. In 1906, 50 years after his first journey, Emperor Nicholas II recognized his exploration of the Tian Shan by authorizing him to add Tyan-Shansky to his surname. Underwater excavations at Issyk-Kul’s submerged medieval settlement of Toru-Aygyr form another part of the anniversary program. Recent finds there include medieval coins dating to the 10th and 11th centuries. Archaeologists are investigating why the settlement ended up beneath the lake. The team that located the Koksu carvings mapped sites along the Kazakhstan route and took aerial photographs. Researchers now plan to create three-dimensional models of the monuments and an interactive map of Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky’s route through southeastern Kazakhstan, to be published on the society’s website.

Art and Culture

Kazakhstan Joins Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia as Observer

Kazakhstan has been granted observer status in the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia, an organization established at China's initiative. The Ministry of Culture and Information announced the decision on October 18 following a meeting in Hangzhou. Representatives from more than 20 countries attended. Kazakhstan hopes to pursue joint archaeological research and use new technologies to preserve historical monuments. The alliance was established in 2023 and is headquartered in Beijing. It has operated as an intergovernmental organization since 2024. It focuses on preserving Asia's historical heritage, supporting archaeological expeditions, restoration projects, and the exchange of scientific data. Kazakhstan has joined as an observer for now, with the possibility of full membership remaining open. At the meeting in Hangzhou, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Culture and Information, Aibek Sydykov, proposed joint research into the Silk Road, training for restoration specialists, and the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence to assess the condition of historical sites. Silk Road heritage sites are of particular interest to Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is home to the remains of ancient settlements and archaeological complexes associated with this trade. Some are part of the UNESCO World Heritage property Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, a transnational designation encompassing sites in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. The three countries already share obligations under UNESCO to preserve the Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. In 2025, the World Heritage Committee called for outstanding management plans for the heritage sites to be completed and requested a joint report on their state of conservation by December 1, 2026. In March 2026, Kazakhstan announced that the Zharkent Mosque and Almaty's Ascension Cathedral had been added to UNESCO's Tentative List, an inventory of sites being considered for possible nomination to the World Heritage List.

Archaeology

Ancient Fortress and Rare Figurine Discovered at Kalzhyr Settlement in Kazakhstan

Fortress walls destroyed by fire, remains of ancient buildings, and a rare ceramic bird figurine with a rattle inside were discovered by Kazakh archaeologists during excavations at the Kalzhyr settlement in the country's east, near the border with China. Archaeological evidence and radiocarbon analysis date the site to the 6th–7th centuries CE, when the first Turkic states were emerging in Central Asia. An expedition from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University studied the settlement in the Zaysan Basin, between the villages of Kalzhyr and Boran. Researchers uncovered the remains of fortifications in the southern part of the 25-hectare site and found evidence that many had been destroyed by fire. The finds include plaster bearing traces of decorative patterns, ceramic vessels, and charred grains of wheat and legumes, giving us an insight into crops available to the settlement's inhabitants. According to the researchers, construction of the fortified settlement may date to the period of the First Turkic Khaganate. This state emerged in the mid-6th century and extended its influence across vast areas of Eurasia. Archaeologists also discovered a much older burial monument – a khirigsuur, a funerary and commemorative structure dating to the Late Bronze Age. Similar complexes are known primarily from Mongolia and Xinjiang in northwestern China. In studying the sites, archaeologists used aerial and thermal imaging alongside other surveying methods. Based on the data collected, they plan to develop three-dimensional models and a geographic information system for the region. The work is being carried out as part of a project studying the archaeological landscapes of the basin. The Times of Central Asia previously reported on the discovery of two rare bronze knives, believed to be associated with the early Saka, in Bayanaul National Park in the Pavlodar region. Other research conducted at the ancient Karakabak settlement in the Mangystau region has provided new evidence of trade links between East and West.

Archaeology

Rare Medieval Coins Discovered in Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul

Archaeologists have discovered rare coins dating to the 10th–11th centuries at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. The coins, from the Karakhanid period, may contain as much as 90% lead, an unusual composition that researchers believe could reflect a shortage of copper. Their discovery is particularly valuable for understanding monetary circulation in medieval Central Asia. The coins were found during underwater excavations at the Toru-Aygyr archaeological complex in northwestern Issyk-Kul. The site contains the remains of a large medieval settlement on the northern branch of the Silk Road. According to the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the settlement existed from at least the 10th to the 13th centuries and was submerged in the 15th century. Expedition co-leader and archaeologist Maxim Menshikov said the coins were poorly preserved. The metal is brittle and porous, with inclusions resembling sand, making the inscriptions difficult to decipher. Their precise composition has yet to be confirmed through laboratory analysis. Archaeologists also discovered part of a cast-iron cauldron, believed to be among the earliest finds of its kind at the site, and large fragments of ceramic vessels. Seven medieval structures built from fired bricks have been discovered at Toru-Aygyr. According to Menshikov, only about six comparable buildings are known from other archaeological sites in Kyrgyzstan. Research at the settlement resumed in 2023, with the latest round of fieldwork taking place in September 2026. Archaeologists are studying remains at depths of around four meters, using underwater imaging and specialized equipment. So far, only 15–20% of the site has been surveyed. One of the expedition's main objectives is to establish why the settlement was submerged. Researchers are investigating two possible explanations: an earthquake that caused part of the shoreline to collapse, or a gradual rise in water levels due to tectonic changes. The remains of a 7th–8th-century Buddhist temple were discovered at the Ak-Beshim archaeological site, the location of ancient Suyab in Kyrgyzstan's Chuy Valley. Suyab was a major Silk Road center and the capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate.

Archaeology

Possible 2,200-Year-Old Greek Military Camp Found in Uzbekistan

Archaeologists in southern Uzbekistan may have identified an exceptionally rare Hellenistic military camp at a site previously thought to be a small rural settlement. Dating back around 2,200 years, Iskandar Tepa may have functioned as a temporary base for Greco-Bactrian troops and could be the first such camp identified in Central Asia. Alexander the Great conquered Bactria and Sogdiana in the late fourth century B.C., bringing Greek armies deep into Central Asia. After his empire fragmented, Greek-ruled states continued to control parts of the region for centuries. Iskandar Tepa is located in the Sherabad District of Surkhandarya Region, within the ancient borderlands between Bactria and Sogdiana. A Czech-Uzbek archaeological expedition identified the site in 2017. At first, it was interpreted as a Greco-Bactrian settlement, with later research suggesting it may have been a watch post. The mound had no known local name when archaeologists discovered it, so they gave it the working name Iskandar Tepa. Iskandar is the local form of Alexander, making the name equivalent to “Alexander’s Hill.” The latest research suggests the site had a different function altogether. Geophysical surveys and excavations indicate that Iskandar Tepa was probably occupied only briefly, perhaps as a temporary military camp. The findings were published in June 2026 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The authors place the site in the Hellenistic period, while Archaeology Magazine dates the proposed military camp to the second century B.C. Iskandar Tepa’s layout supports the military interpretation. The site occupies a naturally protected hilltop. A perimeter ditch about 400 meters long enclosed an area of roughly 1.2 hectares and measured between 4 and 7 meters wide. However, researchers found little evidence of permanent buildings inside the enclosure. That combination is more consistent with a temporary fortified camp than with a permanent settlement. Coins associated with Hellenistic rulers help date the site. Considered alongside the site’s layout and other finds, the coins also support the interpretation that a military unit may once have occupied it. Supplying water to the people stationed there would have been a separate challenge. Archaeologists found large ceramic storage vessels, known as khums, buried in the ground. They also identified what appears to have been a canal, up to 1.1 meters wide, that carried water from several kilometers away. Researchers suggest that the vessels may have been used to store water for a temporary garrison. Geophysical surveys also revealed around 90 elongated pits. Many are interpreted as graves in a burial ground that developed after the main period of occupation at Iskandar Tepa or partly overlapped with it. Temporary military camps from the Hellenistic period are extremely difficult to identify archaeologically because, unlike cities and fortresses, they left relatively few permanent structures. Iskandar Tepa could therefore reveal another side of the Hellenistic presence in Central Asia by showing how relatively small military units stationed far from major urban centers secured water and monitored the surrounding territory. Southern Uzbekistan has also yielded evidence from a much earlier period. In 2025, researchers reported that...

Archaeology

Archaeologist Steven Gilbert on Medieval Christianity in Kazakhstan

For almost a decade, archaeologists excavating a medieval Silk Road city in southeastern Kazakhstan have been uncovering evidence of a little-known Christian community that lived there centuries before the Russian conquest. At Ilibalyk, in the Zhetysu region near Kazakhstan’s border with China, they have found a Christian cemetery, dozens of gravestones bearing crosses and epitaphs, a funerary chapel, and burials of women of high social status. In an interview with The Times of Central Asia, American archaeologist Steven Gilbert discusses the discoveries at Ilibalyk, what they reveal about Christianity in medieval Central Asia, and what archaeology can add to Kazakhstanis’ understanding of the region’s past. TCA: What inspired you to pursue archaeology, and how did your research journey bring you to Kazakhstan? Gilbert: I lived in Kazakhstan before I became an archaeologist. I moved to Kazakhstan in 1993, shortly after independence. My wife and I originally came as part of a humanitarian organization because Kazakhstan was facing many difficulties at the time. Our organization was involved in food aid projects in the Aral Sea region and various exchange programs. My interest in archaeology began after a schoolteacher discovered a very large Christian gravestone, one meter long, in Usharal, in the Panfilov district of the Zhetysu region, in 2014. I had previously conducted historical research into Christianity in Central Asia and knew that Christians had been present in the region since the fifth century, and possibly as early as the second century. The discovery of this remarkable artifact, now housed at the Center for the Rapprochement of Cultures in Almaty, allowed me to establish connections with archaeologists from Kazakhstan and the United States. Through them, I returned to the U.S. to study archaeology specifically so that I could work at this and other sites. TCA: What makes the ancient city of Ilibalyk historically unique within the Silk Road network? Gilbert: Ilibalyk was located on an ancient trade route just beyond the Dzungarian Gate in this region. It was a stop before Almaliq, the capital of the Chagataids in the late medieval period. This oasis on the edge of the desert was an important place for travelers both before and after the Mongol conquest. For our research, its uniqueness lies primarily in the fact that we now know that a large community of Turkic-speaking Christians lived here for almost two centuries, from the 12th to the 14th century.They lived in the city alongside followers of several religions: Muslims, Buddhists, Manichaeans, and those who followed traditional religious beliefs that today we call Tengrism. This is the first clearly Christian cemetery discovered in Kazakhstan dating from before the arrival of the Russian Empire. Christian communities and cemeteries had previously been found in Kyrgyzstan, but this is the first reliable evidence of such a community on the territory of modern-day Kazakhstan. TCA: Which of the artifacts and discoveries made by your team at Ilibalyk do you consider the most significant? Gilbert: We have discovered more than 50 gravestones, known as kairaks, bearing images of crosses. Six of...