A Study of Ethnographic Monuments in the Aktobe Region

A Study of the Ancient Ethnography of the Aktobe Region.

Monuments of Kazakhstan's folk architecture have long attracted the attention of travelers, military personnel, and researchers. Notably, the Arab traveler and ambassador Ahmed ibn Fadlan, who in 922 visited the city-horde of the Oghuz Yabgu Etirek, son of Katagan, on the Ustyurt Plateau, collected interesting information about the structures at Oghuz burial sites, their traditions, and their ritual burial customs. In the mid-13th century, another ambassador, William of Rubruck, a representative of Louis IX, described the life and traditional economy of the Kipchaks in his writings. Furthermore, one of the sources for the study of Kazakh applied arts of the 15th-16th centuries is the work of the Bukharan historian Fazlallah Ruzbihan. As noted by Academician A.Kh. Margulan, Ruzbihan documented the dwellings of the Kazakhs and wrote about the traditional life of the nomads of that time, including their crafts. Ahmed ibn Fadlan, William of Rubruck, Ibn Battuta, and others have left us a wealth of information.

In the 18th century, the Russian Empire's political interest in Kazakhstan and the states of Central Asia led it to turn its attention to the monuments of the nomadic peoples of Western Kazakhstan. The research of that time includes the works of prominent scholars such as P.I. Rychkov, P.S. Pallas, I.P. Falk, and others.

The first among Russian scholars to focus on the monuments of the Aktobe region was P.I. Rychkov. In his writings, he mentions brick structures near the Ilek fortress on the banks of the Ilek River, an old building in the Baitak settlement (Abat-Baitak), the Mauliymberdi settlement, and others. During this period, the first written accounts of the Balgasyn ritual complex and the monument to Abulkhair Khan began to appear in the works of P.S. Pallas and I.P. Falk.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, information about architectural monuments became more comprehensive. It is noticeable that a scientific approach predominated in the study of historical and cultural heritage at that time. E. Eversman mentioned the presence of ancient burial grounds along the Ilek and Tamdy rivers, south of the city of Aktobe. In his work "Description of the Kirghiz-Cossack, or Kirghiz-Kaisak, Hordes and Steppes," A.I. Levshin, drawing on works from past eras, wrote about the existence of ancient structures in the Baitak settlement along the Ulken Kobda, as well as ancient burial mounds along the Torgai, Sagyz, and Oyil rivers.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, A. Kharuzin (Bukey Horde) and I.A. Castagné turned their attention to the Ural and Turgay regions to study the history of Western Kazakhstan. In 1910–1911, I.A. Castagné, a member of the Orenburg Scientific Museum Commission, published two major works dedicated to the monuments of Kazakhstan. In terms of their scholarly value, these were the most comprehensive writings covering Kazakhstan's monuments at the time. Additionally, commission members such as A.V. Popov, A. Matov, and S.P. Bannov also repeatedly mentioned the region's ancient monuments in their reports.

In the mid-20th century, with the development of national historical science, prominent scholars like T.K. Basenov and M.M. Mendikulov came to Western Kazakhstan. In 1946, T.K. Basenov conducted research in the Baiganin district (from the middle course of the Zhem River to the Sam sands).

M.M. Mendikulov also dedicated considerable effort to the study of memorial and ritual architectural monuments. He conducted targeted research on major monuments in Mangystau, Ustyurt, and along the Zhem River (such as Asan-Kozha, Nurmambet, Asirep-Musirep, etc.), developed a classification of ritual and funerary structures, and examined issues related to their origin and development.

During these years, the Khorezm Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition, led by S.P. Tolstov, carried out exploratory work in the territory of Western Kazakhstan and Ustyurt. It was also during this period that the renowned archaeologist A.Kh. Margulan visited the Abat-Baytak necropolis.

A new stage in the study of the architectural monuments of Western Kazakhstan began in the 1970s. The main objective of the policy at that time was to identify, register, document, and restore these monuments. As a result of the scientific research expeditions organized between 1979 and 2009 by S.E. Azhigali, who has been tirelessly studying the monuments of the West Kazakhstan region since the 1980s, the known area of folk architectural monuments in Western Kazakhstan expanded significantly. His monographs, "The Genesis of Traditional Funerary and Cultic Architecture of Western Kazakhstan," "History and Culture of the Aral-Caspian Region," and "The Architecture of Nomads – A Phenomenon of Eurasian History and Culture," along with R. Beknazarov's "Kazakh Traditional Stone Carving Art," comprehensively analyze and scientifically systematize the history, ethnography, semantics, and types of monuments in Western Kazakhstan, including those in the Aktobe region.