THE PROBLEM of ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY of MEDIEVAL CITIES on the NORTHERN SLOPES OF KARATAU

Abstract

The article highlights the problem of archaeological study of medieval cities on the northern slopes of Karatau. The northern slopes of the old Karatau have since ancient times been a zone of conjugation of sedentary agricultural and nomadic pastoral cultures. One of the main directions of the international trade and caravan route passed through the region for a long time. The settlements of Tamdy, Saudakent, Kumkent, Babaata, Sholakkorgan, Sozak, Kultobe, Ran, Aksumbe, located in a chain from east to west along the slopes of northern Karatau, are the places of large and small cities and settlements formed along the caravan route. At one time, diplomatic embassies also passed through the caravan routes. In the records of those embassies, the names of a number of cities that located on the site of the aforementioned towns were preserved. The article also provides an overview of the works written for the purpose of determining the location and data about the cities mentioned in the article. Archaeological exploration and excavations carried out on the monuments have yielded the materials that indicate the development of mutual trade in the region, along with animal husbandry, agriculture and handicraft arts, trade.