Crypts of the Kyzylkol 1 burial ground

(based on materials of the excavations in 2023)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the results of a study of the burial structures of the Kyzylkol 1 burial ground (western group of mounds), which is part of a new region, the Kyzylkol historical and cultural zone, which is poorly studied in the archaeological context. During the work on mounds 9 and 10, under insignificant embankments of small stone and rubble, «P»-shaped ground crypts were discovered in a mirrored version, the low walls of which were made of raw brick and pakhsa. Among the design features of such architectural structures, we note the presence of hemispherical vaults covering the burial space with an overlapping brick lining, the presence of a short dromos-entrance, the beginning of which was laid with large and medium-sized stones-boulders, as well as the location along the walls of the chamber «Г» -shaped sufs made of pakhsa. In the crypts, collective burials were recorded, including inlet burials of different times; the found artifacts in the historical, cultural and chronological aspects correlate with the Kangju state of the late period of existence (3^rd–5^th centuries).