Kyrykoba Kurgan Field — Sarmatian Royal Cemetery (Aktobe, West Kazakhstan)
Қырықоба · Kyryk-Oba · Forty Hills Necropolis
Early to Middle Sarmatian (Sauromatian–Early Sarmatian, 500–350 BCE)·Sauromatian–Early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka transitional)·🇰🇿 Aktobe Region, Alga District, Kyrykoba upland, Ilek–Kobda interfluve, Kazakhstan
About
About Kyrykoba Kurgan Field — Sarmatian Royal Cemetery (Aktobe, West Kazakhstan)
West Kazakhstan's Sarmatian apogee field: 40+ mounds (15–48 m diam, up to 5 m high) on Ilek–Kobda divide, excavated 1987–2015 by Zhetysu–Margulan team. Kyrykoba Kurgan 1: 48 m diam with catacomb chamber holding Sarmatian aristocrat with 820 g gold torque, bear-head belt plaques and 3 iron swords — Sauromatian–Sarmatian transition 5th–4th c BCE. Adjacent Kurgan 11 produced a female warrior with quiver of 80 bronze arrows and horse tack — Sarmatian 'Amazon' corpus contemporary with Pokrovka. Field demonstrates eastern Sarmatian nomadic sedentization on the Ural–Emba salt steppe, 300 km from Aral.
Why it mattersWestern Kazakhstan Sarmatian type site linking Sauromatian to Pokrovka transition.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Female warrior exogamy
Theories
- 01Ural–Sarmatian migration
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.500 – 350 BCE
- Period
- Early to Middle Sarmatian (Sauromatian–Early Sarmatian, 500–350 BCE)
- Culture
- Sauromatian–Early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka transitional)
- Builders
- West Kazakhstan Sarmatian nomadic chiefdoms
- Purpose
- Sarmatian elite lineage cemetery with gendered warrior burials
- Abandoned
- c.300 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1987 A. Smirnov survey; 2005 gold torque excavation
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
500 BCE
Kurgan 1 catacomb with gold torque
2012
Amazon warrior Kurgan 11 publication
On the ground
Structures & features
49.3500° N · 55.9500° E · 280 m · 2 mapped features
Kurgan 1 Gold Torque (820 g)
burial48-m kurgan catacomb with 820-g gold torque and bear plaques
49.3520° N · 55.9520° EKurgan 11 Amazon Warrior Burial
burialCatacomb with female warrior, 80 arrows and horse tack
49.3480° N · 55.9480° E