🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly II — Kungei Gorge Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Turkic · Andronovo-Fedorovo, Saka, Turkic
Kungei secondary gorge 800 m north of Tamgaly UNESCO site with 400 Middle Bronze sun-head petroglyphs.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Kumsay Ridge Kurgans (Aktobe Kumsay Steppe Crests)
Early to Middle Sarmatian (550–350 BCE) · Sauromatian to Sarmatian Kobda ridge (Uil–Khobda interfluve)
7 Sarmatian ridge kurgans 22–48 m linear 12 km crest: mirror bronze and gold child burial — winter pasture beacon.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Boralday North Boralday River Terrace Kurgans (River Boralday Terrace North Bank)
Saka (520–280 BCE) · Saka Tigrakhauda
North bank terrace of Boralday River (Boraldy) 2.1 km north of park (770 m) with 5 mounds 24–52 m diam on 8-m river terrace scarp.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Besshatyr South Row Kurgans (Besshatyr Southern Alignment)
Early Saka (Tiglaxaus vs Saka Tigraxauda) · Saka (Saka Tigraxauda) royal
Besshatyr south row: 6 royal kurgans (52–78 m) 500 m south of northern royal row, Altyn-Emel.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Boralday West Steppe Kurgans (Boralday Plain West Extension)
Early Saka (Saka Tigraxauda) · Saka Tigraxauda (Almaty Saka)
Boralday west: 7 Saka mounds 45–72 m extending park 4 km toward Almaty plain.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Kungei Ridge Sanctuary — Aiyrtau Sun Shrine
Bronze Age to Turkic (1400 BCE – 800 CE) · Andronovo to Saka to Turkic
Ridgetop with shaman drum and deer-headdress plus Saka kurgans.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly-Tas Ili North Terrace — Kurty Shore Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Dzungar to Kazakh (1500 BCE – 1900 CE) · Oirat Mongol (Buddhist) and earlier Andronovo/Kazakh nomad
North-bank Ili terrace with Bronze Age carts and Kazakh tamgas opposite Buddhist cliffs.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Aktobe Zhirenkopa Tört Oba Kurgans (Tört Oba Four Mounds West Aktobe)
Early Sarmatian (500–300 BCE) · Early Sarmatian / Aorsi
Tört Oba (‘Four Mounds’) group near Zhirenkopa village at northwest Aktobe Oblast threshold to Orenburg steppe (145 m), studied by Samashev 2010.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Boralday East Ili Piedmont Outlier Kurgans (Ili Piedmont East Satellite)
Saka (500–250 BCE) · Saka Tigrakhauda
Eastern outliers 8 km east of Boralday Archaeological Park (790 m) on Ili piedmont steppe toward Ili River branch. Six mounds 28–62 m diam, 3–7 m high with ditch rings (22–48 m) visible on satellite.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Aktobe Tortoba East Satellite Kurgans (Kobda District Eastern Cluster)
Early Sarmatian (600–400 BCE) · Sarmatian / Prot. Sauromatian
Eastern satellite cluster 10 km east of Tortoba core (Kobda District, Aktobe, 165 m) with 12 kurgans 18–52 m diam, 2–6 m high on low Emba-Uil interfluve steppe.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Besshatyr Central Row Mound 8 (Besshatyr Row 1 Mound 8, Altyn-Emel)
Early Saka Semirechye (590 BCE) — Besshatyr central row · Saka Semirechye (Issyk–Besshatyr eastern Saka)
72 m semi-royal central row mound 8 at 640 m: larch chamber 89 gold + burnt outer house, linking south/north dynasty rows.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Besshatyr East Sholak Foothills Mounds (Sholak Foothill Promontory)
Saka (550–380 BCE) · Semirechye Saka
Promontory outliers on southwestern Sholak foothill piedmont (745 m) 5 km east of Besshatyr core (674 m Silkadv).
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Besshatyr Ili River Terrace North Mounds (Ili Delta North Terrace)
Saka (600–350 BCE) · Semirechye Saka
North terrace row 4.1 km from Ili River right bank delta (605 m) with 6 mounds 18–42 m diam, 2–5 m high linear along terrace scarp (920 m).
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Besshatyr Outlier Mound 16 (Shylbyr Adjunct)
Late Saka (post-Besshatyr royal) · Late Saka with Chinese contact
Besshatyr outlier M16: 48-m isolated mound 2.5 km NE with Balbal stela and Chinese mirror, 300 BCE.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Besshatyr Shylbyr Adjunct North Mound (Besshatyr–Shylbyr Gorge North Entrance)
Early Saka 480 BCE to Wusun 180 CE (gateway reuse) · Saka Semirechye primary; Wusun 180 CE secondary
38 m gorge-gateway sentinel 610 m: 480 BCE + Wusun 180 CE, 6 horse offering pits around base marking Shylbyr gorge mouth.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Besshatyr Shylbyr Gorge South Mound (Gorge Mouth South Sentinel)
Saka (550–400 BCE) · Saka Tigrakhauda / Semirechye Saka
Outlier mound 1.2 km south of Besshatyr core at Shylbyr Gorge mouth (670 m), south sentinel of Besshatyr necropolis.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Kurgan
Boralday Royal Mound 15 (Boralday Central Royal)
Early Saka Tigraxauda peak · Saka Tigraxauda royal
Boralday Royal 15: 92-m triple-circle Saka mound with 180 gold appliqués, park core.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Kurgan
Chemurchek culture
The Chemurchek culture (Ch:切木尔切克, Qièmùěrqièkè; Ru: Чемурчекская культура), also called Khemtseg, Hemtseg, Qiemu’erqieke, Shamirshak (2750–1900 BCE), is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of western…
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Ancient city
Otrar Ancient Settlement
Kangju to Karakhanid to Mongol to Timurid · Sogdian / Turkic / Karakhanid / Mongol
Silk Road ghost city in Otrar Oasis at Syr Darya–Arys confluence, occupied 1st c. CE–18th c., apex 10th–12th c. as caravan metropolis of 10 ha citadel + 40 ha shakhristan.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly II Central Gorge Petroglyphs
Late Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun, Turkic
Central tributary gorge of the Tamgaly (Tanbaly) UNESCO landscape 170 km NW Almaty, comprising 4.5 km of northwest-facing Chu-Ili schist panels with ~800 engravings.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly II North Outcrop Petroglyphs
Late Bronze to Saka-Wusun · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun
Isolated granite outcrop 600 m north of Tamgaly Main Gorge, a whale-backed ridge exposing 22 vertical panels with 180+ peckings contrasting valley-floor schist.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly II South Terrace Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Early Nomadic · Andronovo-Fedorovo, Saka, Turkic
South terrace 600 m south of Tamgaly UNESCO core with Late Bronze chariot stratigraphy.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to early nomadic (~2000 BCE – 1000 CE) · Andronovo, Karasuk, Saka and Turkic nomadic
Arid gorge in the Chu-Ili massif preserving five major groups with over 5,000 petroglyphs, famed for anthropomorphic sun-headed figures up to 80 cm tall with rayed haloes.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Tas — Ili River Buddhist Petroglyphs
Iron Age to Early Modern (1000 BCE – 18th c. CE) · Saka (Scythian), Wusun, Turkic, Oirat-Dzungar Tibetan Buddhist
Ili granite cliff with 1677 Tibetan Bodhisattvas and Saka-Turkic palimpsest.