In the period 1981-1983. A large group of scientists led by Professor V. Seibert conducted archaeological excavations near the village of Botai (Akmola region of Kazakhstan). In the course of their work, they discovered traces of more than 20 settlements located along the banks of the steppe rivers Tobol, Ubagan, Turgay and dating back to the Eneolithic era (V-VI millennium BC). Once upon a time, people lived in them, who created a special Botai culture, named after the place of its discovery. An in-depth study of the artifacts found in the earth made it possible to establish its historical framework with greater accuracy, limiting them to the period of 3700-3100 years. BC e.
Dwellings of people of that ancient era
All the settlements studied by Professor W. Seibert and his colleagues had very similar features. Thus, it was found that each of them consisted of an average of 250 buildings with an area of 20 to 70 m². This suggests that in that historical period remote from us, the inhabitants of the region preferred to live in fairly large communities, the most numerous of which was located in the so-called Botai settlement, traces of which werediscovered by scientists at a distance of one and a half kilometers from the village of Nikolskoye, located in the Aiyrtau region of Kazakhstan.
The houses of the ancient settlers, which consisted of living and utility rooms, were located in close groups and often had special transitions between them. In the central part of the buildings there were indispensable attributes of human habitation ─ hearths, the traces of which are well preserved due to accumulations of soot. A number of facts indicate that representatives of this Eneolithic culture preferred to settle in tribal communities, each of which consisted of 40-50 people and constituted a single economic unit. This is also confirmed by the presence of joint burials of different sexes, which included the remains of members of 3-4 separate families.
New level of progress
It is interesting to note that in earlier settlements dating back to the Neolithic period and also found on the territory of the Akmola region of Kazakhstan, tools associated with fishing and hunting predominate, while in the Eneolithic they were replaced by tools used in furriery, woodworking and other crafts. Despite the fact that stone, clay and bone remained the main material from which objects necessary for life were made, as in previous centuries, their processing has reached a qualitatively new level.
It was already a completely different stage in the development of society. Thus, the archaeologists of the group of Professor W. Seibert had the opportunity to state that the creators of the Botai culture achieved a very tangibleprogress relative to its recent predecessors.
Products of ancient masters
During the excavations, a large number of objects created by ancient masters were found. These included products not only from soft materials ─ bone, shale and limestone - but even from granite, which in itself is a significant achievement for people who did not know iron. Among the artifacts found, there are also many items made of ceramics. These are all kinds of pots, jugs and bowls.
A separate part of the archaeological culture of the Eneolithic is made up of products made from animal bones, which also bear traces of significant technological progress. In particular, of interest are agricultural tools ─ scythes and sickles made from horse jaws.
In addition, harpoons, sewing needles and awls, as well as a wide range of primitive woodworking tools, were in the hands of scientists. Such a set of discovered artifacts testifies to the development of domestic crafts and the improvement of agricultural skills in the conditions of the Botai culture. It is characteristic that the surface of many objects is decorated with decorative ornaments, confirming the fact that aesthetic ideas were already established in the minds of people who lived 5.5 thousand years ago.
Horse and man
It is established that the inhabitants of that ancient era were able to take another important step towards the creation of civilization. Their contribution to world history was the domestication of the horse, without which further progress would have been essentiallyimpossible. During the excavations of the settlements of Botai, archaeologists drew attention to the huge number of animal bones that were found literally everywhere: on the surface and in the depths of the earth, on the floor of dwellings and in the voids of walls. In addition, whole heaps of bones were in the utility pits.
This has been observed before, but in this case it was striking that the vast majority of the bones were horse. They accounted for approximately 75-80% of all finds. The rest belonged to wild animals: elk, bison, roe deer, hares and other trophies of ancient hunters. It is important to note that in previous eras, the relationship between man and horse did not go beyond the limits that were established by primitive nature, and they existed independently of each other. Ancient people considered the animal world around them only as potential hunting prey.
Creators of harness and koumiss
During the excavations, it was found that the ancient inhabitants of the Akmola region were pioneers in the use of harness, as evidenced by many preserved fragments of this attribute of horse breeding, which is so familiar today. In addition, a laboratory analysis of the vessels taken from the ground indicates that already in that era people knew how to make koumiss from mare's milk.
The origins of the ancient Botai culture
Noting hunting, fishing and horse breeding as the main occupations of people of that historical period, Professor W. Seibert puts forward a hypothesis according to which the culture they created originated in the earlyEneolithic (IV-III millennium BC) in the territory of the Southern Trans-Urals. He comes to this conclusion on the basis of a large number of initially similar elements that received additional development in the Botai culture.
Similarities and differences between the elements of the two cultures
For example, speaking about the dwellings of the ancient inhabitants of the region, the scientist points to their similarity with the houses in which the inhabitants of the Trans-Urals settled several centuries earlier, who also created a very peculiar culture, called the Surtandin. In both cases, we are talking about dugouts and semi-dugouts, the walls of which were reinforced with stone slabs, and a log roof was used as a roof. Their internal structure is also similar, in which in the center of the dwelling there was a hearth surrounded by wooden bunks.
In many respects, the tools there are similar: grain grinders, scrapers, hammers, knives and so on. All of them were made mainly from animal bones, stone and baked clay. At the same time, as noted above, the products created by the hands of Botai craftsmen were of higher quality.
Comparison of archaeological finds obtained during excavations of different settlements allowed us to conclude that the most active role in the development of the Botai culture was played by the tribes that lived in the territory located between the Irtysh and Zhayek rivers. The tools of labor and hunting made by them are much superior to those found in other regions. Similarly, among the bone remains, horses here make up a slightly larger percentage.
A global scientific problem
As mentioned above, the results of two years of work by archaeologists allowed Professor W. Seibert, who specialized in studying the life of ancient people of the Copper Age (the Iron Age was also part of his scientific activity), to single out as a special phenomenon the culture later called Botai. In the future, scientists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Alma-Ata and Yekaterinburg engaged in multidisciplinary research in this area. They were greatly supported in their work by foreign colleagues from several American and British universities.
Since the study of the Botai culture made it possible to more accurately determine the period in which the wild horse was first domesticated in Eurasia, interest in this problem went beyond the scope of domestic science. In subsequent years, several international symposia were devoted to it, in which leading experts from Germany, Great Britain, the USA, Canada, the Czech Republic, Iran, and a number of other countries took part.
Open Air Museum
Based on the results obtained by domestic and foreign scientists, a project called "Cultural Genesis of the Kazakhs" was implemented. As part of this event, a kind of open-air museum was opened on Lake Shalkar, located not far from the site of the excavations, part of which were two life-size models of Botai dwellings. Recreated in compliance with historical authenticity, they amaze tourists with the ability of people who livedmore than 5,5 thousand years ago, to create strong and reliable structures that served as good protection from bad weather and wild animals.
Later, already in 2004, numerous artifacts discovered by scientists two decades earlier were placed in the models of Botai dwellings on Lake Shalkar and in several others built directly on the site of the excavations. This aroused wide interest among many history buffs, as a result of which several tourist offices included Botai and the surrounding areas in their itineraries. Even according to incomplete data, at least 100 thousand people become participants in the trips they organize every year.
Project to create a historical and cultural reserve
Since the models of ancient dwellings, for all their attractiveness, cannot be considered as a place for permanent storage of valuable exhibits, the decision of the Government of Kazakhstan provides for the construction of a special complex of buildings in the near future to house them. They will become part of the Botai historical and cultural reserve, which is being created today, which, in addition to objects associated with excavations in 1981-1982, will include other archaeological sites of Northern Kazakhstan.
It is known that the Copper Age, the Iron Age, as well as subsequent eras of the Ancient World are of great interest to both professional researchers and ordinary lovers of antiquity. In this regard, a special state program was developed, which included, in addition to a number of measures aimed at preserving historicalmonuments, a wide range of new archaeological research. It is also expected that visitors to the reserve will be given the opportunity to see the most impressive natural objects of the region.
