L. R. Kyzlasov and the Stone Statues of Central Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article describes the contribution of L. R. Kyzlasov to the study of stone statues in Central Kazakhstan. During the field season of 1948, he researched more than ten statues in the valleys of the south-west and south-east of the Kazakh Uplands (Saryarka), as well as various structures they marked. In 1951, L. R. Kyzlasov described nine statues and related stone constructions as a complex and compared them with similar sites found in other regions while making an attempt to define their origin. Extra information was obtained from L. R. Kyzlasov’s field journal kept in the archive of the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology and his field sketchbook, which was published in 2017. L. R. Kyzlasov researched stone monuments of all cultural and chronological groups in Saryarka, e.g. deer stones, statues of the Saka, Ancient Turkic, and Qipchag periods, etc. Like all such documents of his time, L. R. Kyzlasov’s archeological records are rather limited in information value; however, they remain highly relevant because the location of some of these sites is currently unknown.

Keywords

• early iron age
• middle ages
• archaeological recording
• deer stone
• mound
• turkic stone fences
• qipchaq sanctuary