Tamgaly Tas Kurgan Field (Ili River Terraces)
Tamgaly Tas Lower Kurgans · Ili Bronze Age Burials
Late Bronze to Early Iron (Andronovo / Saka) + Turkic·Andronovo / Saka / Turkic·🇰🇿 Almaty Region, Kapchagay District, Ili River near Tamgaly Tas, Kazakhstan
About
About Tamgaly Tas Kurgan Field (Ili River Terraces)
Ili River terrace kurgan field (650 m, 43°56′N 75°32′E 43.93,75.53) downstream from Tamgaly UNESCO rock-art gorge (1145), on second terrace above Ili. Fifteen mounds 10-38 m diameter, 0.7-2.2 m, spanning Late Bronze Andronovo to Saka (1300-400 BCE) with successive reuse: Andronovo cist, Saka intrusion pit, and Turkic balbal statue line extension. Nine balbals align 80 m from latest kurgan, tying burial-steppe art to Tamgaly Buddha carvings upstream. Ili fisheries productivity explains multi-millennial continuity. Kapchagay reservoir 70 m below threatens shoreline erosion.
Why it mattersMulti-period terrace kurgans linking Andronovo to Turkic balbal at Ili gateway.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Balbal vs kurgan contemporaneity
Theories
- 01River ancestor corridor
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.1300-400 BCE (Andronovo to Saka) with Turkic reuse 600-800 CE
- Period
- Late Bronze to Early Iron (Andronovo / Saka) + Turkic
- Culture
- Andronovo / Saka / Turkic
- Builders
- Ili terrace pastoralists successive
- Purpose
- River-terrace ancestral burial with balbal ancestor line
- Abandoned
- c.800 CE
- Rediscovered
- 2018 Tamgaly-Tas buffer survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1300 BCE
Andronovo cist foundation
600 CE
Turkic balbal line erected
On the ground
Structures & features
43.9300° N · 75.5300° E · 650 m · 2 mapped features
Tamgaly Tas Large 38-m Kurgan
burial38-m multi-period mound with Andronovo cist and Saka pit
43.9320° N · 75.5320° ETamgaly Balbal Line
megalith9-babal ancestor statue alignment 80 m long
43.9280° N · 75.5280° E