THE RESULTS OF A STUDY OF THE ZHIENBAI WINTERING SITE

Abstract

Kazakh wintering sites are among the least studied topics in the archaeology of Kazakhstan. The article presents the results of archaeological excavations conducted in 2025 at the Zhienbai wintering site in the Ereimentau region of Akmola Region. During the study, the remains of five houses, adjacent outbuildings, and a burial ground were identified. A stratigraphic excavation was opened at one of the structures, revealing the remains of a two-room house and part of an adjoining outbuilding, as well as a cauldron, ewer, ladle, axe, and other household items. Radiocarbon analysis of the recovered animal bones indicated that the wintering site was occupied from the second half of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Written sources provided information about the owner of the site and its household and economic characteristics. The inscription on a gravestone found near the wintering site was read, and it was established that it belonged to Zharmukhammed Ybyraiuly, a resident of the Korzhynkol volost of Akmola uezd. The results of archaeological and interdisciplinary research at the Zhienbai wintering site yielded new data on the socio-economic life of the Kazakhs who inhabited the Ereimentau region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as on the historical-topographical structure, construction characteristics, and spatial organization of permanent dwellings.