“Nomadic” Complexes of the Period of the Hunnic Conquests in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Research аrticle

Abstract

The present article aims to compile a preliminary catalogue of “nomadic” antiquities dating to the Migration Period in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with particular attention to the era of the Hunnic conquests and the subsequent post-Hunnic horizon from the late fourth to the first half of the sixth century CE. Although Kazakhstan occupied a central position in the system of economic, political, and cultural contacts between Europe and Asia, this territory has not yet been considered as a separate subject within the archaeology of the Migration Period in a broad Eurasian context. The study brings together materials published by different authors from the early twentieth century to the present day and attempts to consider them within a single comparative and typological framework. The selected sites are located mainly in the steppe and piedmont zones of Kazakhstan and mark possible routes of migration, population movement, and cultural contacts linking Central Asia, the Kazakh steppes, Western Siberia, the Trans-Urals, the Volga-Ural region, and Eastern Europe. In total, the catalogue includes twelve complexes that demonstrate a number of shared features in funerary practice and associated assemblages. These include horse equipment, belt fittings, weapons, polychrome ornaments, cauldrons, and other categories of material culture characteristic of the Hunnic and post-Hunnic periods. At the same time, the materials remain difficult to divide into separate chronological horizons, since many complexes were discovered under different circumstances, published unevenly, or preserved in incomplete archaeological contexts. The article proposes several preliminary observations. The complexes may be divided into three broad groups: commemorative complexes under kurgans without human burials; kurgan inhumations with northern orientation; and inhumations with northern orientation placed on abandoned settlements or fortified sites. The distribution of “kurgans with mustaches” is also considered important, since these ritual architectural ensembles may reflect areas of occupation and political dominance of pastoral nomads and the movement of groups along major river routes. The article does not aim to offer a final ethnic interpretation of the materials. Rather, it emphasizes their synchronous character and their role in the wider system of economic and political relations of nomadic elites across northern Eurasia. Further research should focus on expanding the source base, refining typological comparisons, and studying the origin of the populations through physical anthropology and ancient DNA.