STUDIES OF MEDIEVAL MAUSOLEUMS IN THE KOPTAM TERRAIN IN WESTERN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to publish materials from archaeological excavations of previously unknown medieval mausoleums in the Aktobe region of Western Kazakhstan. The mausoleums were explored near the village of Taskopa in the Koptam area. The fi rst mausoleum is square in plan, built of burned and mud bricks. There is a portal on the front side. External dimensions of the structure: length – 7.8 m, width – 6.9 m. Wall thickness is 1.3-1.5 m. Three burials were examined inside. A brick mastaba gravestone was built over each burial. Burial 1 is collective: two adults and a child. Burials 2 and 3 are individual. All the buried lie stretched out on their backs, with their heads to the west and a deviation to the north. There are no grave goods. The second mausoleum is small in size and heavily ruined. Length – 8.0 m, width – 7.0 m, wall thickness no more than 0.7 m. It contains the burial of an adult without goods. Features of architecture and funeral rites allow us to date these mausoleums to the 14th century. The canonicity of the architecture and funeral rites suggests that these mausoleums were built by the urban Muslim population, possibly by settlers from Khwarazm.