Korgantas Culture

Korgantas culture — an archaeological culture in the eastern regions of Central Kazakhstan spanned from the 4^th to 2^ndcenturies BC.

History of Research

The Korgantas culture (Fig. 1) was identified in the mid-1990s by A. Z. Beisenov. The name is attributed to its most representative burial ground [Beisenov 1996].

Cultural Attributes

The remains of the Korgantas culture comprise mainly of burial monuments as a part of larger necropolises which also include monuments of earlier archaeological cultures. These monuments are dispersed as solitary burial structures (from one to three) throughout different areas of the burial grounds.

The kurgans of Korgantas culture consist of small, round stone or stone and earth mounds up to 0.3 m in height and 5 to 12 m in diameter. Single burials are found in stone cists at the bottom of shallow pits. The graves conform to a rite requiring a supine corpse lying on its back with the skull oriented towards northeast. The shoulder blade of a ram or a horse is often placed on the chest of the buried person. A special compartment is located on the northeast side outside the pit grave, or, less frequently, directly at the top of the corpse’s head. It contains horse skulls and leg bones, and large and small livestock (cows, sheep, or goats), usually from 6 to 29 individual animals. Sometimes the head of a bridled horse is placed here.

The accompanying inventory found at Korgantas burial sites is evidence of the material culture of its bearers. It is represented by weapons (arrowheads, hammers, quiver hooks), horse tack (bits, cheekpieces, girths, horse brass), strap-fittings (buckles), household items (knives, awls), and leather punches [Beisenov 1996; 2017; Tairov 2006] (Fig. 2).

The economic basis of the Korgantas tribes’ culture appears to have been nomadic cattle breeding. As of now, there are no traces of settlements nor any objects indicating that these tribes were familiar with agriculture or sedentism.

Origins and Chronology 

The Korgantas archaeological culture emerged as a result of a large population group migrating from Northern China passing through Mongolia and Altai. This population group invaded the eastern regions of Central Kazakhstan at the beginning of the 4^th century BC. This fact is confirmed not only by cultural features, but also by paleoanthropological data [Shulga 2015: 405–417; Beisenov et al. 2015: 22–23]. As a consequence of this migration, the bearers of the local Tasmola archaeological culture (tribes of the so-called Tasmola cultural-historical community) were defeated, partially wiped out, and then displaced to the western part of their indigenous lands. The Korgantas culture existed for at least 250 years, up to the turn of the 2^nd to 1^st centuries BC.