Baylama Shaft
Astafiev A. Bogdanov E.
2023Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan Archeology
2023#2023Issue 2117 - 130 pp.
The article is devoted to historical and archaeological research of a stone-earth fortification known as the “Baylama Shaft” on the territory of Mangystau, the Republic of Kazakhstan. This defensive structure (wall-shaft-ditch) had a length of 780 m and an initial height of about 3 m. The work presents data on the design features of its construction obtained during excavations. In the western sector, the wall is composed of two-row rubble masonry of natural stone, without a solution, with a backfill of the row space. Its width in different sections is 1.5–2.2 m. In the eastern sector of the shaft, structural differences in the construction of the wall are recorded: in several cases, sections with a combination of horizontally laid and vertically installed slabs are traced. It is hypothesized that the Baylama fortress line was designed to protect the agricultural and cattle-breeding lands of the Karakabak settlement from nomads (3rd–6th centuries AD). In addition, a place for safe settling and maintenance of numerous livestock of draft and riding animals – mainly camels, as well as a place for storing valuable cargo was required. The creation of such a large-scale fortified borderline is, of course, one of the brightest pages in the history of Mangystau.
archaeology , Baylama , fortification , Karakabak , Mangyshlak , raw bricks , rubble masonry , the Era of the Resettlement of Peoples , urban settlement
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Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Aktau, Kazakhstan
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography
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