Pottery Workshops in Shagalaly II and Burla 3 Settlements in the Context of Begazy-Dandybai Problem
Гончарные мастерские поселений Шагалалы II и Бурла 3 в контексте бегазы-дандыбаевской проблемы
Varfolomeev V.V.
2025Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Ufa Archaeological Herald
2025#25Issue 2307 - 318 pp.
During the late/final Bronze Age Kazakhstan featured the Begazy-Dandybai culture (also known as Sargary-Alekseyevka). A distinctive component of this culture is vessels with moulded bolsters in the upper part. However, this ceramics in large settlements and noble burials in the Central Kazakhstan has another component. These vessels are usually finely made, have thin walls and stamped or geometric ornamental patterns. The method of analogy allows to establish that majority of this ceramics is imported to the Kazakhstan steppes. The origin of the ceramics is associated with the Late Bronze cultures from the West Siberian South. However, for a long time it was impossible to determine the origin of the Begazy-Dandybai crockery even though this crockery constitutes a substantial part of the burial oblation. The early 1930s–1950s publications compare this type of crockery with the South Siberian Karasuk ceramics. These publications conclude that the Karasuk momentum plays a tangible role in the emergence of the Begazy-Dandybai culture. This conclusion turns out wrongful, yet the stereotypical idea of the Karasuk origin of the Central Kazakhstan population can still be found in researches. This study aims to determine reasons and factors of the Begazy-Dandybai crockery emergence. To attain this aim, the research uses materials from Shagalaly II settlement in the Northern Kazakhstan and Burla 3 settlement in the Altai Krai, Russia. These territories feature the only Begazy-Dandybai (Sargary-Alekseyevka) pottery workshops discovered. Potters in these settlements used the techniques and technologies they had brought from the Central Asia South. Shagalaly II settlement produced crockery using a potters wheel. Burla 3 settlement is also revealed with a local production of ceramics made on a potters wheel. Besides, there are hand-moulded pots, including Begazy-Dandybai ones. The article concludes that there could be more Begazy-Dandybai pottery shops. It is suggested that Begazy-Dandybai crockery is a special local ceramic style formed at pottery workshops influenced by some traditions of West Siberia Andronoid cultures.
Begazy-Dandybai culture , Bronze Age , ceramics , innovation , Kazakhstan , origin , pottery workshops , settlements , steppe Altai
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Karaganda Buketov University, Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Karaganda Buketov University
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