Explorations of the Russian-Karakalpak Expedition on the Ustyurt Plateau and Sultanuizdag in 2024

The article discusses the progress and results of the Russian-Karakalpak archaeological expedition of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Karakalpak State University. During the first stage, from May 3 to 15, 2024, two unexplored burial mounds of the Gunzheli 1 burial ground (Ustyurt Plateau) were excavated. Mound 22 turned out to be a cenotaph, and mound 24 was robbed. Judging by the design of the burial structures and the remains of the burial inventory, both mounds can be attributed to the early Sarmatian era (4th–2nd /1st centuries BC). Then the expedition worked at the Burlykala ancient settlement (Sultanuizdag). The entire area of excavation 1 (10×6 m) was occupied by a large building consisting of at least three rooms. Its walls were made of mud bricks (38×38 cm). Work on excavation 2 (12×12 m), laid out around the Tower-shaped structure (TSS) located in the northern part of the settlement, showed that it was an almost perfect square in plan, measuring 7.1×7.3 m and 2.8 m high. The building was constructed of mud bricks of approx. 40×41×11–13 cm. TSS stands on a leveled cultural layer, which was traced to a depth of 34 cm. It included adobe walls 1 m wide, built of mud bricks 46×46 and 50×50 cm, dense sandy loam and a final thin (3–4 cm) leveling layer of yellow sand. Finds in the underlying TSS layer prove that the lower building arose and existed before the second half of the 2nd century BC

Ancient history · Geography · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · History · Mathematics