Тhe history of Kazakhstan

Практические цели: формирование умений и навыков устной речи и письменного выражения мыслей. Овладение дополнительной информацией об истории кочевников. Обсуждение тематического материала, поиск нового материала.

Text: Ancient world of nomads.

The early history of Kazakhstan is peopled by tribes of pastoralists who lived on the grassy expanses of the steppes between the Volga and the Altai Mountains. With the introduction of the wheeled cart from the Middle East, the Indo-European tribes began to migrate. Light battle chariots and horse harness were developed, and tools and weapons were improved. The broad expanses of Siberia, the Ural foothills, Kazakhstan and Central Asia were populated by tribes who left behind traces of a brilliant, original culture.

In the middle of the second millennium BC, the nomadic tribes inhabiting the territory of modern Kazakhstan made a discovery that marked the beginning of a new area: the technology of smelting bronze. The Bronze Age ushered in a more sedentary way of life based on agriculture as well as herding. Early forms of mining were developed to extract gold, copper and lead. The rich deposits of many metals in Kazakhstan and the beginning of the production of bronze had a significant impact on the tribes of the steppes. During this period, the intensive development of herding and metallurgy, which demanded hard physical labor, enhanced the social importance of the male.

The burial mound at Issyk, some fifty km. From Almaty in the foothills of the Alatau, is an exceptionally rich site. Here was discovered the burial vault of a Sac leader, whom archaeologists have called ‘ the gold man’ as his clothes, Armour and head-dress were decorated with some four thousand finely crafted disks and rectangles of gold. The central chamber of the tomb had been robbed in ancient times, but in a side chamber the body was found laid out on a cloth decorated with smell gold disks. By the thousand wall of the vault wooden dishes and vessels were found: four square dishes, a bucket and bowls. By the western wall there were pottery pitchers and bowls, a silver spoon with a handle in the form of a heron, a silver cup with an eight-petal led rosette on the bottom, and a similar to runic script, which has not yet been deciphered. By the left hand of the deceased lay an arrow with a gilded shaft and a gold tip, and a whip with a gold ribbon around the handle; in a leather toilet bag there was a bronze mirror and a small piece of ochre.

The dead leader was dressed in a red suede jacket covered with small gold triangles, imitating Armour. His leather trousers decorated with a border of gold disks, were tucked into boots which had gold triangles sewn along the tops. The figure was crowned by a tall leather cap with gold ornamentation depicting wild animals and birds, feathers, arrows, and mountains with trees on which birds were perched.