The diffusion of Islam in the eastern Dasht-i-Kipchak according to the materials from Bozok

Abstract

The article provides historical reference on the stages of Islam's diffusion into Dasht-i Kypchak. Already in 8th — 10th centuries Central Kazakhstan was bordering with states of Islamic culture and ideology. The main centres for the spread of Islam toward Dasht-i Kipchak were the Bulgaria Region along the Volga river and the Muslim states of Central Asia.

Considering the absence of written sources focusing on the spiritual culture of the medieval Saryarka, the archaeological findings are of crucial importance. Then the historical reconstruction is supported by concrete archaeological material from the ancient settlement of Bozok, dated back from the 8th till the 15th centuries. Archaeological evidences of islamisation are here presented: the growth of cities, the construction of mausoleums, and the standardisation of the funeral rite according to the muslim cultural tradition. Sixty-two muslim burials were excavated in the ancient settlement of Bozok. Details of the rite reveal the degree of islamisation of the population who lived in eastern part of the Dasht-i Kipchak in the Middle Ages. With precise references to the Sharia, the regulations and requirements for burial rituals and their implementation in specific graves of the Bozok town are set out. Also are here presented a typology and classification of the burials according to the Muslim burial grounds of the Volga region, where large-scale excavations were carried out in the past. Moreover, the article provides a brief description of some mausoleums, the remains of which were excavated at Bozok. On account of their architectural layouts and details of the funeral rite, these funerary constructions are dated to the 13th — 14th centuries. These mausoleums set then the northern borders of the Islamic world in the 13th — 14th centuries.