Turkic enclosures of complexes Bolshoi Kurmanak-I and II (Central Altai): based on excavations by A. S. Vasyutin

Abstract

The article presents the publication of materials from the excavations of the Turkic enclosures at the complexes Bolshoi Kurmanak-I and II, investigated by the Altai detachment of the South Siberian archaeological expedition of Kemerovo State University under the leadership of A. S. Vasyutin in 1982. To date, only a few finds from these objects have been published, which does not allow for the full use of the materials obtained. On the basis of the information presented in the reporting documentation about result of the excavations, authors of the article carry out the general description of the complexes and present a detailed description of the studied early medieval fences. An analysis of the recorded characteristics made it possible to conclude that the excavated objects of the complexes Bolshoi Kurmanak-I and II demonstrate the tradition of construction of Turkic enclosures, widespread in large areas of the Central Asian region in the second half of I millennium AD. The revealed features of the studied structures, as well as the few items found, give grounds for the dating of enclosures in the broad framework of the second half of the V — first half of VIII centuries AD.