Woman's Bronze Age Burial Uncoverd in Kazakhstan

From Caspio.net
June 11, 2012

Archeological excavations in West Kazakhstan region

She was buried in a fetal position, facing west, ready to be born again...

Specialists of the West Kazakhstan Centre of History and Archeology have found the burial of a young lady dated back to the Bronze Age.
It is situated in the territory of the ancient city of Zhaiyk some 12 kilometres from Uralsk. Archeologists claim that their discovery is unique. The woman was buried in the fetal position and her body was directed to the west. It is believed that a person buried like that will receive the second birth. People buried their relatives and friends in such a manner in the Bronze Age, over 2 thousand years ago. It means that if earlier archeological information dated Uralsk back to the 14th century, today there is proof that this city is much older. The ancient skeleton was situated near the 800-year old brick furnace. The team accidentally found the landmark site during routine excavations. It means that the two discoveries located in close proximity were in fact two millennia apart.

Murat Kalmenov, SENIOR FELLOW, WEST KAZAKHSTAN REGION CENTRE FOR HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY:
-The burial was higher than the base of the furnace. Then we have found an inscription, which said that there was a burial mound here in the 14th century. I believe that people living here hadn’t recognised it and built a furnace near it.
There are a lot of such historical complex areas in the territory of this region. This year excavations in Akzhaiyk, Chingirlau and Kaztal regions are planned to be launched.

Serik Ramazanov, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY:
-In 2009 we found a similar ancient city in the Kaztal region. It was bigger than Zhaiyk. The length of this city was 900 metres and the width was estimated at 300 metres. We also excavated one residential area within the city and we are going to continue working.
An open-air museum is going to be set up in the place of the ancient city of Zhaiyk, where archeologists would like to collect all historical and archeological monuments of the region.