Expedition of the Project Participants Along the Nura River Revealed New Historical and Cultural Heritage Sites

As part of the implementation of the scientific project AP26101503, “Interdisciplinary Studies of the Golden Horde Cult Memorials of the Sarysu–Tengiz Watershed,” under the supervision of the project leader S.Z. Razdykov, an archaeological survey was conducted in May 2026 aimed at identifying and studying adobe mausoleums located along the Nura River.

The expedition route extended from the village of Kabanbay Batyr along the course of the Nura River to the administrative center of the Nura District, the settlement of Nura (Kievka). During the field investigations, historical necropolises were surveyed and a number of sites of scientific interest were identified.

On the territory of the cemetery in the village of Akhmetaul, Nura District, a memorial complex belonging to the descendants of Konyr was documented. The complex is associated with Kulzhi Tore Kudaimendin, the Senior Sultan of the Akmola District in the mid-nineteenth century.

In the village of Kyzylzhuldyz, researchers examined an Early Iron Age burial mound located on the northern outskirts of the local necropolis. The survey of the cemetery also led to the identification of two mausoleums. The Kyzylzhuldyz I Mausoleum has survived in a ruined condition: the preserved section reaches approximately 1 meter in height, five courses of brick masonry can be traced, and the wall thickness reaches 30 centimeters. The Kyzylzhuldyz II Mausoleum is a larger structure approximately 4.2 meters high with a domed portal.

Of particular scientific interest was the necropolis located near the village of Pervoye Maya (Shagaman, Savelyevka). Its northeastern section consists almost entirely of the ruins of nineteenth-century adobe mausoleums, representing significant historical and cultural value. These monuments require further comprehensive study, documentation, and incorporation into scholarly circulation.

The materials obtained expand our understanding of the funerary and memorial architecture of Central Kazakhstan and provide a foundation for further interdisciplinary research on cult monuments of the Golden Horde period and later times.