ROMANIAN ACADEMY INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY OF IASI> LEONID R. KYZLASOV qJFic (ЦгЬап Q\v\[izat\on of 4\orthern and innermost A $'w (Historicaf and ^rcfmeofogicaf Q^esearcPi E d i t u r a A c a d e m i e i R o m a n e -E d i t u r a I s t r o s Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiqutatis et Medii Aevi Curatores seriei VICTOR SPINEI et IONELCANDEA VII The Urban Civilization of Northern and Innermost Asia Historical and Archaeological Research ROMANIAN ACADEMY INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY OF IA§I LEONID R. KYZLASOV The Urban Civilization of Northern and Innermost Asia Historical and Archaeological Research H fu otfj'с / С е . Edited by / Gheorghe POSTICA and Igor KYZLASOV S W -M // ГУК PX "Национальная библиотека им. Н.Г. Доможакова" EDITURA П MUZEUL BRAILEI ACADEMIEI ROMANE EDITURA ISTROS Bucure§ti - Braila 2010 Copyright О 2010, Editura Acadeiniei Romane and Editura Istros a Muzeului Brailei, Igor L. Kyzlasov All right reserved Address: EDITURA ACADEMIEI ROMANE Caleal3 Septembrie. nr. 13, sector 5, 050711, Bucure§ti, Romania Tel. 4021-3188146:4021-3188106; Fax: 4021-3182444 E -mai 1: cdacad@ear. ro Address: EDITURA ISTROS A MUZEULUI BRAILEI PiataTraian, nr. 3, 810153 Braila, Romania Tel./Fax: 0339401002; 0339401003 E-mail: sediu(«jmuzculbrailei.ro Dcscrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Najionale a Romaniei KYZLASOV, LEONID R. The Urban Civilization oF Northern and Innermost Asia. Historical and Archaeological Research / Leonid R. Kyzlasov; cd. by Gheorghe Postica and Igor Kyzlasov. - Bucurc§ti: Editura Acadeiniei Romane; Braila: Editura Istros a Muzeului Brailei. 2010. ISBN 978-973-27-1962-6 ISBN 978-973-1871-69-1 I Postica. Gheorghe (ed.) II. Kyzlasov, Igor(ed ) 902 Editorial assistents. DTP. Cover: Gheorghe Postica Translated from tlie Russian by Dina Gilman Cover illustration: Bronze mascaron handle o f the Tasheba palace; Open-work bronze badge depicting Buddha with Bodhisatt\>as and Gilded bronze Buddhist badge, foundes in the Ak-Beshim site. D.L.C. For large libraries: 908.5 (5) D.L.C. For small libraries: 9. Leonid R. Kyzlasov (1924-2007) CONTENTS Leonid R. Kyzlasov: well known scientist oF Sibirian, Central and Middle Asian studies (Gheorghe Posticd)................................................ 9 P reface.............................................................................................................................. 13 Part I. WRITTEN RECORDS OF ANCIENT SIBERIAN CITIES 17 Introduction................................................................................................................... Chapter 1. Concept of “city” in the ancient and medieval times............. 27 C hapter 2. A ncient and m edieval eastern teXts................................................ 35 2.1. Role oF the classical tradition in Forming the image oF the blessed city in the center oF Asia.................... , ................................... 35 2.2. Cities oF Northern Asia as seen by medieval geographers oF the east 42 C hapter 3. M edieval European Sources............................................................... 53 3.1. Distinctive cities and Fortresses oF Siberia as recorded in Russian sources oF the twelFth-seventeenth centuries....................... 53 3.2. Siberia and its old cities as seen by Western European travelers From the thirteenth-seventeenth centuries........................... 89 Chapter 4. Evidence held in the memory of the indigenous peoples of Siberia ^7 and recorded by science in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries................... 4.1. Ancient cities as reFlected in the ethnography, language and......... 97 Folklore oF the indigenous peoples oF Siberia..................................... 4.2. Ancient Siberian cities as seen by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries historians............................................................. ^ 3 Cnclusion............................................................................................................. *21 Part 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH I29 Chapter 1. Beginnings of first cities in Siberia. Bronze and Early Iron Ages * 31 1.1. Neolithic period............................................................................... 132 1.2. “Lived-in walls” oF Bronze A g e.................................................. 134 1.3. Daub houses oF proto-cities......................................................... *38 1.4. Beginnings oF cities in Northern and Central Kazakhstan......... 153 1.5. Early Iron Age............................................................................... 155 1.6. “The country oF cities” and writterrsources................................. 161 Chapter 2. Cities oF the Huns.......................................................................... 163 2.1. Hunnic cities oF Central Asia........................................................ 164 2.2. Towns and settlements oF the Huns in Transbaikalia................. 171 2.3. Chronological dating oF the Hunnic sites.................................... 180 Chapter 3. City and palace oF the Hunnic ruler oF the Sayan-Altai plands.................................................................................... 183 3.1. Tasheba town.................................................................................. 185 3.2.Palac e 198 3 .3. Dating the palace. The owner oF the complex.......................... 230 Chapter 4. Turkic-Sogdian city oF Suyab - the capital oF the Western Turkic khaganate.................................................................... 247 4.1. Archaeological grounds For believing that Ak-Beshim is the same as Suyab............................................................................... 247 4.2. City and its excavation................................................................. 254 4 .3. Excavation oF the Buddhist temple (site I).............................. 264 4.3.1. Architecture oF the temple................................................. 271 4.3.2. Sculpture and painting........................................................ 308 4.3.4.Finding s 311 4.3.5..Great Cloud Temple............................................................ 330 4.3 .6. Evidence oF the destruction oF the temple and the presence oF nomads........................................................................ 332 4.3.7. Evidence From the last settled inhabitants...................... 338 4.4. Manichaean burial complex (site III).......................................... 347 4.5. Christian church and graveyard (site IV).................................... 355 4.6. Ruins oF the Tower oF Silence oF the sixth and seventh centuries (site V).......................................................... i......................... 363 4.7. Sacred Space oF the City oF Suyab...'........................................... 378 Appendix 1. Ak-Beshim coin-list........................................................ 383 Conclusion........................................................................................................... 383 Bibliography........................................................................................................ 391 Abbreviations...................................................................................................... 426 8 LEONID R. KYZLASOV: WELL KNOWN SCIENTIST OF SIBIRIAN, CENTRAL AND MIDDLE ASIAN STUDIES ProFessor L.R. Kyzlasov (1924-2007) was one oF the leading Russian Orientalists, a rare expert in the history and archaeology oF Siberia, Central and Middle Asia. He belonged to the Few indigenous people oF the Sayan-Altai mountain country - Khakasses. Kyzlasov was bom on the taiga river Ninya in the Sinyavino village situated in the Abakan River basin, the leFt tributary oF the Yenisei. His parents were actively involved in the cultural revolution oF 1920s in Siberia, his Father was a victim oF Stalin’s purges in 1937, his mother has died at the age oF 39. In 1942-1945 L.R. Kyzlasov participated in the Second World War, paying with his own blood For the victory over Fascism. In 1945 he was enrolled in the Archaeology Department oF the History Faculty at the “М. V. Lomonosov” State University in Moscow, so that the rest oF his life and scientiFic activity was connected with this domain. L.R. Kyzlasov was the First Khakass who rose to the level oF world science and has reached the supreme scientiFic degree oF ProFessor Doctor and the title oF proFessor in the Soviet period. In the university, he became a disciple oF the outstanding researcher oF Siberia and Central Asia, S. Kiselyev, and aFter a Few years substituted his teacher. In 1949, aFter graduating the university course (Diploma Essay: “Altai in the FiFth-tenth centuries”), LR Kyzlasov deFended in 1953 his the ‘candidate's thesis’ (PhD) - “Tashtyk Epoch (the First century B.C.-FiFth century A.D.) in the history oF the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin” and in 1966 - his the ‘doctoral dissertation' (habilitation work) on “The history' oF Tuva in the Middle Ages”. L.R. Kyzlasov taught in the Department oF Archaeology until his death. 9 Talent oF a Field researcher and the broad historical view on the archaeological materials oF L.R. Kyzlasov revealed very early. Already the excavations that he conducted in 1953-54 years at Ak-Beshim (Kyrgyzstan), brought him worldwide Fame: among numerous mounds oF the huge site, the 29-year-old archaeologist, has managed to Find and excavate during two seasons the remains oF the earliest in Central Asia Buddhist temple, the First Christian church, a Manichaean cemetery and dakhrna tower that had the form oF a castle.