Archaeology and archaeological tours in the Altyn-Emel Nature Reserve -
One-day excursion to the Besshatyr Mounds from the city of Almaty -
The Besshatyr Mounds are ancient Saka burial sites located in the Ili Valley on the right bank of the Ili River in the Altyn-Emel Nature Reserve. In total, there are over 30 mounds of different sizes. This ancient necropolis, whose name translates as "Five Tents", has been keeping the secrets of the powerful Saka kings for more than two millennia and is a sacred place and a place of pilgrimage. These are not just hills in the steppe, these are ancient tombs raised by the Saka tribes more than two thousand years ago. Here, in the silence, stand the silent repositories of royal memory, each of which is like a stone monument of eternity, looking into the eyes of time itself. The mounds are surrounded by stone menhirs Besshatyr (stone steles, stone columns). The land itself around the mounds seems special - as if saturated with rituals, secrets and voices of ancestors. The largest of the mounds are the royal mounds. Their height reaches almost 20 meters, and the diameter exceeds 100 meters. Inside are complex wooden tombs built from Tien Shan spruce, like fairy-tale houses underground, where great leaders, warriors and priests found peace. These buildings have survived centuries, earthquakes and storms, preserved their form and meant. Archaeological excavations, research and a museum were carried out on one of the mounds, here you can see what the mound looks like from the inside, what it is and how it is arranged.
How to get there and visit -
The Besshatyr burial mounds are located in the Altyn Emel National Nature Park, approximately 180 kilometers from Almaty along the P-20 highway (Almaty-Khorgos), entry from the village of Basshi through checkpoint No. 1, Zhetysu region, Republic of Kazakhstan.
GPS coordinates: 43°55'24"N 78°12'33"E
Information -
During archaeological excavations in the Besshatyr burial mounds, bronze swords, gold jewelry, vessels, horn items, fabrics were found - everything that accompanied the leader to another world. One of the most striking artifacts is the elegant gold plates with images of griffins, tigers, winged horses. This is the style of "animal ornament" - the calling card of the Saks. They believed that the spirit of an animal is protection, strength, connection with spirits and the family. Every object here is not just a decoration, but a symbol, an amulet, a word in the language of power. Around the mounds there are stone menhirs - stone pillars, as if arranged in a circle in an ancient ritual. Some researchers believe that this is a sundial, others - that this is an altar. But everyone is sure of one thing: this is a place of power. The stones are oriented to the cardinal points, to the stars, to the Sun. Everything here is connected with space and the soul. It is no coincidence that shamans have been coming here since time immemorial. And now, if you stop in the center of these stones, you will feel - the earth breathes under your feet, and the wind speaks the language of the ancestors.
Besshatyr is a connecting link between the sacred places of the southeast of Kazakhstan. Nearby are Tamgaly-Tas (petroglyphs), where Buddhist images, prayers and signs are carved on the banks of the Ili. All this is one cultural and energy flow. Besshatyr is the beginning. Tamgaly is a revelation. The Ili River is a purification. Nearby is the "Singing Dunes" whose sand produces organ music from the friction of grains of sand against each other when the wind blows. And if you drive this entire route, you will not just see beauty - you will walk the ancient path of power, the path that leaders once walked, seeing off their brothers to the world of spirits. It is places like Besshatyr that make Kazakhstan unique. Here the steppe is not just a landscape, it is a book. Here the wind is not noise, but a voice. Here every stone is a witness, every hill is history. This is something that you cannot take with you, but that will forever remain in your heart. To come here means to bow to antiquity, to feel your roots and to hear the silence in which millennia sound.
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