The Site of Kulan Introduction

(1) Contribution to the Silk Roads' OUV

The Kulan city is known from the written sources relating to the 8th – 13th centuries. In routing guide of Chinese pilgrim Zhang Qian and in the history of a dynasty of Tan it is mentioned under the name of "Tzuilan’". In the 9th – 10th centuries, the Arabian authors describing the cities that located on a line of the Silk Roads, mentioned Kulan.

(2) General Information

Kulan is a set of non-contemporaneous sites located in the village and around. On the territory of the settlement, surrounded by long walls, there are dozens of hills, which are the remains of castles and estates. Central fortress located 1.5 km northeast from the village. In the topography of the settlement can be traced citadel, shakhristan and unfortified rabad tracks from the east. Outside the site is surrounded by a moat, has preserved a depth of about 1 m and a width of 15 m. To the ancient settlement adjoined rural districts with an area of 12-15m, surrounded by rampart. Citadel of the 7th – 8th, 9th – 10th, 11th – 12th centuries is high, up to 7-8 m hill with a platform on top. All corners of the citadel are fortified by the towers, the remains of which can be clearly seen in the form of protuberance rounded elevations. Shakhristan is a flat rectangular mound, with the length of 320 meters from north to south and 300 meters from east to west. It is surrounded by a wall, preserved to a height of 4-5 m. Corners of the walls are reinforced by round towers, in addition, each of the parties in approximately 30-35 m had round towers, and ruggedness of which is raised above the general level of the walls on the 0.5 - 1.5 m. Lugovoye A (7th – 8th centuries; 10th century) is a hill in the form of a truncated pyramid – "tepe with the square", which rises above the general surface by 5 m. The mound at the base has dimensions of 40 × 30 m and by all the sides is surrounded by heavily slipped down wall made of pakhsa. Quadrangle walls oriented to the cardinal points. Its eastern side which is preserved to a height is of 2 meters, is 30 m, southern - 35 m, western - 30 m and northern - 40 m. The entrance to the castle was in the middle of the northern wall. From the southeastern, northeastern and northwestern sides of tepe there are three domed hill in height of 3-3.5 m. They are probably the remains of the towers. Archaeological excavations fully disclosed the central building, which had "comb" plan, typical for early medieval castles in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The castle consisted of seven rooms. In the construction of Lugovoye A castle there can be traced two construction periods: in the first period six sections had box arches, one was covered by the dome, which was based on four corner trumpet arch-step form. The premises walls were built of wattle and daub blocks and mud bricks in the technique of combined masonry and had arched walkways. The premises walls were covered with a thick layer of clay plaster and then whitewashed with alabaster. The floor was wattle and daub, covered with a layer of coating. The second period of life of the castle is characterized by significant rearrangements: all premises became isolated, arch passages were bricked up, the new ones were dome in the exterior walls, and each room had its way out into the yard. New floor level rose by almost a meter. Floors were not daubed – it was replaced by leveled and compacted debris. Walls, as before, were plastered and whitened with alabaster. The walls of the courtyard are made of massive pakhsa blocks.

Lugovoye B (7th – 8th centuries) is located 3.5 km south from the settlement. The hill is 5 m high, the size of the base on the east-west is 25 m, north-south is 20 m. At the top of the hill there is an oval space, extended by 15m from east to west and 10 m from north to south. There were found the remains of the estate. Lugovoye B is the remains of a rural estate. In one of its premises there was a workshop for processing grapes. The workshop consisted of wine pressing squares, well-reservoirs and juice collecting vats. The internal surface of tanks and wine presses was faced with pebble and covered with a thick layer of alabaster. Three vats connected with each other by runners and with a well-reservoir – by pottery tile. Two segments of pipe with flared mouths are connected so that the narrow end of the first enters the second one. The junction of pipes is reinforced with clutch of pieces of broken hum. Pottery from excavations of Lugovoye B is widely represented by fragments of stucco hum (which 65% of all the dishes), fragments of stucco boilers, heavy machine mugs and jugs. Findings attributed to the 7th – 8th centuries. This dating is confirmed by the fact that the hum of Lugovoye B has a close resemblance to the hums of Penjikent 7th – 8th centuries. Pitchers in the workshop are mainly of two types: large aquifers of manual molding and dining with a drain and without it. This type of pitchers in Zhetysu dates back to 7-8 centuries. Lugovoe B (6th – 8th centuries) is located 1.9 km to the southeast from the citadel. There were carried out no archaeological investigations at the site. Lugovoye G (7th – 12^th centuries) is located 2.8 km to the southeast from the central ruins of the settlement, on the territory surrounded by a long wall. In topography of Lugovoye G there is a central part of quadrangular shaped hill with the base size of 45 x 40.5 m, 5 m high and the adjoining area (50 × 70 m). The wall surrounding the courtyard preserved to a height of 1.5 - 2 m. In the center of the courtyard traced pits of two howzes.

Lugovoye G is a country palace complex of Kulan. The palace is a monumental one-floor building of centric plan, consisting of a large number of premises with iwans arranged around a square courtyard, paved with slabs of burgundy sandstone. Entrance to the yard was through a corridor. The particular interest represents the carved pieces, which decorated the walls of the central hall and the entrance corridor. Also found terracotta figurines of people, birds, and also heads of the nobility. Among the elements of the ornament, which dominated here were medallions, rosettes, palmettes, grapes shoots with bunches and leaves, islimi, pearls, that is, the same motifs that present in the carving of Kulan. The similarity is in the fact that the pieces are also tinted with white, yellow, red and blue. In the topics, we should note fragments of images of wolf and deer.

Lugovoye D (10th – 12th centuries) was a mound in height of 2.5 m, oval in the plan, stretches from north to south at 36 m, in the transverse direction is at 30 m. From the north and south by low ramparts it was connected with the neighboring hills. In the northern part of the hill were found two rooms. Both are extended through the long axis to the west-east. The centre of construction is a hill with remains of the hearths and bottoms full with gold, it was a fire temple.

Tortkul Karakat (7th – 9th centuries) is located 500 m to the north from Karakat village. Tortkul represents elevated square platform. The walls oriented to the cardinal points. At the corners preserved the remains of the towers with a diameter of 10-15 m. Southeastern part of tortkul is fully excavated by bulldozers. Northwestern corner with the tower is cut by highway Kulan - Karakat.

Burial mound (Early Iron Age) located 6 km northwest from the village Kulan, at the southern outskirts of Lugovoye station. The burial consists of seven kurgans. Diameters of kurgans are 18-44 m and height is 0.5-2.5 m. The kurgans are located haphazardly. In the western part of the settlement in the western city wall there was Usun settlement. The results of investigation demonstrated the core values of the settlement - areas of the planning structure. The main planning core is represented by the citadel and shakhristan; Castle Lugovoye A, country palace Lugovoye G, estate Lugovoye D; historical protective ramparts of the settlement, surrounding the neighbourhood.

(3) Attributes

There were found Zoroastrian fire temple, cult ceramics (lamps) related to Zoroastrianism. Arab geographer al- Maqdisi characterizes Kulan as “fortified city, the cathedral mosque is in it (Medina), it became already empty. It is not great on Taraz road”. Found glazed ceramics with inscriptions in Arabic, indicating the semination of Islam, finds of Ancient Stone Sculpture (balbals) is an evidence of Tengrianism and Shamanism. The city, therefore, was the meeting point of religions, values, which were distributed among the citizens. Sogdian merchants were active participants in an international trade, Sogdian colonies, composed of merchants and farmers, have played an important role in the political, economic and cultural life of the ancient Turkic states. As evidenced by written records, in the cities of Zhetysu there were Sogdian diasporas, number of cities was based by the Sogdians. Analyses of archaeological materials clearly distinguish between two cultural complexes – old Turkic and Sogdian, their mutual development and enrichment. Archaeological excavations conducted on the site, revealed a unique architectural complex of the country palace of the rulers of the city. It is a poly-bedroom construction of a palace type, the walls of the complex of input spaces were carved on the piece (plaster), which formed the panel of ornamental plants and geometric motifs, as images of people and animals in the style of carving, figurines of people - the bulk head of nobility in the face and in profile once mounted in the plane of the ornamental panels. The head, that preserved better than others (5.7 × 5 cm) has a broad flat face, eyes hollows are shallow, flattened cheekbones, flattened noses with wide nostrils, eyes are bulging, almond shaped, eyelids are marked; eyebrows almost meet at the bridge of the nose, right hand is raised up; over the pushed forward lips there are depicted moustache placed horizontally, pointed at the ends, round chin, elongated ears with earrings. From the head-dress that crowns the head preserved only the left side. In the lower part there is a horizontal line, from which rise the teeth or folds, located at the top. From under the hat down over the forehead there is a fringe of straight hair. Similar to that there are two more heads. Despite the similarities in the modeling, all the heads, of course, refer to the images of different people. Sculptor managed to convey the personality of the character of each personage. Analogies to this carved piece of Kulan are diverse and broad. This is the famous monuments of Central Asia and, above all, Afrasiab where "Samanid palace" was excavated and also a magnificent building with stucco carvings of the 9th – 10th centuries, as well as the monuments of the Middle East, in particular, Samarra, Fustat, Mshatty. The art of carving on a piece spread along the Silk Roads at a great distance and reflects the cultural traditions of various countries and peoples.

The settlement is located in the foothills in the fertile lands, which is watered by a number of mountain streams, including the largest one – Karakat. To the north there is a steppe turning into sands of Moyinkum desert. In the Kyrgyz Alatau mountain range there are passes through which it is easy to get into the Talas valley, and thence to Fergana. The city had strong fortifications, citadel, foothill rural area with the walls with the towers and fortified entrances. There was a bazaar in the city, near the southern contours of the wall of the district there was located a caravanserai (its remains are preserved). Key position of the city, two routes of the Silk Roads – the foothill and steppe – all this provided the trade during the period of existence of the city from the 7th to the 12th century. Arabic official of the first half of the 10th century, Qudaamah ibn Jafar, describing the road from the city of Taraz to Kulan, wrote: "From Dzhuvikat to Taraz city on pastures and populated area it is 2 farsakhs. From the city of Taraz to the Lower Barskhan is 3 farsakhs. From the Lower Barskhan to Kasribas is 2 farsakhs. To the right there are mountains, and to the left there is sand, it is a warm place, and this is the beginning of Karluks. There is sand between Taraz and Kulan from the northern side, and after sand there is a desert of sand and pebbles, there are echidnas, and it goes to the borders of Kimaks. From Kasribas to Kulshub it is 4 farsakhs, and it is the same as Kasribas, to the right of it there is a mountain, where there are a lot of fruits, clover, and mountain vegetables. From Kulshub to Kulan in the same way it is 4 farsakhs. In total from the city of Taraz to Kulan it is 14 farsakhs by desert, known as Kulan, it is as set above. Qudaamah’s report corresponds to the modern landscape and the nature of the site on the Silk Road from Taraz to Kulan. There are foothills and mountains with pasture to the north if we move to East, and sandy desert Moiynkum to the north, where in the10th – mid. of the 11th century grazed herds of onagers. Moreover, the desert in some places gets very close to the foothills, for example as in the region of the Akyrtobe station, located in the middle of the road section between Taraz and Kulan. Caravan route passed in the foothills zone and to the north – in the steppe zone. Foothill zone with numerous mountain streams and springs were used in spring, summer and autumn; in the steppe it was easier to move in winter time, and where there was little snow – it was blown by wind. Kulan is located between two sites, occupying agricultural districts along with the suitable landholdings. Kulan developed in the area of mountain passes in Kyrgyz Alatau through which the road stretched to the Talas valley. To the north along the river Kuragaty the section of the road lead to the steppe in the lower reaches of the Chu river and further to the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. Through this place passed the livestock drove to the summer mountain pastures from steppe in spring and summer, and in autumn the cattle-breeders used to come back to the winter pastures into a sandy desert. Kulan is located in the area ideal for the meeting of nomads and farmers, and it was the area where met the city and steppe, the townspeople and cattle-breeders. In 1928-1930 to the north from Lugovoye village was run a famous railway Turksib (Turkestan - Siberia), then in 50s from this railway moved away a branch to China to the station Alashankou (Railway-Friendship Road), and in 2012 was built another branch to China near Almaty–Zhetygen–Khorgos. Thus the Silk Roads remains in a system of transport communications. As before, through the area of Kulan were driven small cattle and herds of horses from winter pastures in Moyin-Kums to the mountain pastures, its most famous one is the river valley of Karakystak. There is still a contact between the breeders, farmers and townspeople but in the new conditions. Preserved ancient holidays of the breeders timed to the beginning and end of these modern nomads. Now they are called The Day of the Shepherd, popular among the population, as well as the landowners’ celebration of The Harvest Day. In the region, along with Islam, Christianity, there are always representatives of Shamanism (baksy). Shamanism which was almost extinct by the end of the 20th century is now reviving and getting adherents. Mainly the baksy practice traditional medicine and rituals that are used for treatment of ill.

Now is being built a highway Western China – Western Europe, passing to the north from Kulan, 300 meters far from the citadel of Lugovoye settlement, repeating the steppe part of the Silk Road.