Archaeologists Unearth One of the World's Earliest Cities — a 3,600-Year-Old Site in Kazakhstan
Archaeologists did some digging in and around the Kazakhstan steppe and discovered an ancient settlement. Further study proved that the settlement belonged to the Bronze Age and was a thriving city about 3,600 years ago. The discovery is now forcing researchers to rethink the history of metal production in prehistoric Eurasia. According to a study published in the journal Antiquity, the site, 346 acres of land, dates back to 1600 BC. It is also the only site discovered in the region with a dedicated space for metallurgy and tin-bronze production. An international team of archaeologists from UCL, Durham University, and Toraighyrov University dug deeper into the mystery of the ancient settlement.
"Semiyarka transforms our understanding of steppe societies," said study first author Miljana Radivojević in a statement. She also explained how the settlement and the metallurgy production space are telling of how developed and advanced the early humans were. "It demonstrates that mobile communities were capable of building and sustaining permanent, well-organized settlements centered on large-scale metallurgical production, including the elusive manufacture of tin bronze, a cornerstone of Eurasia's Bronze Age economy that has long remained absent from the archaeological record," she added. The settlement is dramatically perched on top of the Irtysh River in northeastern Kazakhstan, overlooking a network of valleys.
One of the most remarkable discoveries in the steppe in recent years has been nicknamed the City of Seven Ravines. A typical steppe community will resemble a small village or scattered camp, but Semiyarka was something different. When researchers used drones to inspect the area, they determined that it was not a small village but an early-stage city. They found two rows of earthworks or large banks of soil, angled toward each other. Enclosed housing compounds were also spread across the area. But the most surprising aspect of the settlement was the copper and tin bronze production area that was built on a massive scale. Geophysical surveys and bronze artifacts in the region helped the archaeologists determine that large-scale tin bronze production was conducted. Steppe metallurgists most likely operated complex production systems rather than a mediocre workshop.
The rediscovered settlement was very strategically placed along the Irtysh River valley. The commanding point allowed the early residents to monitor, control, or influence the movement along the river. In the early ages, water was the main source of transportation. Hence, the location of the settlement worked as a security blanket, giving residents the control to decide who could pass through and who couldn't. So the ancient settlement wasn't only remarkable in terms of its contribution to metallurgy production but also for its regional dominance. The ores used in the production likely came from nearby deposits in the Altai Mountains. "The scale and structure of Semiyarka are unlike anything else we've seen in the steppe zone," said study co-author and landscape archaeologist Dan Lawrence.
This evidence is enough to prove that the Bronze Age community in the Kazakhstan steppe was developing in terms of its infrastructure and production plans. They planned settlements "similar to those of their contemporaries in more traditionally 'urban' parts of the ancient world." The researchers believe that further excavations need to be conducted to determine Semiyarka's role in the larger region in the Bronze Age.
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