Semiyarka

Semiyarka
Drone photograph of the archaeological site of Semiyarka, looking from the south-east to the north-west, taken in July 2018
Location within Continental Asia Show map of Continental Asia Location within Kazakhstan Show map of Kazakhstan
50°53′38″N 78°22′32″E / 50.894012°N 78.375433°E / 50.894012; 78.375433

Semiyarka is a Late Bronze Age settlement in Abai Oblast in north-eastern Kazakhstan, which was occupied from around 1600 BCE. It is connected to the Cherkaskul culture (1600–1250 BCE) and Alekseevka-Sargary culture (1500–1100 BCE), a subdivision of the Andronovo culture. The site includes monumental architecture, and evidence of pottery as well as tin-bronze production. The copper and tin ores used for the production of the Semiyarka artifacts probably originated from the Altai Mountains in East Kazakhstan.

Semiyarka may have been a "Bronze Age metropolis", and is one of the rare known sites of tin bronze production in the Eurasian steppe.

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  Semiyarka map of features identified through geophysical prospection
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  Semiyarka pottery sherds. Alekseevka-Sargary (upper four sherds) and Cherkaskul (lower four sherds) cultures

Sources

• Radivojević, Miljana; Lawrence, Dan; Merz, Victor K.; Merz, Ilya V.; Demidkova, Elena; Woolston-Houshold, Mark; Villis, Richie; Brown, Peter J. (18 November 2025). "A major city of the Kazakh Steppe? Investigating Semiyarka's Bronze Age legacy". Antiquity: 1–9. doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.10244.
• Nicioli, Taylor (18 November 2025). "Archaeologists may have uncovered a Bronze Age metropolis in Kazakhstan's steppe". CNN.

References