Open-air museum “Botai-Burabai”

The main activity of the museum is the organization and conduct of thematic and sightseeing tours. Our main task is to preserve and enhance our cultural and spiritual value, which is why we are systematically increasing the scope of cultural and educational services for the younger generation. The preparation of educational projects for students is the main focus of our industry. When working with students, the museum staff introduces children to the history of Botai culture, because at all times one of the main directions of the museum is the education and upbringing of young people, instilling a sense of their native land.

Botai settlement was discovered in 1980 by V. F. Seibert, then a member of the North Kazakhstan archaeological expedition. At that time, students of the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute, headed by Rector Shakenov Kanash Shakenovich, helped in archaeological excavations. The first excavations at the settlement gave Domestic Science up to 40 thousand artifacts. Subsequently, the settlements of Krasny Yar, Vasilkovka IV, Roshchinskoye, Balandino, Sergeevka were opened. Having studied these settlements of the Eneolithic period in the 1980s, W. F. Seibert came to the conclusion about the separation of a new archaeological culture-the Botai culture. The Botai settlement and archaeological culture received the name of one of the leaders of the local Kazakh tribes. In the first years of the study of the settlement by the North Kazakhstan archaeological expedition, 7528 square meters of cultural layer were excavated. In the summer of 1983, an all-Union Field archaeological seminar was held at the site of the excavation in the Botai settlement. In 1985-1985, the team of archaeologists of the North Kazakhstan archaeological expedition made significant progress. In 1985, Seibert V. F. and Martynyuk O. I. published a joint article "ceramic complexes of the Botai Eneolithic settlement". On the basis of the Neolithic vessel of the atbasar culture, a statement was made about the origin of Botai ceramics. In 1985, Chernai I. L. "textile business and ceramics on materials from Eneolithic-bronze monuments of the South Urals and Northern Kazakhstan", Zaitov V. I. "description of stone tools of the Botai settlement", Danilenko T. A. "bone tools of the Botai settlement", Seibert V. F. materials were published., Pleshakov A. A."mowing tools of the Botai settlement". The general description of the Botai culture is given by Seibert V. F. In the publication "Botai settlement and the tasks of studying the Eneolithic of Northern Kazakhstan". In 1994, Professor Seibert W. F. in a number of British universities held a complex of lectures on Botay. In the same year, the Cambridge Archaeological Museum organized an exhibition on Botai culture and the International Symposium "early horse breeders of Eurasia", which was attended by 80 scientists from 16 countries of the world. In 1996, the Kazakh-German study of Botai materials began. The materials of the Botai settlements studied the traditional methods of archeology - trasology, typology, osteometry, radiocarbon dating, geomagnetic survey. Geomagnetic research was carried out in the early 1990s with the support of foreign researchers. In the 1990s, with the help of laboratories in Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, research was carried out on the analysis of burns in ceramic dishes to identify fatty traces of dairy products. In determining the evidence of the domestication of the Botai horse, L. N. Makarova, T. N. Nurumov, S. S. Kalieva, from foreign researchers - L. L. Gaiduchenko(Chelyabinsk, Russia), S. Olsen (Carnegie Museum of Natural History, USA), D. Anthony, D. Brown (Hartwick College, USA), N. Beneke, A. von Dendrish (Germany), M. Levin (Cambridge, UK) A. Outram (Exeter, UK), R. bendry (Winchester, UK), A. Kasparov (ran, Russia) D. Orlando. Since the mid-1990s, the study of Botai culture has slowed down. But every year archaeological excavations were carried out to study the Botai settlement. In 2000, the botay settlement became part of the Kokshetau state National Natural Park. In 2001, the Kokshetau archaeological expedition established a protection zone with a length of 3600 m around the Botai settlement.the installation of a fence limited the access of cattle and cars to the protection area of the monument. In 2005-2006, some of the artifacts found in the Botai settlement were transferred to the Central Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty. In connection with the implementation of the state program "study and preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Republic of Kazakhstan" in 2004-2006, employees of the Kokshe Academy in 2004-2016 made a significant contribution to the study of Botai culture. The results of the Kokshetau archaeological expedition are described in the collective monograph "secrets of the ancient steppe". In 2009, an article was published in the international journal Science, which showed the first cases of horse domestication in the Eneolithic settlement of Botai and the fact that the Botai people prepared kumiss. From 2007 to 2011, archaeological excavations were suspended. This period of time was used to understand the conceptual aspects of the Botai culture. In 2011, Seibert's V. F. "Botai. Sources of Steppe civilization". In 2017, Alan Outram used a new method of mass spectrometry to identify proteins stored in dental remains. In the same year, E. Ananyevskaya (Vilnius, Lithuania) studied samples for testing miliacin. In 2017, the Botai archaeological site was included in the state list of sacred places of Kazakhstan. Botai was introduced as an object of archaeological research within the framework of the new state program" Ruhani zhangyru". The project"reconstruction of socio-economic and worldview aspects of Botai culture, including issues of sacred contexts of Botai culture" has been developed. In 2018, with the support of the Kazakh Research Institute of culture of the Ministry of culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the monograph "Sacred contexts of Botai culture" was published under the authorship of Professor V. F. Seibert. In the article of the ex-president of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. A. Nazarbayev "7 facets of the Great Steppe" dated November 21, 2018, Botai is considered as one of the most important contexts for the formation of a riding culture. The creation of the Botai state historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve in 2018 was the result of many years of research in the Botai settlement. To date, the museum has seven exhibition halls: "Administrative entrance housing" "Socio-cultural housing" "Residential house of domestic crafts" "Residential recreation house" "Central residential house" "Spiritual and sacred dwelling" "Horse-kumis dwelling" Each of these halls reflects the history of Botai cult

The mode of operation of the Open-air Museum Botai Burabai: 

Monday-Sunday from 10:00 a.m. -18:00 p.m. without lunch and weekends 

Ticket price: adult - 1000 tenge Children's - 500 tenge