State Historical and Cultural Reserve-Museum “Berel”

The State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "BEREL" was created by Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 4, 2008 No. 674 in the context of the national idea and state objectives of Kazakhstan becoming one of the fifty most competitive countries in the world, as the most important cultural, educational, scientific and tourist center of our countries.

Since 2004, the Berel Mounds monument has been studied as part of the national strategic program “Cultural Heritage”. The monument, on the basis of which the Berel Museum-Reserve is being created, is located 7 km southwest of the village of the same name in the Katon-Karagay district of the East Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to updated data, there are about 100 mounds and other burial and memorial structures. In 1998-1999 Here, the “royal” mound No. 11 was explored, where the burial of a leader and a woman was discovered, as well as 13 horses were buried with them, and all this was perfectly preserved in the lens of permafrost under the mound. Thousands of highly artistic items made of wood, leather and felt, made in animal style, were also found here - they served as decorations for the ceremonial vestments of the king and his riding horses. In 1998-2010 18 mounds were excavated, which provided equally valuable materials for the reconstruction of cultural and historical processes that took place in antiquity and the Middle Ages in the Altai subregion. Finds and results of scientific reconstructions based on materials from the Berel mounds were repeatedly presented to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, members of the government, heads of parliament, senators and deputies of the Majilis. Berel has already gained worldwide fame thanks to the burials of the nomadic elite and highly artistic items found there, as well as numerous publications published not only in Kazakhstan, but also in countries near and far abroad. Findings made in the far east of Kazakhstan were used in presentations of reports voiced at various international forums. Over the years, exhibitions of Berel materials were organized and held, including in foreign countries. For example, in 2006, an exhibition of Berel finds was a huge success in San Diego (USA). Numerous exhibitions related to international conferences were organized at the Presidential Center of Culture, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation and the Palace of Independence. At the beginning of 2007, the Berel finds were exhibited in Kiev, in honor of the opening of the Year of Kazakhstan in Ukraine by the President. In 2007, finds from the Berel burial mounds were exhibited among materials from world-famous monuments of Eurasia at the exhibition “Under the Golden Vulture” in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Istanbul. It is planned to hold an exhibition in Hungary and Bochum in Germany. Systematic research of the complex of archaeological monuments of Berel is carried out by the East Kazakhstan Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archeology named after. OH. Margulan of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Zainolla Samashev since 1998.

A new impetus in the study of the Berel mounds was received thanks to the state program “Cultural Heritage”, initiated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev and launched in 2004. Systematic excavations and interdisciplinary studies of the Berel necropolis alone have provided archaeological material that is unique in its level of information, allowing us to approach the solution of many pressing issues in the history of the region in the 1st millennium BC. The Berel burial ground is located on the administrative territory 7 km southwest of the village of the same name, on the third floodplain terrace of the Bukhtarma River, bounded from the north by the confluence of the Berel and Bukhtarma rivers, from the south by the river flowing into Bukhtarma. Kandysu (Sokhatukha, Bulanti), from the West and East - by mountains. Monument coordinates: 49020’N. and 86022’E. The absolute height of the area is 1120 m. The mounds are confined to the third cyclic terrace, exceeding the river edge. Bukhtarma at 40-45 m. The date of construction of the earliest mounds is 4-3 centuries. BC, i.e. 2400-2300 years ago, and the latest dates back to the ancient Turkic times - 7-8 centuries. AD, i.e. approximately 1200-1300 years ago. The very first excavations of the Berel burial ground were carried out in 1865 and are associated with the name of the German archaeologist Wilhelm Radlov, who examined several mounds, including the largest object, known in science as the “Great Berel Mound”. Almost 100 years later, an expedition of the State Hermitage of the Russian Federation was organized to the Berel steppe, headed by Sergei Sorokin. In the course of these works, the results of V. Radlov’s research were summarized, subsequently published in a special article. Systematic studies of the Berel mounds are associated with the name of Zainolla Samashev. Research under his leadership began in 1998-1999, when the “royal” mound No. 11 was excavated, where 13 riding horses in full trim were discovered preserved in the permafrost lens, accompanying the Berel leader and the woman buried with him. Later, two more mounds with horse burials were explored, in which once it was frozen ground. As a result, unique in terms of information content and outstanding in artistic value, products from the era of ancient nomads were obtained. Thanks to the burials of nomadic nobility found there and highly artistic items made in a special manner characteristic of the art of early nomads - in the Scythian-Siberian animal style, the monument gained worldwide fame. The lens of the sub-mound permafrost contributed to the fact that in these mounds clothing, horse equipment, wooden objects, saddles, and fabrics, wooden utensils, leather goods, and felt were preserved in their original form. Typically, only metal and bone objects and ceramics are preserved in burial mounds. This is the uniqueness of such monuments. Today, Berel is the only monument on the territory of Kazakhstan with preserved organic finds. In 1999, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited the excavation site on Berel. During the work, the Berel mounds were visited by representatives of the parliament, ministries and departments of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ambassadors and members of the Senate of France, Germany, the Netherlands, citizens of Russia, Belgium, France, Italy, the Czech Republic and many others. During 16 field seasons of excavations of the monument, which has gained worldwide fame, employees of the Institute of Archeology took part in the work. OH. Margulan of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan; KazNU named after. Al-Farabi; East Kazakhstan Regional History and Local Lore Department; East Kazakhstan State University named after. S. Amanzholova; Semipalatinsk University named after. M. Auezova; Semipalatinsk State Pedagogical Institute; Semipalatinsk College of Geodesy and Cartography; Semipalatinsk gymnasium No. 6; Presidential Center of Culture; Kemerovo State University; Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences; State Hermitage; St. Petersburg State University; Gorno-Altai State University; University of Ghent; Center for Scientific Research in France and Italy. Students of the above-mentioned educational institutions underwent archaeological practice at the excavations of Berel mounds. Representatives of the creative intelligentsia of Kazakhstan visited Berel to gain inspiration for their works - Olzhas Suleimenov, Abish Kekilbayev, Yesengali Sadyrbaev, Aset Ernazarov, Gulzhikhan Kasimzhanova, Oleg Belyalov, Khakimzhan Bulibekov. Invaluable assistance in carrying out the excavations was provided by local authorities, employees of the Uryl Border Commandant's Office, the Kurchum Border Detachment, the Katonkaragai National Natural Park, residents of the villages of Berel, Zhambyl, Katonkaragai, history teacher Baigonusov Zhomarthan, and the director of the Zhambyl secondary school.