Cambridge exhibition brings ancient Botai culture to Europe

The three-day international conference "New Directions in Understanding Ancient Interactions across Eurasia” opened at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research of Cambridge University.

It is one of the institute's main academic events this year, held in cooperation with the British Museum, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.

Opening the forum, McDonald Institute director Professor Cyprian Broodbank emphasized this broader view of the history of the Great Steppe. He proposed viewing the past through the prism of trade, technological exchange, cultural ties, and mutual influence.

Kazakhstan and the Great Steppe heritage

Kazakhstan's historical heritage holds an important place in the conference program. More than 20 reports will be presented by Kazakh researchers.

In his remarks, Kazakh Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alibek Bakayev said the history of the Great Steppe should be viewed not through binary oppositions, "East–West," "nomadic–settled," "steppe–city," but through interaction.

"This is exactly how the history of the Great Steppe should be explored — through international cooperation, new evidence, and open academic discussions," Bakayev said.

He also stressed the importance of systematically studying the country's historical and cultural heritage, developing archaeology, and shaping objective, depoliticized scientific knowledge.

"Kazakhstan has an exceptionally rich archaeological heritage, and we want to make it increasingly accessible to the international scientific community and new generations of researchers," the diplomat said.

Botai showcased in Europe for the first time

The conference featured the exhibition "Botai — Culture of the Great Steppe," where the British public can learn about Kazakhstan's unique heritage, which is more than 5,000 years old and linked to the early history of horse domestication.

The project gathered materials from the collections of the North Kazakhstan Regional Museum Association and was carried out with support from Kazakhstan's Embassy in the UK.

The materials combine archaeology, ethnography, and contemporary art. This is the first time an exhibition dedicated to the Botai culture has been presented in Europe.

"We are showing Botai from different angles. The archaeological items brought today from our museum's collections are genuine artifacts found at the Botai settlement. These are spearheads, household items, and tools made of stone and bone," said Gulnara Mukusheva, Director of the North Kazakhstan Regional Museum Association.

One section of the exhibition is devoted to equestrian culture, which was part of steppe peoples' lives for millennia. Among the exhibits are a late 19th-century saddle decorated with semiprecious stones and traditional leather vessels for kumis.

The exhibition is complemented by artworks created by artists from various countries directly in the Botai settlement area. The paintings are devoted to natural landscapes, the ancient settlement, and the theme of horse breeding.

Botai in world archaeology

The Botai settlement is a site of national sacred significance and is included in UNESCO's Tentative World Heritage List.

"If we want UNESCO to include the Botai settlement in the World Heritage List and take it under protection, it must be popularized, and research results must be included in academic monographs," Gulnara Mukusheva said.

The Cambridge conference is expected to result in a scholarly monograph featuring contributions from forum participants on the subject.

New data on Botai

Alan Outram, Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Exeter, devoted his presentation to Botai. The scholar has studied the site for many years and worked in Kazakhstan alongside Professor Viktor Zaibert, who discovered Botai in 1980.

In Cambridge, Outram presented previously unpublished data that, in his interpretation, indicate Botai horses were under human control.

The question of the human-horse interaction at Botai remains a subject of scientific debate. Some researchers view the evidence found there primarily as the result of hunting wild horses.

The professor cites several pieces of evidence for his interpretation, including an enclosure that could have been used as a horse corral, traces of bit use, possible traces of mare's milk processing, and the age composition of animals. Together, these point to a transition from hunting horses to keeping and managing them.

New data also concerns genetics. Studies of ancient DNA have shown a link between Botai horses and the Przewalski's horse lineage, while their genetic similarity to the modern domestic horse lineage is significantly lower.

However, according to the professor, this does not exclude Botai from the history of horse domestication. He believes individual animal lines under human control may have been displaced over time by other populations.

Domestication, in his view, should be considered not a single event but a long process that may have occurred in several stages and involved different horse populations. This is why Botai remains a crucial site for studying the early history of horse breeding and the formation of human-horse relations.

From "Gold of the Great Steppe" to scientific cooperation

The current conference continues the British academic community's interest in the history and archaeology of Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

As British Museum researcher Dr. Saltanat Amir explained, one of the important starting points was the symposium "Ancient Interactions: East and West in Eurasia," held in Cambridge in the early 2000s.

New momentum came from the exhibition "Gold of the Great Steppe," which opened in September 2021 at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum. For four months, the British public could see unique archaeological finds from Kazakhstan. The exhibition sparked great interest and drew attention to the rich historical heritage of the Great Steppe.

According to Saltanat Amir, it was after this project that British researchers could engage more deeply with Kazakh archaeological materials and see new opportunities for collaboration.

As Qazinform reported earlier, a joint Kazakh–Chinese archaeological expedition discovered a Bronze Age settlement near the village of Imantau in northern Kazakhstan.