Kazakhstan’s Semiyarka shows signs of advanced bronze production
Archaeological surveys at Semiyarka in north-eastern Kazakhstan have identified substantial evidence of tin-bronze production, suggesting the Late Bronze Age settlement played a major role in regional metallurgy, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports, citing Cambridge University Press.
Spanning an estimated 140 hectares, the site reshapes prevailing assumptions about settlement complexity, metallurgy, and social organization among steppe communities of the second millennium BC.
Semiyarka sits on a promontory overlooking the Irtysh River in the Abai region, a location that may have allowed its inhabitants to control movement through the narrow valley.
Initially thought to cover just 40 hectares, new surveys reveal an area more than triple that size, with earthworks stretching across the landscape and forming two long, planned rows of structures. Their internal partitions indicate consistent architectural design, while a large east–west-oriented central building suggests a communal or ritual role within the settlement.
Recent UK–Kazakh geophysical investigations uncovered substantial mud-brick walls lining the interior edges of the earthworks. These appear to be domestic units, while the central structure is notably larger and may have contained a courtyard or ceremonial chamber. The configuration differs sharply from other regional Bronze Age sites, where fortifications typically enclose settlement perimeters rather than individual buildings.
Surface collections and material analyses point to Semiyarka as a center of tin-bronze production, an activity rarely associated with the flat steppe. Archaeologists recovered copper carbonates, slags, crucibles, production debris and finished artefacts, with tin levels reaching 12% in some samples. The ores likely came from East Kazakhstan’s Altai deposits. This evidence positions Semiyarka as the first known large steppe site with on-site tin-bronze production, challenging long-held views that major metallurgical centers existed only in upland mining regions.
Ceramic analysis indicates a strong presence of Alekseevka–Sargary pottery, around 85% of recorded vessels, marking this culture as the dominant one at the site. A smaller quantity of Cherkaskul pottery shows interaction with communities from western Siberia. Notably absent are Begazy-Dandybaev ceramics, suggesting Semiyarka was established as early as the 16th century BC.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakhstan would launch centralized database for archaeological works.