“Cultural Premıses” in Kultobe City

Abstract

The article examines the premises uncovered as a result of archaeological excavations at the Kultobe settlement located in the city of Turkestan in 2019. In the center of these rooms there are foci with a hole (in some foci, vessels are inserted into the holes). Such foci in previous studies have been characterized as “foci-altars”. Generally speaking, premises similar to those of Kultobe were excavated at the sites of the Otrar oasis by K.M. Baipakov, which he designated as "cult premises". There are similar premises in the excavations of E.A. Smagulov at the settlement of Karatobe. The main goal of the article is to classify the hearth-altars in the places of worship of the Kultobe settlement and to make a comparative analysis. Similar premises in the archaeology of Central Asia are associated with the Zoroastrianism of Iran. One of the objectives of this article is to give a new interpretation of "cult premises" taking into account the already existing different opinions and to put new data into scientific circulation. In the process of preparing the article, the following scientific methods were used: comparative analysis, systematization and classification of sources. First, archaeological research was carried out at the site of Kultobe. The excavated premises have been carefully documented. For the comparative analysis, archival materials specialized literatures were used. In the process of working with the sources, it was concluded that the previous opinions about the belonging of the premises with "hearth-altars" to the Zoroastrian cult are subject to revision. The authors’ interpretation is based on the leading role of hearth and fire in Kazakh society.