Architectural characteristics of the sak barrows from central Kazakhstan

The notion "sak time" is conventional and it is accepted in archeology of Kazakhstan and all the steppe zones of Eurasia covering a period of the early Iron Age. The burials located in the territory of Central, Northern, East, Southern and Southeast Kazakhstan steppes are mainly considered to be the monuments of the sak period. Although the scientists have much data received during the excavation works in Kazakhstan within the last 60 years. The research of architectural features of barrows of the sak period represents one of the low-studied aspects. The architecture and design of sak barrows are studied on the materials of the big barrows which represent burials of representatives of a ruling sector of society. This direction in archeology of Kazakhstan is closely connected with aspect of studying the social system of the ancient sak population. The data on burial architecture also provides information on the cultural development of sak art on questions of ethnogenesis, culture genesis and migration problems. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.