The history of the creation of the museum-reserve «Bozok»

Abstract

In 2018, a decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the establishment
of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve «Bozok» in the structure of the Ministry of Culture
and Sports was issued. The road to this event took 20 years. The idea of preserving the archaeological
site and creating a Museum-Reserve on its basis came from its first researcher K.A. Akishev.
Bozok is a unique monument of historical and cultural heritage on the territory of Central Kazakhstan.
The history of its discovery and exploration involved a chain of significant circumstances. It could not
have been opened earlier, although it has existed for more than a thousand years. Bozok is a kind of
message received at a special symbolic moment of the turn of the millennium, which coincided with
remarkable events: independence, the transition to a new phase of state building, the establishment
of the capital in a new place. All these significant circumstances were confirmed by the discovery of
the deep historicity and significance of the Kazakh steppe as the center of the Eurasian continent. It
turns out that historical events of a political and creative nature took place here, that there was an
accumulation and development of new cultural and technological achievements that influenced the
ethno-genesis of the Kazakhs, which formed the genetic code and mentality of the Kazakh ethnos. In
ancient times, in the history of the steppe space, there were significant periods of awakening, invention
and spread of innovations in the vast areas of the ecosystem of the Ancient East, Central Asia. The
article deals with a brief history of the discovery and exploration of the mediaeval settlement of Bozok.
The first results of archaeological research have shown the importance of this historical monument. Its
origin dates back to the ancient Turkic era of the 7th – 8th century. The archaeological site of Bozok serves as a confirmation of the ethno-genetic memory of the ancient Turkic-speaking population in
choosing a site for urban space and shaping it in the tradition of the steppe mentality.