Emma D. Zilivinskaya
N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: eziliv@mail.ru

Keywords: Southern Kazakhstan, Middle Ages, swamp settlements, Oghuz, dwelling complex, hearth altars, hearth stands.

The paper deals with hearths of a dwelling complex in the north-eastern part of the settlement of Jankent (Southern Kazakhstan). All the hearths are rectangular areas at the centre of a room’s floor enclosed with low borders. The area is divided into two approximately equal zones. In the one situated nearer to the outer wall there is a stand of mud-bricks adjoining a ceramic hearth stand with ram protomes. In front of the latter, there is a vessel dug in the bottom of the hearth. The second zone situated nearer to the sufa is empty and devoid of any structures. Hearth stands, commonly referred to in the literature as ‘braziers’, have been recovered from many sites, yet only at Jankent they have been encountered in situ. Their design and position in the hearth enable us to regard them as cult objects. The analysis of the hearth pattern of a tenth-century dwelling complex at the settlement of Jankent allow the conclusion that they were not mere heating structures but also home altars.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630004122-3