Abstract
This article is devoted to the preliminary results of the study of the materials obtained during the excavations on the territory of the Kazakh Altai archaeological complex of the Xianbei period at the Berel burial ground. Aft er the fall of the Hunnic Empire, the nomadic association of Xianbei, known from Chinese written sources, had a huge infl uence on the appearance of the archaeological cultures of Altai. For the fi rst time in Altai, archaeological material concerning this polyethnic community was obtained in the last quarter of the last century. However, for a long time, archaeologists could not identify the Xianbei site from other numerous excavated archaeological sites. For the purpose of detailed cultural and chronological identifi cation, Chinese materials were used, which made it possible to bring the problem of identifying Xianbei sites to a qualitatively new level. On the territory of the Kazakh Altai, the period of intensive study of the Xianbei circle of sites began in 2015, when a series of new funeral and memorial structures was opened. These studies allowed not only expanding the boundaries of this community and, but also putting forward the thesis about the large-scale penetration of the Xianbei in the 3rd–4th centuries AD into the territory under consideration.