Abstract
The article presents the brief results of field research conducted in 2015. The purpose of this work was to obtain new data on Turgay nomadic culture from the early Iron Age and to the time of the ethnographic present. The work was done by two teams. As a result, the first (under the guidance of A.Z. Beisenov) revealed monuments of religious architecture of the Kazakhs. Preliminary analysis of the epitaphs on kulpytas (read by A.Z. Beisenov) can be considered as an informative source for the further studies of the written traditions of the Turgay Kazakhs [Beisenov, Jumabekova, Bazarbayeva, 2015a]. Turgay kulpytas as a historical source, as monuments of folk culture, need protecting. The main task of the second group was to study the burial ground of Tasmola culture located near the Ashutasty village in the Arkalyk district of the Kostanay region. Architectural features of the ground constructions, elements of funeral rites as well as analysis of the obtained findings allow us to refer the investigated subject to 7-6 cc. BC. Along with the excavation of the kurgan №10 reconnaissance study of another burial ground Ashutasty-2 of Tasmola culture took place. The complex includes an object with stone ridges and several kurgans, elongated into the chain on the north-south line. A specific feature of this monument is the discovery in the ridge of statuary monuments, made of stone: sculpture and anthropomorphic stele.