On November 21-23, 2007, the international conference "Contribution of nomads to the development of world civilization"was held in Alma-Ata. It was organized by the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage of Nomads of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The conference was attended by scientists, archaeologists, ethnographers, orientalists, historians-specialists in the history and culture of nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe belt, from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Russia, the USA, Uzbekistan and France.

At the opening of the conference, Director of the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage of Nomads I. V. Erofeeva stressed the importance of the forum for scientific research of the history and culture of nomads, as well as the development of cultural traditions of the past in modern conditions. Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ye. K. Yertybayev addressed the conference participants with greetings. He noted the importance of studying the problems of nomad history and culture for the Kazakh people and finding their way in the global civilizational process in the context of globalization.

A well-known researcher of nomadic civilizations, formerly an employee of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and now an Honored Professor of Anthropology and Central Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, a member of the Royal British Academy and the UNESCO International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations, spoke at the plenary session

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A. M. Khazanov (Madison, USA). He presented his ideas about the social development of the nomadic world, about the interaction of nomads with the population of settled-agricultural countries, and about the role of nomads in world history.

Researcher of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Polish Academy of Sciences S. Shinkiewicz (Warsaw) in the report " What is the contribution of nomads to civilization and why do researchers ignore Central Asia?" He reported on innovations that became widespread in Europe as a result of migrations and conquests of steppe nomads. In his opinion, these innovations were not invented by nomads, but were perceived by them among the sedentary population of Central Asia.

The report of N. N. Kradin (Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok) was devoted to the influence of nomads on the dynamics of development of sedentary and agricultural civilizations in East and Central Asia. The speaker supported the opinion expressed by A. M. Khazanov about the dependence of the level of social development of nomadic peoples on the degree of intensity of contacts with the countries of settled agricultural and urban civilization.

The representative of the Higher School of Social Research (ENES), V. Fourniot (Paris), in his report "Nomads and sedentary people in the context of relations between Europe and Central Asia", cited data from the writings of French diplomats and travelers who visited the territory of Central Asia and the Middle East in the Middle Ages and Modern times.

Yu. S. Khudyakov (Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk) spoke about the spread of some inventions and innovations by Turkic nomadic peoples: ancient Turks, Uyghurs,Kyrgyz, Kimaks among the Ugric, Samoyedic and Ket tribes that inhabited the forest-steppe and taiga zones of Western and Southern Siberia in the early and developed Middle Ages. The ruling elite of the northern forest ethnic groups borrowed from the Turkic nomads first of all the prestigious elements of military-druzhin culture: advanced types of weapons for their time, military and horse equipment, jewelry and banquet dishes.

The joint report of the staff of the Laboratory of Geomorphology of the Research Institute on the problems of cultural heritage of nomads B. J. Aubekerov and A. Nigmatova was devoted to the analysis of natural and geographical factors of the formation and evolution of nomadism in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The authors of the report adhere to the well-known point of view, repeatedly expressed in the past by L. N. Gumilev, according to which the development of nomadic peoples in the historical past directly depended on the cycles of aridization and humidization of the steppe belt of Eurasia. The report identified the cycles of climate fluctuations that occurred, according to researchers, during the Early Iron Age, during the time of the Xiongnu and the Turks. In the steppes of Kazakhstan during the Xiongnu period, drying out was observed, and in the early Middle Ages - moistening.

A. Z. Zhaparov (Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, Kyrgyzstan) made a presentation on the nomads of the Inner Tien Shan and the availability of pasture resources for their pastoral economy. The speaker noted that the traditional seasonal cycle of cattle grazing on high-altitude pastures, which has been developing for centuries, corresponds to the ecology of these areas. He believes that some changes in the economic activities of the Kyrgyz people occurred due to the influence of external factors and were adaptive in nature. In particular, the speaker noted the transition of the Kyrgyz to the use of camels for cargo transportation in high-altitude conditions.

I. V. Erofeeva made a report on the phenomenon of Scythian tactics of military operations in the history of the Kazakh-Dzungarian Wars: Ecological aspects of Nomad Military Art. In her opinion, the tactics of conducting mounted combat during military operations between the troops of the Kazakh and Dzungarian khanates did not differ in principle from the tactics used in ancient times by the Scythian nomads. The report presented the materials of field surveys conducted by the staff of the institute headed by her over the past years, during which the ruins of Oirat defensive structures were discovered in the zone of the theater of military operations between the Kazakhs and the Dzungars, according to researchers, referring to the finds of "Dzungarian" ceramics.

V. A. Germanov (Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan) made a report "Nomads in Bukhara, Khiva, Kokand Khanates and their participation in the development of Central Asian civilization". According to him, the nomadic Uzbeks founded in the XVI - XVII centuries. Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand khanates. Information was given about the struggle between the Sheibanids and Timurids, including Sheibani Khan and Babur for dominance over the oases of Central Asia.

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Report by A. M. Malikov (Samarkand State University named after A. Navoi) It was devoted to the history of the Kungrat tribe in the Zeravshan River valley. According to the speaker, the Kungrats have been one of the "honorable" Uzbek tribes since the 15th century. In the valley of the Zeravshan River, they have lived since the 16th century.The reasons for their sedentarization, according to A. M. Malikov, are economic and social. The emirs of Bukhara, in order to strengthen their power, forcibly forced the Kungrats to settle in this area.

Topic of the report: V. P. Sanchirov (Kalmyk Institute of Humanit. research. Russian Academy of Sciences, Elista) - Congress of Mongol and Oirat princes in 1640. At this congress, the "Great Code" was adopted - a code of laws common to all Mongol khanates.

Head of the Center for the History of the Peoples of Russia and Interethnic Relations of the Institute of Russian History V. V. Trepavlov (Moscow) presented the report " Tsarist labels. The Legacy of Mongolian Statehood in Moscow Rus'. Based on the study of these labels and other sources, he came to the conclusion that the "Tatar yoke" in its classical sense did not exist in Russia. Answering the question asked why in this case the ideas about it arose and became quite widespread in Russian historical literature and everyday consciousness, the speaker explained the reason for its appearance by the church tradition that developed in the late Middle Ages.

A. K. Kushkumbayev (Kokshetau, Kazakhstan) made a report "Military affairs in the Golden Horde", in which he attempted to reconstruct the military organization in the Golden Horde. According to his research, the Golden Horde army was divided into two wings and a center and consisted of a total of 14-15 tumens - ten-thousandth detachments of mounted soldiers.

R. A. Beknazarov (Institute of History and Ethnology named after Ch. Ch. Valikhanov, Kazakhstan) in the report " Raw mausoleums of the Karabau area: contribution of nomadic Kazakhs to the history of architecture" told about the results of his field work. He recorded various types of mazars dating back to the late Middle Ages and ethnographic modernity, and recorded legends among the local population that are associated with some Muslim funerary monuments.

A. E. Rogozhinsky, a well-known researcher of petroglyphs in Kazakhstan, an employee of the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage of Nomads, in his report touched upon the problems of classification and typology of rock art monuments in Central Asia. He stressed that petroglyphology has different approaches to classifying petroglyphic sites. The speaker tends to take into account the features of the landscape in which monuments are located when classifying them. He noted that to date, only one petroglyphic monument - Tamgaly-is included in the UNESCO World Historical Heritage List on the territory of Kazakhstan, although a large number of rock art sites are known. If we compare petroglyphs belonging to different historical epochs, then among them, in quantitative terms, monuments of the early Iron Age predominate. Medieval petroglyphs are just as widespread as drawings from previous eras, but the images themselves are smaller at this time.

Director of the Center for the Study and Preservation of the Documentary Heritage of the National Library Z. D. Shaimardanova (Kazakhstan) presented the report "Nomadism as an object of social history", in which she analyzed the topics of dissertations defended on the history of Kazakhs in the social aspect. According to her assessment, dissertators are guided by the concept of mentality formulated in the French school of "Annals". The conclusion made by her on the basis of studying dissertations on social topics is that modern Kazakhs " inherited the mentality of nomads."

Director of the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archeology, Academician K. M. Baipakov (Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan) made a report "Oguz of the Aral Sea region". He attributed a number of ancient settlements located in the delta of the Oghuz River to the Oghuz culture. Cheese-Darya. Among them, the speaker singled out the ancient settlement of Zhankent, which was excavated in the past by V. Vereshchagin. Oguz materials, according to the author of the report, are also allocated to the Otrar settlement. These cities have had trade relations with the nomadic population of the Aral Sea region since the time of the Jetyasar culture, whose carriers are identified by scientists with the ancient state of Kangyu. According to the speaker, the Oguz layers on the Syr-Darya hillforts are distinguished by their characteristic pottery with carved ornaments. The speaker also attributed some metal products to the Oghuz culture of the IX - XI centuries: belt plaques, overlays, frame plaques, bells, as well as earrings, rings and a pendant in the form of a schematic figure of a man in a pointed headdress.

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The final session ended with a discussion on the most pressing issues highlighted in the reports. Irina Erofeeva noted the relevance of the issues raised in studying the history of nomads and the informative nature of the reports, and also made a proposal to create an International Association of Nomadism Researchers.

All the subsequent speeches concerned the urgency of studying the history and culture of nomadic peoples, as well as the need to create an international association of specialists in the history of nomadism.

Yu. S. Khudyakov supported this proposal and expressed the wish that the coordination councils on the medieval history of the Eurasian steppes and on the archaeology of Eurasia, established at the 2007 congresses in Kazan and Izmir, would participate in the creation of an organization that could unite all researchers of the history and culture of nomads of the Eurasian steppe belt. the Late Medieval period of the history of Central Asia. He noted that the so-called Sheibanid regression in this region is not confirmed in the archaeological monuments. Some regression in the development of the region in the XVII - XVIII centuries did take place, but it was not related to the activities and rule of the Sheibanids. V. V. Trepavlov noted the great importance of the Institute's work on the problems of cultural heritage of nomads for the development of this scientific direction not only in Kazakhstan, but also in other countries. He stressed the importance of studying the internal causes of the development of nomadic society, the relevance of studying the social and ethnic aspects of the history of nomads. Kradin suggested that the problems of studying ancient nomads, as well as issues of ethnicity and ethnic identity among nomadic peoples and the development of different regions of the Eurasian steppe belt should be presented at the next conference. K. M. Baipakov noted the expediency of holding thematic conferences that would address the role of cities and nomads in history and suggested highlighting the role of the Great Silk Road in the process of global globalization. Speaking about the creation of the Association of nomad scholars, he noted the need to combine the efforts of existing scientific institutions in Kazakhstan that study the problems of nomadism, and suggested creating a coordinating council of three institutes: on the problems of cultural heritage of nomads, archeology and Oriental studies. A. M. Khazanov expressed doubts about the feasibility of creating an association of nomad researchers.

I. V. Erofeeva, speaking about the possibility of creating an international association of nomad scientists, stressed that she had in mind the creation of a mobile organizational structure, the purpose of which will be representation and exchange of information. Similar organizations already exist and have been successfully operating in Kazakhstan for a number of years. She expressed her wish to hold conferences on the history and culture of nomads with a priority once every two years.

The conference has become a significant event in the scientific life of scientists studying the history and culture of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia.

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