Archaeologists have revealed the secrets of a vast 3,500-year-old settlement in Kazakhstan, described as an early form of a city. The 140-hectare Semiyarka site, nicknamed the 'City of Seven Ravines' for its position above a network of seven valleys, was first identified by researchers from Toraighyrov University in the early 2000s but remained largely unstudied until recent excavations.
Published in the journal Antiquity, the study exposes two rectangular mounds believed to be the foundations of Bronze Age homes, each with multiple rooms. This challenges previous assumptions that steppe peoples lived only in scattered camps or small villages. A central monumental building was also found, potentially used for governance or rituals.
The settlement, situated on the Irtysh River in the Kazakh Steppe, is thought to have thrived around 1600BC. Its strategic position near copper and tin deposits in the Altai Mountains suggests Semiyarka was a production hub and centre of trade and regional power.
Dr Miljana Radivojević of the UCL Institute of Archaeology said: 'It demonstrates that mobile communities were capable of building and sustaining permanent, well-organised settlements centred on large-scale metallurgical production – including the elusive manufacture of tin bronze.' Excavations in the southeastern part of the site revealed an 'industrial zone' with crucibles, slag, and tin bronze artefacts, indicating complex production systems.
Co-author Professor Dan Lawrence of Durham University added: 'The scale and structure of Semiyarka are unlike anything else we've seen in the steppe zone. The rectilinear compounds and the potentially monumental building show that Bronze Age communities here were developing sophisticated, planned settlements similar to those of their contemporaries in more traditionally urban parts of the ancient world.' The findings transform understanding of steppe societies.
