First revealed in spy photos, a Bronze Age city emerges from the steppe
The ancient city of Semiyarka, now reduced to mere earthen mounds and scattered artifacts, once thrived as a bustling hub of activity 3,500 years ago on the Kazakh Steppe. This vast grassland, which stretches across northern Kazakhstan and into Russia, was home to a vibrant community where nomadic herders and traders interacted with settled metalworkers and merchants. Recent archaeological surveys led by Miljana Radivojevic and her team from University College London have uncovered the remnants of this Bronze Age city, revealing its layout and significance through advanced technologies like drone mapping and ground-penetrating radar.
Semiyarka, aptly named the “City of Seven Ravines,” spanned approximately 140 hectares and featured a complex urban design that included rows of houses, a central building, and specialized workshops dedicated to bronze smelting and casting. Its strategic location on a promontory overlooking a narrow point in the Irtysh River valley suggests that the city played a crucial role in controlling trade routes and facilitating movement along the river. The archaeological findings not only highlight the city’s advanced metalworking industry but also hint at the cultural exchanges that likely occurred between the various groups inhabiting the region. As researchers continue to delve into the history of Semiyarka, they are piecing together a fascinating narrative of a once-thriving civilization that contributed to the rich tapestry of human history in Central Asia.
Today all that’s left of the ancient city of Semiyarka are a few low earthen mounds and some scattered artifacts, nearly hidden beneath the waving grasses of the Kazakh Steppe, a vast swath of grassland that stretches across northern Kazakhstan and into Russia. But recent surveys and excavations reveal that 3,500 years ago, this empty plain was a bustling city with a thriving metalworking industry, where nomadic herders and traders might have mingled with settled metalworkers and merchants.
Radivojevic and Lawrence stand on the site of Semiyarka.
Credit:
Peter J. Brown
Welcome to the City of Seven Ravines
University College of London archaeologist Miljana Radivojevic and her colleagues recently mapped the site with drones and geophysical surveys (like ground-penetrating radar, for example), tracing the layout of a 140-hectare city on the steppe in what’s now Kazakhstan.
The Bronze Age city once boasted rows of houses built on earthworks, a large central building, and a neighborhood of workshops where artisans smelted and cast bronze. From its windswept promontory, it held a commanding view of a narrow point in the Irtysh River valley, a strategic location that may have offered the city “control over movement along the river and valley bottom,” according to Radivojevic and her colleagues. That view inspired archaeologists’ name for the city: Semiyarka, or City of Seven Ravines.
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