PREFACE

In 2014, a farmer in the village of Usharal in East Kazakhstan discovered a large stone which featured a cross with Syriac script surrounding the cross.Following digital analysis of the stone, measuring 17 x 28 x 95 cm, and the subsequent translation of the Turkic inscription in Syriac script, the stone was identified as a Christian gravestone.In 2016, an excavation was organized which led to the confirmed discovery of the lost ancient Silk Road city of Ilibalyk -described by Kirakos Gandzaketsi, the chronicler of the Armenian King Hethum I in the 13 th century. 1 Following this successful excavation, the Archaeological Institute of the Kazakhstan Academy of Science created the Department of Nestorian Studies as a platform to facilitate research and development of this field.(Nestorianstudies.org)Subsequent excavations have now uncovered over one hundred graves, including numerous gravestones featuring crosses.In addition to the Ilibalyk discovery, other archaeological excavations have uncovered a history of Christianity in multiple locations in Kazakhstan.The primary purpose of this research project is to investigate recent discoveries as well as Soviet and modern-era Russian language archaeological reports to further investigate to what extent Christianity existed in the regions of Semirechye (lit: "seven rivers"; Turkic: Zhetysu) 2 and modern Turkestan.The main research question is this: In view of archaeological and archival data, what role Christianity play in the context of Kazakhstan and Central Asian history?This research will analyze archaeological finds and archival data and seek to interpret this data in the context of the historical narrative of the Church of the East.It is the goal of this project to bring to light artifacts which indicate the presence of Church of the East in Semirechye and modern Turkestan.This research project includes a survey of Central Asian history to understand the historical, socioreligious, and geopolitical context of the development of the Church of the East in Central Asia.Qualitative analysis was employed in this research 1 John Andrew Boyle, "The Journey of Het'um I, King of Little Armenia, to the Court of the Great Khan Möngke," Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3 (September 1964), 183, last accessed October 29, 2024, http://www.jstor.org/stable/419266.Gandzaketsi identifies the city as Ilanbalex, which Boyle notes, corresponds to "Ili" (river) "baliq" (town).Cf. ibid, 183, n. 58, 59. 2 Nurzhanov notes that the Makbal river of the Chu River interfluve served as the western boundary of Zhetysu.