Dating of the Late Medieval Catenary Mosque of Otrar
The article presents the results of archaeological research, which was conducted in 1999-2000 by South Kazakhstan complex archaeological expedition on the territory of the medieval settlement Otrar, namely, a rare architectural construction of the period the Kazakh hanates. Up to date, the monumental buildings of the late middle ages on the territory of Kazakhstan identified units. A complete description of the remains of the building structure is given, the stratigraphy of cultural layers and numismatic material is analyzed, revealed during archaeological excavations. According to the features of architecture, the monument is defined as a religious building - a Muslim mosque. Based on the stratigraphy of cultural overlays of overlying layers and a treasure of coins, the time of functioning of Otrar mosque, found during the excavations, is determined. Otrar construction by the nature of the building materials used and the size was represented by the Cathedral mosque of the city of the XVII century, maybe the first half of the century. After the deformation of the walls, some parts of the building were used for economic purposes.