Guided walking tour to Kyzylorda region.

“The fortress Bish-Tam (Bestam), located 20 versts north of the village of Skobelev, consists of a citadel in a circle of 108 fathoms and a rampart in a circle of about 400 fathoms. The earthen ramparts of the citadel are quite well preserved and in some places are more than 3 fathoms, height 20 ".

V.A. Callaur.

Highlight tour of Silk Road Kazakhstan.

The Bishtam settlement is located in the Shieli district of the Kyzylorda region, 5.3 kilometers to the north, just west of the village of Zhideliaryk and 13.6 kilometers to the north, slightly east of the village of Shieli. The settlement dates back to the X - XIV centuries.
The citadel is sub-square in terms of the dimensions of the sides 95 x 95 meters, the width of the fortress wall at the base is 10 - 12 meters, the height is 1.5 - 2 meters. At the corners and in the center of each side there are remains of towers, 0.5 - 1 meters high, protruding from the wall outward by 5 - 12 meters.
In front of the fortress, there are the ruins of five buildings made of baked bricks. The settlement Bestam was examined in 1907 by topographer V.P. Nekhoroshev, surveyed in 1946 by KhAEE (S.P. Tolstov), ​​in 1966 - 1967 by ZhAE (K.A.Akishev, K.M.Baypakov), in 1982 by a detachment of the archaeological expedition of KazSU (M.Eleuov).
In 1967, ZhAE (K.A.Akishev, K.M. Baypakov) and in 1982 a detachment of the archaeological expedition of KazSU (M. Eleuov) removed the plan of the settlement. The first excavations at the settlement were carried out by local historian A. Amirov in 1967, and in 1982 M. Eleuov laid cuts on the fortress wall (shaft) of the citadel and on the preserved part of the outer shaft, and one of the towers was opened.
The article “Settlement Bestam” erroneously states that the settlement was discovered by V.P. Nekhoroshev.
The settlement Bestam is listed in the register of the Archaeological Map of Kazakhstan under No. 332322 and under No. 83 in the Code of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Kyzylorda Region. June 13, 1899 V.A. Kallaur visited the Bish-Tam fortress (Bestam)
On behalf of V.A. Kallaura, a local resident A. Niyazov traced the trail of the irrigation ditch (canal) that irrigated the district of Bestam. A. Niyazov said that from the right bank of the Syr-Darya River from the grave of Kokumbai, which is on Alagul-Bozgul, below the former water basin (aryk), it has a direction to Kok-Kesen, Sunak, Bish-Tam and Kop-Rabat.
Up to Sunak the ditch is clearly visible, and below Sunak up to Bish-Tam it is covered with sand, although it is difficult to distinguish it. From Bish-tam to Kop-rabat, 3 versts below, the aryk is again clearly visible and is called Nan-Sai (bread sai).
Geographic coordinates of the settlement Bestam (Bish-Tam): N44 ° 17'40.64 "E66 ° 46'46.44"

Authority:
M. M. Bakhtybaev. “Historical topography of the Perovsky district in the works of V.A. Kallaura. "
http://nblib.library.kz/elib/library.kz/journal/%

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.