Researchers from the Berel State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve are conducting field research in the Tarbagatai, Markakol, Kurchum, Katon-Karagai, and Ulan districts of the East Kazakhstan Region.

The fieldwork involves the collection and documentation of ethnographic materials related to the traditional livestock marking system. Various types of tamgas dating to the ethnographic period, including Zhebe, Sere, Qazan, Ai, Zhuldyz, and others, have been documented on livestock belonging to farming households in the surveyed areas.

Alongside the study of contemporary livestock marking practices, the field research has identified previously undocumented signs and tamgas dating to earlier historical periods.

The collected materials contribute to expanding the source base for the study of the sign system of the Kazakhs of the Altai, tracing its development and historical continuity, and comparing earlier forms of signs with traditions preserved in the ethnographic context.

Funding: Grant funding from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2024–2026, Project IRN AP23486716,

“The Sign System and Tamgas of the Kazakhs of the Altai.”

Project Leader: Samat K. Samashev, PhD.