**1. Introduction**

The goal of this paper is to examine global, national, and regional policies and practices of cultural heritage and preservation of important archaeological sites, monuments, and landscapes in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The global and national importance of the Republic of Kazakhstan's rich cultural and historical heritage is apparent in the UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions of three archaeological and/or historic sites and two natural areas from 2003 to 2016. Thirteen additional nominations dating from 1996 to 2016 have been added to the tentative list for inscription to the World Heritage List. In 2014 the UNESCO has granted World Heritage status to 34 places along the Silk Route that includes the nations of China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and with funding and support from Norway, Japan, and South Korea [1]. The "One Belt, One

Road" initiative launched by the Chinese government is a set of economic and political alliances meant to strengthen trading, cooperation financial integration, and peopleto-people bonds. From 2013 to 2017, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been one of the 21 states who serve on the nominating committee for cultural and historical properties for the UNESCO (usually a 4-year term) (personal communication Yuri M. Peshkov). The UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions in the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with the tentative list for World Heritage inscriptions, have reinforced the necessity for Kazakhstani diplomats, politicians, government officials, and the local citizenry to include archaeological sites, monuments, and cultural properties as part of sustainability efforts. In the case of places such as the archaeological sites of Otrar placed on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1998, Kazakhstani archaeologists have since worked toward linking archaeological protection and conservation with increased local and international tourism [2]. At the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly, an important petroglyph reserve already nominated as a World Heritage place in 2004, there have been efforts to document the over 5000 rock carvings in the Bronze through Medieval and Contemporary sites, and an area of about 900 hectares has been under state jurisdiction and placed under the 1992 Law on the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Heritage (UNESCO World Heritage List Kazakhstan website) [3].

The archaeological community, both as part of government organizations under the Kazakhstan Republic's Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education and the Ministry of Culture, has been directly involved in policies for the protection and preservation of archaeological sites and monuments since independence in 1991. Before, under Soviet rule, there were strict mandates and codes for the protection and restoration of archaeological sites and monuments. Thus, the legal status for protecting, restoring, and preserving archaeological and historical sites has indeed had a long and venerable history in both Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Of interest, however, is how recent infrastructure development (road building, railways, pipelines, gas and oil, mineral development, and housing) has impacted archaeological sites and monuments. Sustainable development also is the larger umbrella for the consideration of important natural, cultural, and historic landscapes and places. This paper will address these issues at different scales: the local and regional, the national, and the international and global levels by using several case studies in the Talgar region near the major city of Almaty, in the Otrar basin including the UNESCO World Heritage medieval site of Otrar, and at the petroglyph complex of Tamgaly. All these places are in southern Kazakhstan or the Zhetysu Region (Seven-Rivers area). By no means, they are necessarily the most important regions for cultural heritage, but they serve as important examples for other places in the Republic of Kazakhstan either designated as World Heritage places or as tentative listings on the World Heritage inscription list or known as archaeological sites that should be protected as part of the nation's cultural and historic heritage while still obtaining the goals of sustainability in a rapidly developing nation.

My sources come from Russian, Kazakh, and English reports, anecdotal data, and informal discussions with my Kazakhstani colleagues since the mid-1990s. Also I address changes in land property from collective landholdings to privatization of landholdings, especially in areas where archaeological sites have been found, inventoried, and listed under Svod Pamyatnikov or the official national archives of registered archaeological sites and monuments for the major provinces of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Much of this inventorying, built upon the earlier task of the Archeologische Karta (or the Archaeological Map of Kazakhstan) published in 1960, has been conducted by the Kazakhstan Office for the Preservation and Restoration of Sites and Historic Monuments under the direction of the Kazakhstan Republic's Ministry of Culture.

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*Archaeological Sites, Cultural Heritage, and Sustainable Development in the Republic…*

In the early 1990s just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the state organizations for archaeological research and preservation of artifacts, sites, and monuments were often at the brink of transition, lacking both necessary structural guidelines once in place during Soviet rule and sufficient government funding. The permit system remained the same as in Soviet times and was known as the Akrites List, or Open List, by which archaeologists from the institutes such as the Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, universities, museums, and other government-sponsored entities could apply for permits to survey, excavate, and research archaeological sites for scientific purposes. These permits or permissions were obtained through the appropriate bureaucratic entities in the name of qualified archaeologists. The government offices along with the individual archaeologist, to whom the permit was granted, were responsible for reaching all criteria including submitting a final or interim report annually on the methods and results of the research. There were further stipulations that the Ministry of Culture required such as complying with rules of where artifacts and archival information would be placed after the completion of research and study. For international researchers, we were bound to deposit all scientific materials, including ancient objects, to government institutions or museums in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In order to obtain permission through the Open List, international archaeologists work collaboratively with the local archaeologists. Foreign researchers, such as myself, are required annually to sign a scientific protocol and agreement or memorandum of agreement that indicates (1) scientific exchange through sharing of books, articles, and other printed material; (2) listing of all personnel to be included in a project; (3) the funding of the project (usually the responsibility of the international archaeologists through grants); (4) curation of collections (artifacts and reports) which are to remain in the Republic of Kazakhstan; and (5) responsibilities for publishing articles in Russian, Kazakh, and English.

Local mayors (akims) and other officials of the oblasts (provinces) also play an important role in supporting archaeological research in their regions. Often these bureaucrats have funds from their local or regional coffers to aid in costly research work, protection of collections, and furthering museum collections. For example, the "Two Thousand-Year Jubilee Celebration" of important cities along the southern Silk Route in the 2001 such as Taraz and Almaty resulted in funds given for local archaeologists to excavate new sections of urban medieval sites, initiate new restoration and conservation projects, and to mount important exhibitions in local

The importance of scientific archaeological research in the service of providing national and ethnic identities was understood in the 1920s as a way to integrate the far distant republics of the USSR into one nation. In a republic such as Kazakhstan, where the indigenous population of Kazakhs comprised a considerable proportion of the populace, it was also important to highlight important ethnic heroes such as the last nineteenth-century poet, composer, and philosopher Abai Qunanbaiuly. By the time rapid collectivization took place in 1929–1930, the Kazakhs suffered famine and starvation [4–6]. The land was now held under the state apparatus.

**2.1 The Talgar case: land privatization, infrastructure development,** 

In 1997–1998 when the Kazakh-American Archaeological Expedition (KAAE) sponsored by A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology and American archaeologists conducted surveys across a 550 sq. km area of the Talgar alluvial fan, an area about

**and UNESCO World Heritage inscription**

**2. Local and regional considerations of cultural heritage** 

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86916*

**and historic monuments**

museums and cultural centers.

*Archaeological Sites, Cultural Heritage, and Sustainable Development in the Republic… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86916*
