Some issues of studying monuments of the Xianbei epoch

Xianbei (Chinese (Shianbei)) is a multiethnic community that arose at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD in the vastness of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 2^nd century AD under the onslaught of the Xianbei, the Xiongnu empire collapsed. After these events, the political dominance of the Xianbei was established in Central Asia. The polyethnic community of the Xianbei played a significant role in the ancient history of Kazakhstan. There are very few scientific works on the history of Xianbei in the Kazakh language, which determined the relevance of this work. The history of the study of the Xianbei begins with the translations of N. Bichurin, N. Kuhner and V. Taskin of ancient Chinese texts. For the first time, G. Grumm-Grzhimailo introduced the concept of the “Xianbei period”. Based on the archaeological data obtained from Northern China, Mongolia and Siberia, scientists began to comprehend the history of Xianbei in a new way. In Kazakhstan, since 2016, the study of the archaeological sites of the Xianbei has been carried out systematically. Anthropological and genetic studies, as well as radiocarbon analysis of materials were carried out. As a result, the issues related to the settlement of the Xianbei in the territory of modern East Kazakhstan were clarified.