Sarybulun Palace at the Issyk-Kul Settlement
The "Jianhanpu" contains significant details that allow for a representation (albeit quite vague) of the external and internal appearance of the Usun residence in the 1st century BC. The ruler preferred to live in a "round hut covered with felt." Does this mean that the Usun ruler lived in a portable yurt? Apparently not, as the yurt in the full sense of the word, i.e., a dwelling of nomads with a disassembled lattice frame, appeared much later.
Researchers of archaic nomadic dwellings have established that "the invention of the yurt and its spread dates back to the mid-1st millennium AD and is associated with the ancient Turkic environment." Most likely, the Usun ruler resided in a round, non-portable dwelling covered with felt, typical of the Huns. It remains unclear whether such a dwelling was seasonal or if it was inhabited year-round.
The presence of felt-covered non-portable dwellings in the Usun residence did not exclude the construction of buildings made of clay or stone.
Such structures have been excavated by archaeologists at Usun settlements near the city of Kara-Balta (Kyrgyzstan) and in the valley of the Kegen River (Kazakhstan). Wooden structures made of logs cannot be ruled out, known so far only from the facings of burial pits. In Chigu, there were also substantial spacious buildings. It is known that a palace was built in Chigu for a Chinese princess who married the Usun ruler and her court entourage. The princess's palace was likely not a palace in the full sense of the word, but a wealthy estate built in the style of Han residences of affluent people. Terracotta models of such estates are known from archaeological finds in China. They represented simple frame structures without foundations, including a residential house, a gatehouse, a barn, a kitchen, a tower, and other economic buildings, forming a closed quadrangle, sometimes divided by an internal wall. The gabled tiled roof rested on two internal wooden columns. To this day, only remnants of flat and semi-cylindrical tiles, as well as stone bases for two supporting columns, may have survived from such a palace.
The existence of a palace-type structure at the Issyk-Kul settlement of Sarybulun is evidenced by the finding of a monolithic stone base for a column at a depth of 1.5 meters in the water. The base is a low cylinder situated on an irregularly shaped pentagonal flat foundation. In its shape, the Sarybulun base vaguely resembles modern iron anvils; however, it was hardly such, as it could easily crack upon being struck with a hammer. In Chinese sources, the name of the Usun residence is literally conveyed as "Chigucheng," where the term "cheng" means a fortified settlement. In "Jianhanin," when describing the turmoil in the Usun territories, it is mentioned that the garrison of Chigu withstood a months-long siege by superior enemy forces. This last circumstance suggests the presence of, if not impregnable, then quite solid fortifications around the city.
There are no other references to Chigu in written sources. All previously proposed localizations of Chigu suffered from one significant drawback—they were linked to a specific archaeological site related to ancient times. Written sources clearly indicated the area of southeastern Pre-Issyk-Kul, from the Tosor River to the Ton River. The exact localization was complicated by confusion in ancient maps, where Chigu was marked not only on Issyk-Kul but also in the Kochkor and even Chuy valleys. Scholars who have specifically researched this issue believe that there is likely no confusion in ancient maps. The discrepancy was caused by the fact that the maps designated not the "City of the Red Valley" itself, but various residences of Usun kunbags, whose locations changed over different historical periods, but the name of the residence traditionally remained the same.
Is Sarybulun the ruins of Chigu?
