Ilibalyk

Ilibalyk was a medieval city of the Ili valley, close to the routes between the Tian Shan and the Dzungarian Alatau. Excavations near the present settlement of Usharal have revealed the remains of walls, urban quarters and a large cemetery. Finds from the site show a community connected to the wider commercial and religious world of Inner Asia.

Among the graves are stones bearing crosses and inscriptions in the Syriac script, traces of a Church of the East community. A building in the cemetery, dated to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, may have served as a church or chapel. Other graves contain jewellery and objects indicating differences in wealth and status. The finds show that Ilibalyk remained inhabited in the Mongol era, when travellers moved along the Ili corridor between Almaliq and the western steppe.