Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

V. N. Aliyassova, K. K. Akhmetov, I. R. Aspanova 

 

 

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- The protection of this heritage should not be based on the 

application of only one method, such as excavations. This can lead to the 

destruction of cultural and natural heritage. 

Current trends in the field of cultural heritage conservation are for 

preservation, restoration, reconstruction and museification (also written as 

museumification). 

Museification allows the preservation and use of heritage for 

cognitive tourism, and is a typical model in many countries. With sites 

situated far enough from areas with high technogenic load, conservation 

and museification can be designed in such a way that the site or monument 

is preserved in its natural environment. Designs for the preservation of sites 

and monuments within the boundaries of industrial centres require a careful 

selection of appropriate solutions for conservation and use. 

In this article, the authors propose a strategy for the conservation of 

natural heritage using the example of a palaeontological site of national 

importance known as “Gussinyi Perelet” (the “Goose Passage”). This site is 

located in the city of Pavlodar, a large industrial centre in Kazakhstan. 

Urban construction has already encroached upon the boundaries of the site, 

and progresses without consultation of academic experts. Due to shoreline 

development on the banks of the Irtysh River, anthropogenic influences 

have greatly affected its condition.

2

 

Gussinyi Perelet is one of the largest and best-known localities in 

Eurasia for the assemblage of fossils known as the hipparion fauna. The site 

was discovered in 1928 by Y. A. Orlov, a novice academic researcher who 

went on to become director of the Palaeontological Institute of the USSR 

Academy of Sciences. The location, in the riverside district of Pavlodar city, 

is a cliff spanning 800 meters of the right bank of the Irtysh River, upstream 

of the railway bridge.  

The most typical representative of this collection of fossilised fauna is 

the animal after which it was named, the three-toed horse Hipparion. 

However, the range of large mammal remains found in this fauna is very 

diverse and includes predators, rhinoceroses, hipparions, antelopes, gazelles 

and deer. Among the small mammals, numerous endemic forms of gerbils 

dominate. Remains of ancient birds are also found amongst the Gussinyi 

Perelet fauna; thus far nine species from six different genera have been 

identified and presented. All these types of birds were ground-dwelling and 

lived in open landscapes. The collection of fossils indicates a significant 

drying climate due to desertification and a diversity of landscapes 

                                                 

2

 Aliyassova et al. 2005, p. 85-86. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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Preservation for the Musefication of the Natural Heritage Site “Gussinyi Perelet”

 

 

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characterised by open spaces, wetland thickets and small woodland areas. 

These natural conditions were similar to the modern African savannah.

3

 

To date more than 70 species of animals have been found on the site, 

and still more are being discovered. The Hipparion fauna comprises giraffes 

(Palaeotragus sp. and Samotherium sp.), rhinoceroses (Chilotherium orlovi), sabre-

toothed cats (Machairodus Irtyschensis), hyenas (Crocuta), ancient mastodons 

(Proboscidea), ancient deer (Gazella deperdita), antelope (Tragocerus), ostriches 

(Struthio asiaticus), turtles (Trionychidae) and many other animal species.

4

 

Hipparions - three-toed horses of the family Equidae - are not thought to 

be the direct ancestors of the later monodactylus horses, which include 

domestic horse (Equus caballus L.) but a distinct line. During the second half 

of the Neogene Period, several types of hipparion were spread across 

Kazakhstan. This gregarious species was separate from the smaller Central 

Asian donkey. It is believed that unlike modern horses Hipparion were 

longer-eared and may have had zebra-like colouration. Some Hipparion, 

according to the bone structure of their limbs, mainly kept to damp marshy 

meadows, but easily moved to other spaces with more solid ground, as 

shown by the patterning on the surface of their teeth which suggests they 

ate tough prairie grasses from drier plains. It is assumed that Hipparion, like 

many modern ungulates, as well as associated large mammals and some 

birds (ostriches), migrated seasonally from south to north and back again, 

according to dry seasons and the growth of vegetation. It is likely that in 

summer the northern part of Kazakhstan provided ideal conditions for the 

growth of mast and pastures, while grazing land to the south was scorched 

by drought. 

The giraffes discovered amongst the hipparion fauna were did not 

have such long necks and legs as those now living in Africa: most were 

more similar to the okapi still found in the Congo Basin. Their favoured 

habitat was mixed woodland and savannah. 

The antelopes were generally little different from modern 

representatives of this group of artiodactyls today, and were mainly found in 

the steppe zone. They included both large species - Tragocerus - and 

smaller gazelles. 

One of the most impressive representatives of predators amongst the 

Hipparion fauna was the sabre-toothed cat, Machairodus, more commonly 

known as the sabre-toothed tiger, which likely hunted all the ungulates of 

that period, including mastodons. Another predator was the hyena: a strong 

and active animal, to which sabre-toothed cats were indispensible 

                                                 

3

 Shpanskiy 2005, p. 314-317. 

4

 Ibid. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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