The collection includes the works of prominent specialists of Kazakhstan and the CIS republics (historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, art historians, philologists), which are devoted to problematic issues of ethno- and cultural genesis of the peoples of the Aral-Caspian region, as one of the most important centers of cultural and historical processes in Eurasia. The main attention is paid to the history and culture of the nomadic, cattle-breeding peoples of the Aral-Caspian in antiquity, the Middle Ages and in modern times: ethnic groups of the Massagetian (Massageto-Sarmatian) substrate, Oguzes, Kypchaks, Turkmens, Kazakhs, etc. A significant part of the articles is devoted to the peculiarities of the history and culture of Kazakhs in Western Kazakhstan.