The Ilibalyk Expedition started in August 2016 and is conducted by a joint team from the Lanier Center for Archaeology and from the Republic of Kazakhstan, who partnered with the private archaeological company Archaeological Expertise (headed by Dr. Dmitriy Voyakin). The project centers around Ilibalyk, a medieval Silk Road city, now located within the modern village of Usharal in the Almaty Oblast near the Chinese border. Particular interest in the site was kindled after the discovery of a Nestorian gravestone near the site in 2014, and the project was partially initiated to explore the possible presence of Nestorian Christianity in modern Kazakhstan, which would be the earliest evidence of Christianity in the region.