Research in the Northeast Caspian

The Volga-Ural expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR continued research in the Guryev and Mangyshlak regions of the Kazakh SSR. A farmstead has been excavated in the northern part of Ak-Tobe's settlement in the Guryev region. Near it, two large industrial furnaces were excavated. Among the finds at the settlement, we note a fragment of a bone bowl for pouring koumiss (14th century AD).

At the site of ancient settlement Saraychik (14th century AD) partially destroyed dwelling was excavated. At the settlement of Uchkan, pits were laid, which revealed an insignificant cultural layer (0.30-0.50 m). Among the finds are three bronze coins from the 14th century. Near the village of Kulagino, to the north of the city of Guryev, a site of a settlement from the Bronze Age (20 sq. m) that has survived from destruction has been excavated. The finds are represented by log-like ceramics of the end of the 2nd millennium BC. To the west of Guryev, in the Dengiz region in the Ryn-sands, two dwellings of the Sarmatian winter road were excavated. Animal bones and ceramics were found.

In the Mangyshlak region, south of the Beineu station, in the Baite tract, three burial mound groups of the Early Iron Age were discovered. More than 30 stone statues were found near two "royal" burial mounds (in the southern and northern groups) preserved in fragments. Some of them are carved with weapons and equipment: bows, quivers with arrows, swords, daggers, belts. There is also a quarry where the stone for sculptures was delivered. One robbed Saka Kurgan was excavated.

Near the village of Fort Shevchenko in the Ketik tract, a caravanserai of the 14th century was excavated. About ten more foundations of large stone buildings of the same time have been traced. The settlement of Ketik occupies an area of ​​300 x 200 m. It is safe to identify it with the city of Nesmeselak on the Italian maps of the 14th century.

An archaeological survey was carried out in Ryn-sands, Bastan-kulakh, in the Zhigalgan tract, on the Tyub-Karigan peninsula, where mounds with earthen embankments and stone fill were found.

Near the village of Eraliev in the Mangyshlak region, research continued on a stone pen for hunting large ungulates built in the Bronze Age. Five ambush towers have been excavated. A bronze arrow of the Early Iron Age was found on the territory of the corral.