Research of the Tselinograd expedition

The expedition, formed by the Regional Historical Museum, explored the Paleolithic sites of Batpak 7, Aigrensor 2, and the Mesolithic site Ak-Barak.

At the Batpak 7 site, located on the Nura-Ishim watershed in the upper reaches of the Ishim, two excavations were held on 40 sq. m each. The excavations unearthed deposits deposited on the upper Pleistocene terraces of the Batpak river, nested in mantle loams of the lower-middle Pleistocene. In excavation I, the finds were found at a depth of 4.4-5.5 m in brownish-brown loam (soil) with lenses of silt and sand-gravel. The layer lies on silt deposits of the Upper Pleistocene and is overlain by periglacial alluvium, passing upwards into brownish-yellow non-layered carbonate loams. The latter is overlain by a layer of bluish-gray silts with molluscs, above which humus and sandy-loamy interlayers alternate. Among the finds, there are many animal bones (mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, etc.) and nine stone objects: a chisel from a flake, flakes, chips. In excavation 2, finds were found at a depth of 1.05-4.85 m in different layers of the Upper Pleistocene. The finds were redeposited from the surface of the watershed plateau. There are 30 of them in total: six tools (chisel, scraper, chisel-shaped tool, etc.), sections of flakes and blades, flakes, chips, flakes. The collection belongs to the Late Paleolithic.

At the Angrensor 2 site, located in the lake's basin of the same name near the city of Ekibastuz, two trenches 9x2 and 8x2 m and four pits were laid. Deluvial-proluvial deposits of the ravine were revealed, forming successively leaning stratums 1-4. The deposits lie on the weathering crust. Stratum 1 belongs to the Holocene, the rest to the Upper Pleistocene. Single cherts were found in deposits of stratum 1-2. Stratum 1 is broken by frost wedges descending from the base of stratum 2. Stratum 2 is crowned with brownish-brown loamy soil with rare flints. In the silt layers of Stratum 3, two Late Paleolithic working sites (upper and lower, separated by 7-10 cm of loam and sand) with an abundance of cherts, mainly small chips, flakes, flakes, and blades, were found.

There are also expressive wedge-shaped and end cores for knife-shaped blades, microblades, scrapers, incisors, and scrapers. The thickness of the cultural layers is about 2 cm. The contours of the hearth were traced on the lower platform, animal bones were found. Stratum 3 is overlain by dense brown soil, presumably of late-glacial age. It contains many cherts in a redeposited state.

At the Ak-Berak 1 site in the upper reaches of the Olenty River, a trench 12х2 m and a pit were made. The Mesolithic finds occur in the humus layer and in the underlying brownish-brown soil lying on the alluvium of the second terrace above the floodplain. The finds were also found in the upper floodplain alluvium of the first terrace above the floodplain. 407 items were obtained from the excavations: scrapers, arrowheads, other tools, fragments of knife-like blades, microblades and production waste.

Elevated material was collected at the Mesolithic Azhi site (Ermentau district, Tselinograd region) and the Acheulean Mizar locality (Batpak region). New Paleolithic sites of Angrensor 3-7 have been discovered.