Expedition of Karaganda University

Research continued at the Kent settlement, 220 km southeast of Karaganda. On the eastern periphery of the monuments, a part of a cult site was excavated. An altar of nine stones in the form of a ring (diameter 1.7 m) and a poorly preserved burial mound in a ground pit (2.5x0.9x0.2 m) were studied. The burial and the unearthed area (110 sq. m.) were covered with ashes. There were found bone and horn artifacts under the ash pan, up to 0.2 m thick, decorated with fine carvings, bronze hooks, plaques, and clips. In the ash pan, honing ceramics of the Late Bronze period (Begazy-Dandybai and Sargary-Alekseevka) were found.

To the west of excavation I in 1985, a rectangular pit of dwelling 3 (14.4x4.8 m) oriented in the meridional direction was unearthed. The tambour-shaped entrance was located almost in the middle of the western wall. The greatest depth of the pit is 0.25 m from the level of the mainland. Post holes were found along the long sides. The northern and southern walls are lined with granite slabs laid in seven to ten layers, the height of the facing is 0.60-0.95 m. The thickness of the cultural layer is up to 1.3 m. The finds are bronze plaques, a massive adze blade, a lamellar knife handle; tools made of bone and horn; stone polishes, hoe, pestles. The basis of the ceramic complex is the Sargary-Alekseevka utensils, which occurred together with Begazy-Dandybai, Mezhovskaya and circular Central Asian origin.

To the east of excavation I, three residential structures were explored. Dwelling 6 is elongated along the southwest-northeast line. Its walls are made of granite slabs, their maximum height is 1.1 m, the depth in the mainland is 0.85 m. The northwestern and southwestern walls are partially preserved. The finds from the dwelling and the adjoining ash-pit are a bronze knife-dagger with an emphasis in the form of a roller, a hoard of 16 stone and ceramic ovoid objects, honing, and bone skates. The set of ceramics is close to that described. The foundation pits of dwellings 4 and 5 are oriented parallel to dwelling 6. Their walls are made of stones; in some places, the vertical facing has been preserved. The distance between buildings is 1 m.

They have a rectangular shape (7.5x6.8; 7.5x6.5 m). In dwelling 5, a pentagonal stone hearth has been preserved. The finds are not numerous - stone disk-scrapers, honing, bronze plaque. Pottery from dwellings 4 and 5 is represented exclusively by the Dongal type, which characterizes the final stage of the rolled ceramics culture in Central Kazakhstan. These are flat-bottomed pots, often decorated with a narrow, smooth or dissected rim under the rim or on the neck. Distinctive elements of the ornament are rows of impressions, small “pearls”, inclined molded-on rollers. Dwellings 4 and 5 with Dongal ceramics cover the Sargary-Alekseevka building.

Security excavations continued in the northwestern part of the Akimbek settlement, located 0.5 km southeast of the village of Komsomol of the Tallinn district of the Karaganda region. In the excavation (580 sq. m), four cultural and chronological horizons were traced stratigraphically and planigraphically. In the upper one, they were belonging to the Late Bronze Age, the remains of pits of two structures with an area of ​​about 60 sq. m. A part of the stone foundation of the wall of one of the structures has been preserved. This is a regular single-row masonry in six to eight layers on a clay-earth mortar. Coal, bone and stone burnishers, hoes, stone disks, pestles, ceramic spindle whorls, and numerous fragments of roller ceramics of the Sargary-Alekseevka type were found in the filling of pits up to 0.8 m thick. In the northern part of the excavation, a near-bottom layer of an oval dwelling was found (depth up to 0.6 m, dimensions 15x10 m). Pillar pits and the remains of two stone hearths are marked at the bottom. A bronze chisel, fragments of a bronze knife, Fedorovo-type ceramics were found in the filling. Below, a part of a layer 0.2-0.3 m thick was recorded, in which a few fragments of pot-shaped vessels were collected, in particular, several fragments with a relief-shaped ledge at the transition from the neck to the body, which allows them to be attributed to the Alakul (Atasu) type. In the continental layer in the southwestern part of the excavation, knife-shaped blades, scrapers, cores, and flakes of white, black, red, and yellow flint were found, presumably belonging to the Neolithic.

Protective excavations of the Lisakovsky settlement near Lisakovsk, Kostanay region, continued. The preserved part of the settlement (1000 sq. m.) is a flat area stretched along the coastline for 300 m. Five housing depressions are visible on the surface. A cultural layer 0.4-0.8 m thick was noted in the section along the river's cliff. Five household pits and ditch-shaped treatment facilities (10-15x0.8-12x0.2-0.5 m) were found in the interdwelling space. Fragments of ceramics and animal bones were found in the filling of the ditches. The foundation pit of the upper dwelling has been stratigraphically recorded. The rounded shape of the room (about 5 m in diameter) is being restored. Pottery is represented by fragments of pot-shaped and jar-shaped vessels, flat-bottomed, with smooth profiling of the body. Several fragments have an indistinct ledge. The ceramic material makes it possible to single out the early Alakul and Fedorovo assemblages of utensils.

Remains of three dwellings have been found. Two of them, belonging to the lower layer, are rectangular in plan (7x10x0.2 m). The stratigraphy of the settlement indicates its two-layer structure.

The burial ground, located 0.4 km southeast of the Lisakovsky settlement, consists of eight mounds stretching in a chain from east to west. One burial mound 11 m in diameter and 0.2 m high was excavated. At the base of the earthen embankment, a fence was built of stones laid flat (0.4-0.8 m high), around which there is a ditch 1.2 m wide and 1.2 m deep. In the center of the area under the kurgan, two oval-shaped grave pits (2x1.5 m) oriented along the west-east line were found. The remains of wooden quadrangular frames were found at the bottom. In Grave 1, a female skeleton lay crumpled on its right side. In the heads, there is a knife with an interception (Srubnaya-Andronovo type), along the spine, there is a bone decoration made of bronze plaques of geometric shapes arranged in several rows, as well as flippers and bronze beads. On the wrists are bracelets with spiral flattened ends. The neck was decorated with a hryvnia with eight gilded rings in one and a half turns. In grave 2, the skeleton of a man lay crouched on his left side. In bent hands - a knife with an interception (Srubnaya-Andronovo type). Fragments of ceramic vessels were found in both burials. In the southeastern sector of the mound, in a moat, two children's burials with pottery and bones of sacrificial animals were found.

The ceramic material of the barrow is represented by 10 pot-shaped and jar-shaped vessels. The pots have a ledge at the transition of the neck into the body. One of the vessels is an elegant vase-shaped form. Ceramics corresponds to the early Alakul ceramic complex of the settlement (15th-14th centuries BC).