Research in the Upper Tobol region

The excavations of the settlement near the village of Semiozernoye, begun in 1971, were continued. A second dwelling and an economic complex were unearthed, sections of the moat and rampart were made. The dwelling, oriented along the north-south line, had two halves. The length of the pit was 17.3 m, the average width was 8.3 m, the depth of the northern half was 0.7 m, the southern half was 0.5 m. The dwelling had a stepped exit 1.3 m high and 1.7 m wide on the eastern side. m. In the dwelling there were two small fires and two round stoves at the base with a diameter of 0.5-0.55 m, made of clay semi-oval bricks. Household pits are filled with animal bones, coal, and slag. Holes from load-bearing pillar structures were fixed inside and outside the dwelling.

The economic complex consisted of the main structure, several utility pits located around it, and a ditch-like structure. The main structure is a basement in a plan, 8*6.4 m in size, the depth of the pit is 0.72 m. Two coaly spots are noted in the central part. The structure includes 27 pillar pits. The filling contained animal bones and a dozen and a half pottery fragments.

Utility pit 1, rounded in plan, was located 1.5 m from the structure. Its dimensions are 3.16*2‚76m, the depth is 0.58 m. Pit 2 is subrectangular, 2*1.36 m in size, and 0.28 m deep. Animal bones and single fragments of ceramics were found in the filling of the pits. The ditch-like structure is about 15 m long and about 1 m wide. Its depth is from 0.42 to 1 m. Animal bones were found in the filling.

Ceramics is rare. Fragments of linen pot-jar and pot-shaped vessels were found. Some pot-shaped vessels were ornamented along the neck with horizontal lines, rows of oblique segments, and hatched triangles. The patterns are made mainly with a jagged stamp and carved lines. A horizontal zigzag, lines, grooves, hatched rhombuses, a horizontal herringbone, pyramids of rectangles were applied along the walls. Carved lines predominate, a lot of jagged stamps were occasionally used indentations. Potted-jar vessels have an admixture of sand, shells, and sometimes talc in the dough. The shape of the corolla is flattened or rounded. The walls and bottoms of some vessels have imprints of fine mesh tissue on the inside. The vessels were ornamented over the entire surface, occasionally along the bottom, with a horizontal zigzag, hatched triangles, horizontal lines made with a jagged stamp, grooves, drawn lines, and indentations. A multi-row zigzag of finger grooved impressions is characteristic.

The settlement pottery has analogies with the ceramics of the Loginovo and Petrov types, which makes it possible to attribute the settlement to the Early Bronze Age.

Remains of bronze casting production were found in slag, pieces of bronze and oxides of copper ore. Bone blanks for piercings, a pair of flint scrapers, a small arrowhead, a dozen flakes, and a piercing at the corner of a broken knife-like plate were also found.

The thickness of the cultural sandy loam layer is 20-50 cm. An excavation (35 m) was laid at the settlement, which yielded ceramics and animal bones. Pottery is provided by fragments of pot-shaped and one cup-shaped vessels. The vessels are ornamented along the neck and top of the body with carved lines, flutes, hatched triangles, rows of impressions, horizontal zigzag, herringbone, rows of oblique segments. A bone puncture and a pebble polish were also found. The settlement dates back to the transition from the developed to the late Bronze Age.