Archaeological researches in cave Tuttybulak-1 in 2018

Results of researches in the cave of Tuttybulak-1 in the field season of 2018 were made. The excavation site was laid in the northern and Western parts of the monument and deepened around the perimeter (90 m²) to a depth of 2.2 m in order to identify Ancient layers. The pits of metallurgical workshops of the early Middle Ages and Mongol-Timurian time were cleared. in the layers at depth of 40–85 cm deposits of medieval pottery, coins and tools and products of blacksmithing were found. At a depth of 100–120 cm fragments of ceramic dishes, arrowheads of the Bronze age and the Early iron Age were recorded. Under the rock slab in the center of the cave fragments of the lower jaw and pelvic bones of the human skeleton were discovered. Dense loam with crushed stone and fragments of small stones, mica and limestone are the main filling of the space of the cave in control pit from depth of 120 to 200 cm. This fact gives reason to assume that we have investigated the cultural layers from the Bronze Age to the late Middle Ages. is believed that the cave to have served as a temporary refuge for hunters and gatherers in the Bronze Age. in the Early iron Age it began to be used for smelting iron and bloom. It was most actively used as a metal smelting workshop in the early middle ages and the Karakhanid’s period. it continued to be used periodically as a workshop throughout the late Middle Ages until the turn of the XVII–XVIII centuries.