Sargary - the final Bronze Age cultural complex

The expedition of the Karaganda University and the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute completed excavations of the Sargary settlement in the Atbasar district, Tselinograd region. For three years, the entire territory of 5600 square meters was excavated. In 1974, four dwellings on the southwestern outskirts of the village were investigated. In shape, the dwellings are close to rectangles, their area varies within 190-325 square meters, the depth of the pits is 0.6-1.2 m. All rooms are interconnected by passages and have one or two corridor-like exits. Dwellings 9, 11, 13 were adjoined on the southeast side by small square outbuildings with an area of ​​20-60 square meters. They probably had an economic purpose and were connected to the main premises by short corridors. All structures are located compactly, the distance between the walls of adjacent pits does not exceed 1-2 m.

Now, when the entire layout of the village has been restored and log structures unique in their safety have been recorded, it is possible to speak with sufficient certainty about the original architecture of the monument. Most of the village was covered with a single roof based on large birch logs, birch bark, straw and turf layers, up to 0.6-0.8 m thick. Light and air penetrated through exits facing the field and through smoke holes in the roof. The narrow spaces enclosed between the foundation pits of the dwellings were also covered from above with a roof, and a layer of air between the wattle walls of two adjacent rooms contributed to the insulation of the village. Thus, the wall of one dwelling was at the same time an integral part of the wall of another.

There are 18,086 objects in the collection from the settlement. Among the finds of this year, we note bronze two-bladed arrowheads with a hidden bushing, a leaf-shaped knife-dagger with a pronounced handle, a spear with an emphasis, a single-blade knife with a curved back and a forked handle. The clothing complex contains a whole set of bronze needles and awls, stone pestles and graters, fragments of stone and clay casting molds, and a wide variety of bone tools. Ceramics are flat-bottomed, thick-walled, with an admixture of sand and fireclay in the dough. The ornament is applied on the shoulders and necks of the vessels using a carved technique or a flat stamp technique. These are belts of oblique lines, a rhombic grid, a herringbone occasionally there are large, roughly made triangles and pit impressions. As the most characteristic feature of the complex, molded rollers should be noted. A small group among the “roller” dishes is made up of ceramics with Karasuk traditions, which is known in Kazakhstan from the Dandybai-begazy monuments. It is evenly distributed over the depths and throughout the territory of the village, and it should be considered simultaneous with the main ceramic complex.

At 300 m to the southwest of the site, a burial ground was found, which is undoubtedly associated with the inhabitants of Sargary. Burials are unpaved and are currently not distinguished on a flat steppe surface. When a layer 15-20 cm thick is removed, small laying out of small tiles laid flat is fixed at the site of the graves. It seems that the stones were not spread on the ancient surface, but were slightly dug into it. The excavation (300 sq. m) uncovered 12 oval-shaped pits, 1.4-2.0 m long, 0.7-1.5 m wide and up to 1.2 m deep. All burials were partially or entirely robbed. Grave 12 was an exception. The buried lay on his left side strongly crouched, with his head to the north. Near the head are several stone slabs and a vessel. The inventory of the burial ground as a whole consists of one pestle and five vessels, completely identical to the roller ceramics of the settlement.

The study of the settlement and burial ground of Sargary can hardly be overestimated to highlight the culture of the end of the Bronze Age in Northern Kazakhstan. This is the first single-layer, simultaneous and sufficiently thoroughly investigated monument whose clothing and ceramic complexes can become a reliable standard for characterizing the materials of the final bronze of the Eurasian steppe.