Novonikolskoye I settlement

The expedition of the Chelyabinsk State University with the participation of the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute continued excavations of the Novonikolskoye I settlement in the North Kazakhstan region. The excavation site (752 sq. m.) in the central part of the settlement fits into the general grid of excavations of previous years (4952 sq. m. in total). The Alakul dwelling, part of the dwelling of the time of Peter the Great, the remains of two rooms of the final bronze and part of the defensive structure were investigated.

The Alakul dwelling (240 sq.m.) is rectangular and oriented along the west-east line. The pit's depth in the western part of the dwelling is 0.8–1.0 m, in the eastern part, 1.0–1.2 m. An angular exit 1 m wide is clearly recorded on the northwestern side. Probably, another entry was in the east side of the dwelling, according to op destroyed by later construction. On the floor of the dwelling, 217 pits and depressions were found.

Of interest are the sacrificial complexes. In the western part of the dugout near the pit's walls, several skeletons and about 10 skulls of cattle, numerous fragments of skeletons and skulls of sheep were found. Most of the skulls are oriented to the west. In some cases, tools or household items were found with the skeletons of animals: a rattle, a whorl, a vessel. The dwelling was heated by two hearths located in the central part. One of them is a continental elevation with a diameter of 1.1 m, surrounded by a groove. The second hearth is an open bonfire with a diameter of 0.5 m. The dwellings of the final bronze are round in shape and small in size - 90 and 50 square meters. m. They were located in the deepening of an earlier pit on the Alakul cultural layer.

The defensive system of the early Alakul settlement was studied. The width of the moat is 2–2.2 m, the depth is 1.6–2.0 m. The remains of ramparts can be traced both from the inside of the moat and from the outside. A narrow passage across the moat was found, and next to it were the remains of sacrificial offerings common at the entrance to the fortified part of the village: calcined, ram bones, dog skull. Pottery from the ditch is similar to the material of Petrovka dwelling.

The ceramic complex of the settlement is represented by Petrovka, Alakul, Bishkul and Sargary types of dishes. Things made of clay and stone are traditional for the Andronovo era. Several fragments of stone and clay molds were found on the floor of dwellings of the final bronze. The collection of bronze items includes a socketed grooved chisel, a petiolate spear, a two-bladed socketed arrowhead, awls and piercings.

In the area with A new burial ground was opened in Novonikolskoye, where six burial mounds were unearthed: four belong to different stages of the Bronze Age, one to the Iron Age and one to the early Middle Ages. Among the finds from the Alakul burial mounds there is a disc-shaped bone cheek-piece with geometric ornament. The embankment of a medieval mound with a diameter of 12 m and a height of 0.2 m consisted of continuous calcination, the thickness of which, together with the burnt under-kurgan platform, reached 0.5 m. The walls of the grave were calcined. Numerous bronze ornaments with traces of fire were found in the robbery dig. The funeral rite should be classified as burial in a grave pit.