Central Kazakhstan expedition
The expedition of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, the Republican Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments and Karaganda State University continued excavations of the settlement of Atasu I and burial grounds of the Bronze Age in the upper reaches of the Atasu River in the Agadyr district of the Dzhezkazgan region.
At the settlement, two excavations unearthed 952 sq. m and to the north and south of the dwellings studied in 1976 (5–7). On the southern side, an oval-shaped room with 119 square meters was excavated. In its center, a collapse of a pottery kiln was found, ceramic slag, burnt stones, and stone polishes were found. An outbuilding (57 sq.m.) adjoins the premises from the southeast side. Uncovered in the northern area, the semi-dugout is round in plan (52 sq. m). It is close to the premises with copper smelters studied in 1976 and belongs to the same quarter of ancient metallurgists. Outside the premises, utility pits with large vessels were cleared.
The pottery is dominated by jar-shaped vessels with an inwardly beveled or bent rim, sometimes with a short, clearly profiled neck. The rest of the dishes are represented by pots, a small number of massive cauldrons and bowls. On many vessels, mainly pots, traces of burnishing and smoothing are noticeable. Most vessels are decorated with carved ornaments: incised lines, grooves, zigzag, isosceles and oblique triangles, short notches, horizontal and vertical rows of herringbones. Carved ornament is often combined with triangular, round and nail-like impressions and pins. A third of the vessels are ornamented with a large-toothed stamp. The elements of the ornament are the same. Only a few pots and jars are decorated with a meander pattern and pyramids of shaded triangles. There are painted ceramics (red ocher).
Among the finds are massive polished pestles, small percussion instruments, a stone crucible and ceramic flasks, flat stone grinders and hoes, bone and stone spindle whorls, large tools from the lower jaw of animals and knife-like items for working leather. Also found were flint leaf-shaped darts and arrowheads, stone polishes and a massive iron, a diamond-shaped bone arrowhead with a flat stem, and a bronze knife with a ring-shaped pommel. Among the bones of domestic animals, the bones of small ruminants dominate.
A large barrow fence was unearthed in the Atasu I burial ground. According to the rite of corpse burning, plundered, burials were made in a ground pit. Pottery is close to the pottery of the settlement. Stone pestles, bronze plaques and beads were also found.
Three earth mounds and a stone box were excavated in the Myrzhyk burial ground. Fences made of flat stone slabs were found under the embankments, and in one case - from vertical slabs. Cysts of tightly fitted hewn slabs were found in rectangular soil pits. The graves have been destroyed. The clothing material consists of polished ceramics, decorated with a finely serrated comb, coarse dishes without ornament, bronze awls, and a massive lining fragment.
The search group discovered and examined ancient copper workings: in the tracts of Basaga, Sarybulak, Mikainar. Fragments of two Turkic stone sculptures were found near the burial grounds of Atasu I and Myrzhyk.