Exploration along the Irgiz and Turgay
In the projected irrigation arrays zone, exploration was carried out on the left bank of the Irgiz between the regional centers of Karabutak and Irgiz (Aktobe region) and on the right bank of the Turgai in Dzhangildy district of the Turgai region.
The highest concentration of monuments was noted in the Karabutak region, in the middle reaches of the Irgiz. Near the edge of the bedrock bank, there are many mounds of small ragged stone, which are arranged in small groups. Their diameter is 5-7 m, height - up to 0.5 m. Larger mounds are rare. Most of these barrows probably belong to the Early Iron Age, presumably to the Tasmola culture, a minor part, apparently, to the ancient Turkic time and the late Middle Ages. On the first floodplain terrace of the Irgiz there are fences and stone boxes, obviously, of the Andronovo culture (Araltogai VI, Dungileksor II, III, Mily II groups), and higher, on the bedrock bank, there are stone mounds of the Iron Age. In the burial ground Dungileksor IV, located on a high plateau of the root bank in four stone mounds, there is a mound "with a mustache" with a diameter of 11 m and a height of 0.7 m. Its mound is made of torn stone. To the east of the mound stretch two arc-shaped layings of stones about 130 m long, ending in flat rounded extensions with a diameter of 3.5 m at the southern “moustache” and 4 m at the northern one. Along the length of the "moustache" there are five additional stone excavations with a diameter of 2.0-5.5 m near the northern "moustache" and four calculations with a diameter of 2.0-6.5 m - near the southern "moustache". Two arched stone outcrops about 15 m long, which are not visible everywhere, go east of the extreme mound of the Araltogay VI group. Perhaps it is also a mound with a "moustache". The remaining 10 kurgans and laying out of this group belong to the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age.
Nearby, on the first floodplain terrace of the left bank of the Irgiz, there is the Araltogay VII settlement. Stone inventory was found for about 400 m along the coast. The early assemblage (Mesolithic or Early Neolithic) is characterized by small knife-like blades with or without one-sided retouching, blades with a side notch, cutters, micro-scrapers on flakes, scrapers on flakes with steep retouching. The late assemblage is represented by large quartzite and siliceous slate tools such as knives and scrapers with double-sided processing. Several fragments of pottery without ornamentation were also found here.
Further down the Irgiz, where the relief becomes more even and semi-desert, stone, stone-earth and earth mounds of different times (from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages) were discovered. The largest mound with a diameter of 35 m and a height of 3 m was discovered in the Mily IV group. It is composed of earth and a small number of stones. 15 small mounds are grouped around it. At the village Irgaz (moving sands and dunes) a mound with a diameter of 20 m and a height of 1.2 m was discovered, made of earth with a small inclusion of crushed stone and stones, possibly Sarmatian.
On the right bank of the Turgay, near the Stanciya village, a burial mound was discovered, presumably from the Early Iron Age and several locations of flint and pottery without ornament. The right bank of the Turgay in the Dzhangildy district in ancient times was sparsely populated, as evidenced by the small number of monuments found here and the limited amount of material collected on them.