Archaeological research in Northern Kazakhstan
The studies of the North Kazakhstan Archaeological Expedition of North Kazakhstan Regional Museum of History and Local Lore and the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute were focused on the study of the monuments of the Bronze Age of the Middle Ishim region. The main object of the study was the settlement near the village of Novonikolskoye, located on the left bank of the Ishim River, 50 km south of the Petropavlovsk. Monument with an area of 12,000 sq. m occupies a rectangular cape of the first terrace, rising 12.5 m above the modern river edge. At the base of the cape there is a small floodplain lake. Among the well-known monuments of the Bronze Age of Northern Kazakhstan, Novonikolskoe settlement is unique in terms of safety and condition of cultural remains. On a flat, well-turfed cape area, about 20 dwelling depressions 0.5-0.6 m deep are recorded.
The excavation in the southern part of the settlement uncovered 2060 sq. m of a cultural layer up to 1.5 m thick. Numerous remains of structures, including more than 2,000 pits from pillars, give a complex picture of the settlement's existence. In total, seven dwellings of different times were recorded on the excavation area - four are associated with the Alakul cultural layer, three with the era of the final bronze. The buildings of the Alakul time (4, 5, 6, 7) are badly destroyed - they are cut through by much deeper later housing pits (1, 2, 3), traces of which are fixed on the surface. Dwellings 1, 2, 3 are elongated rectangles with an area of 250, 260 and 235 square meters. The floor is deepened into the mainland soil by 0.8-1.2 m. Dwelling 1 has four, and dwelling 2 has two corridor-like entrances with a fixed length of 2-3 m, with a width of 1.5 m. In addition, these dwellings are connected between a passage deep into the mainland, 12 m long and about 1 m wide. In the center of dwellings 2 and 3, large ground hearths with clay or stone pavements and utility pits were found. There are no hearths in the central part of structure 1, and only small calcined areas and ash accumulations are found near the entrances. Vessels were found in the walls of the room, and at the entrances 1 and 2 - skulls of rams and horses along with tools - a rattle and a horn hoe.
The cultural layer of the settlement was rich in finds. There are especially many well-preserved animal bones. There are many tools and items associated with metallurgical and handicraft industries. Bronze tools are well represented - a billhook, four double-edged knives, two stem spears, a bronze three-blade socketed arrowhead, a drill, needles, and awls. A diverse collection of items made of stone. These are carefully retouched arrowheads, polished pestles, a mace, and more roughly processed knives, axes, and hammers. There are bone arrowheads, piercers, rattles, clay weights and a spindle whorl. Ceramic material is typologically subdivided into two groups - Alakul and the time of the final bronze. The latter is characterized by a coarse-grained dough structure, the predominance of the carved technique of applying herringbone ornaments, diagonal lines and a rhombic grid. A characteristic feature of the dishes in the presence of a roller along the neck or upper part of the body. A large number of vessels from the Final Bronze Complex have no ornamentation.
In the settlement area, the expedition examined 12 burial mounds at two burial grounds of the Bronze Age, containing corpses in ordinary soil pits. A collection of 50 vessels of the Alakul type and a small bronze inventory were assembled. Particularly interesting is the burial ground near the village of Semipolatnoye, where many vessels were found in mounds at different depths, probably associated with sacrifices.