Research on the Bronze Age monuments in the Petropavlovsk Priishimye

The North Kazakhstan expedition detachment of the Chelyabinsk University and the Pedagogical Institute continued excavations of the Bronze Age site - the Petrovka II settlement and burial grounds near Berlin, Sergeev district, North Kazakhstan region. The excavation at the Petrovka II adjoined the southern wall of the excavation in 1976. The foundation pit of dwelling 22 was 12 m wide. The length of the explored part was 23 m, the depth was 1.7-2 m from the present surface, and the walls were sheer in niches and recesses. About 10 intact or crushed vessels have been preserved. Dwelling 23 is square in plan, with an area of ​​50 sq. m and a depth of 1.5 m. Construction pits 22 and 23 were used at least twice. The original design of pit 22 belongs to the Alakul culture, and dwelling 23 is probably associated with the Cherkaskul population. For the second time, both pits were used by the carriers of the Sargary culture. The earliest constructions in the studied area are the ground-dwelling 25 of the Petrovka type and the remains of structures in the form of pits and ditches in the indwelling territory. The settlement collection includes ceramics of the Petrovka, Bishkul-Fedorovo, Alakul, Cherkaskul and Sargary types, stone and bone items, including a socketed hoe, a fragment of a three-hole cheek-piece, pestles, arrowheads, and a clay figurine of a ram.

The Bronze Age burial grounds near the Berlik village excavated four mounds with a diameter of І2 m and a height of 0.4 m with rectangular pits (3.5x2.5x1.5 m), oriented along the west-east line, in the center of the area under the mound. Clay or sandy platforms of a polygonal shape reached 8 m in diameter. The walls of the pits were lined with wood and clay and had ledges. All graves have been robbed. On the clay platform of mound 10 of the Berlik burial ground, near the southern wall of the pit, the skeleton of a horse with its head to the west with bent legs, a horse skull and two vessels were found. At the bottom of this grave pit, two depressions from dug-in wheels and the remains of wooden parts of the wagon were found. In the hole of the left wheel were five stone arrowheads. Two bone cheek-pieces with spikes were found in the filling of the pit. Inventory of burial grounds near Berlik village is represented mainly by ceramics of the Petrovka stage of the Alakul culture.