Searching for Stone Age monuments in the Semipalatinsk region

The reconnaissance detachment of the Semipalatinsk expedition of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR searched for Stone Age monuments on the left bank of the Irtysh in the construction zone of the Semipalatinsk hydroelectric power station. To the north-east of the Granitny village on ​​​​more than 1 square. km, on the second floodplain terrace of the Irtysh, cores, scrapers, microlithic plates, several arrowheads and flakes were found. Scrapers with a semi-circular, carefully retouched blade are greenish siliceous rock. Tips with a notch are completely processed by pressing retouching. To the northwest of the village, cores, knife-shaped blades, flakes from local black and green siliceous rock, as well as chalcedony and jasper were found on the surface. Outcrops of chalcedony are known in the Delbegetai mountains, 60-70 km southeast of Granite. Ceramics were not found. The location dates from the early Neolithic.

The detachment of the Shulba expedition continued research in East Kazakhstan. The right bank of the Irtysh between the villages of Staraya Shulba and Uba Forpost was examined. In ​​Osikha oxbow, on the second terrace above the floodplain, Paleolithic stone products were collected: core and flakes from turnip pebbles. On the second terrace above the floodplain on the right bank of the Shulbinka River (the right tributary of the Irtysh), about 20 rounded pebble tools were raised. The collection of Neolithic materials was carried out near Pyany Yar, Proletarka and Vorovskoi log villages. They provided cores, scrapers, plates and production waste. At the mouth of the Shulbinka, on the right bank of a 30-35-meter terrace, several hundred items made of flint, chalcedony and jasper were collected. In 356 sq. m revealed two cultural layers, the thickness ranges from 15 to 100 cm. A dark humus layer is under the turf (6-7 cm). Many finds were found in loam at a depth of 40–60 cm from the surface. The remains of the hearth were cleared and wedge-shaped and prismatic cores, disk-shaped and end-scrapers, retouched knife-like blades, chippers and production wastes, as well as several items made of rock crystal and obsidian were found. There are no pottery and animal bones. The site dates back to the early Neolithic and possibly the Mesolithic. Paleolithic pebble tools, such as a massive ax, chopper, etc., were collected on a slope in the eastern part of the excavation. The depth of the finds does not exceed 25–30 cm.