Exploration of Altynasar 3 burial ground
The archaeological and anthropological detachments of the Khorezm expedition of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences conducted excavations of the burial ground of the first half of the 1st millennium AD near the Altynasar fortified settlement in the Dzhusaly district of the Kzyl-Orda region. Thoroughly washed burial mounds were traced on the takyr along with the spots of grave pits and ditches. As a result of centuries-old washout, the modern surface of takyrs turned out to be lower than the ancient one. The diameter of the barrows ranged from 8 to 14 m. The ditches were circular, 1.5–2 m wide, and had a lintel from the south. A total of 26 mounds were investigated, four of which contained two burials. Some of the graves were robbed in antiquity.
Burials were made in simple earthen pits and in graves with liners in the eastern and western walls. All graves have a long axis from north to south with slight seasonal deviations. The body of the buried was wrapped in a braided reed, traces of which were recorded in all the graves. Most of the deceased were buried in an extended position on their backs, with their heads to the north. In one of the side-pit graves, the buried lay on his right side. In some pits' walls, small niches were arranged in which vessels were placed without lining. Sometimes in one wall of the pit there were two such niches - in the heads and at the feet of the buried, sometimes the niches were located diagonally. As a rule, a poorly fired molded kitchen vessel with a wide rim was placed in one of the niches, and a large molded jug with a narrow rim equipped with one or two plums and a wide body was placed in the other. Separate jugs had two small handles. Small thin-walled mugs accompanied the jugs.
The grave goods included bundles of large beads made of amber and chalcedony hung from the belt. In one case, a pendant in the form of a boar figurine was found among the beads. For female burials, sewn-on bronze or silver hemispherical plaques, bronze mirrors, narrowcast silver bracelets, necklaces made of glass, paste, carnelian beads and cowrie shells, rings with rhombic or oval shields, pendants made of paste cabochons in a bronze or silver frame, ornamented false grain, bronze earrings. A pair of bronze cheek-pieces resembling axes, iron bits, an iron sword without crosshairs with a pommel of two large cornelians (hemispherical and faceted) in a gold and silver frame with false grain, hung on a harness belt with a bronze buckle, decorated with a silver lining inlaid with lilac glass inserts. The belt is decorated with bronze square plaques set in gold foil with inlay. One overlay made of gold foil is made in a figured crescent.
As a result of the excavations, a craniological series (30 skulls) was collected. A visual inspection of the skulls suggests the anthropological heterogeneity of the population that left the burial ground. Well-pronounced Caucasoid skulls stand out, maturized, with sharp profiling of the face. There are also skulls of more gracile forms, characterized by a noticeable Mongoloid admixture. Individual skulls bear traces of lifetime tower deformation. In one case, a deforming dressing made of a light, soft-spun fabric was found on the frontal bone of a child's skull.