Excavations of the Bestamak settlement
A detachment of the Turgai expedition of the Kostanay Pedagogical Institute excavated the Bestamak settlement, located on the right bank of the Buruktal River (the right tributary of the Ubagan), 4-5 m high. The settlement (30 hectares) was repeatedly destroyed during the dam construction. The area of the destroyed part of the monument is approximately 30 thousand square meters. The cultural layer was completely destroyed in 6 thousand square meters, and a bulldozer removed its upper part from the rest of the territory.
A total of 2144 sq. The stratigraphy traced during the excavations is simple: a layer of gray sand (10-20 cm) overlaps a layer of dark gray sand (10-80 cm) underlies the yellow sand. A system of grooves with ash filling has been fixed, the purpose of which is not yet clear. About 70 utility pits have been uncovered. In the filling of some of them, lenses of intense black color (carbonaceous layer) are noted. No undisputed remains of residential buildings have been found. The collection, numbering more than 50 thousand items, contains materials from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. However, objects of different times were found on the same level in the excavation. Only in deep utility pits is the material homogeneous. Nevertheless, the collection can be divided typologically.
Finds of the Makhandzhar culture represent materials of the Neolithic period. These are pointed-bottomed (spin-bottom) vessels of elongated proportions with a distinguished high neck. The upper part is slightly bent inward, ornamented mainly with impressions of a jagged stamp, and sometimes with prints and incised lines. Part of the monument's lamellar industry is probably associated with this pottery. During the excavations of Bestamak, an expressive series of ceramics was also obtained, which finds analogies in the dishes of the Boborykino culture. Late Neolithic pottery is represented by vessels with a rounded-pointed bottom, straight or slightly profiled walls. Impressions of a jagged stamp dominate its ornamentation. There are many vessels ornamented with a string, impressions, tracing. Most of the flake industry is associated with such ceramics. A small number of finds date from the Petrovka (Novokumak) time to the Late Bronze Age.