Research of the Chimkent Pedagogical Institute detachment

The detachment continued excavations of the fortified settlement of Altyntobe. Altyntobe is a rounded hill 16 m high, stretched from north to south. Its dimensions at the base are 150*90 m, the dimensions of the upper platform are 85*35 m. The western slope of the mound adjoins the ancient floodplain of the Akbulak River. Ditches 15-20 m wide are fixed at the base of the northern, eastern and southern slopes.

In the center of the settlement, two excavations with a total area of ​​640 sq. m in the western part, there is a stratigraphic pit (15*4 m). As a result, 21 rooms of the upper construction horizon and several transition corridors were opened. The walls of the premises, rectangular in plan, united in five residential complexes, were built of pakhsa, less often of raw bricks measuring 48*25*10 cm. Open-type hearths were noted at the floor level, and sometimes hearths-fireplaces in one of the walls. Room 2 (excavation 1) is interesting, the floor is completely lined with stones, pieces of ceramic slag, and broken ceramics. Ceramics predominate among the finds (more than 100 intact and restored forms). Signs are marked on separate fragments. In general, the ceramic complex of the upper building horizon is close to the ceramics of the Kaunchin and Otrar-Karatau cultures of the middle reaches of the Syr Darya of the 4th-6th centuries.

In the stratigraphic pit, deepened to 3.5 m, a late fortress wall 2 m wide, built of pakhsa and raw bricks, as well as the upper building horizon, were traced. The wall rests on ash deposits 05-1 m thick.

In the Altyntobe cemetry, located 0.8 km west of the settlement, on the first floodplain terrace of the Akbulak River, and numbering more than 300 mounds with earth embankments 20-30 m in diameter and 1-2 m high, mound 7 was unearthed. In its eastern sector, at a depth of 1.1 m from the level of the ancient surface, in a soil pit measuring 1. m, an inlet burial was found with a skeleton crouched on the right side, oriented to the west. The grave goods are represented by a round-bottomed bowl with a protruding handle (placed at the head).