Exploration of the Verkhnyaya Alabuga burial ground

One of the detachments of the North-Kazakhstan expedition of the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute continued work on the Verkhnyaya Alabuga burial ground, on the right bank of the Tobol River.

On an area of ​​556 sq. m found 20 grave pits. Two pits contained burials dating back to the Eneolithic era. In plan, the pits are rounded, about 0.8 m in diameter, up to 1.6 m deep. In the middle part of the pit there is a ledge on which the buried person is laid. Three people were successively buried in the second pit: a child on the ledge, a woman in the middle part, and a man in the upper part. Near the skeleton of a child, a polished adze made of green jasper-like rock was found.

Most of the burials date back to the Bronze Age. Under-rectangular grave pits are divided into three groups by size: large (2.5x2.2x1.18 m), medium (1.4x0.6x0.6m) and small (0.8x0.5x0.5 m). The orientation of the pits is mainly latitudinal, with deviations to the northwest and southeast. In most of the pits, wooden lining of the walls in two logs and transverse ceilings made of planks were traced. The buried lie on their left side in a crouched position, with their heads to the northwest and east. Burials are often accompanied by leg bones, skulls, jaws, shoulder blades of small and large cattle. In one hole was the skeleton of a horse.

The grave goods are represented by vessels of various shapes with a rib, a ledge, and jar and transitional forms, ornamented with impressions of a flat stamp, a dragged stick, in one case with impressions of a string. Ornamental compositions are geometric. From one to four vessels were placed in the grave pits. In addition to the vessels, a double-edged bronze knife with an intercept, bronze grooved bracelets with open ends, fragments of bronze jewelry, a stone arrowhead, and ram's alchik (astragalus) were found.

The burials can be attributed to the Sintashta-Petrovka type. A burial stands out with two sets of bronze arrowheads, a small bronze celt, a large vitreous bead, and a stone ball. The buried was laid on his back with his head to the northwest. The burial is preliminarily dated to the 4th-6th centuries BC.