Research on the Atasu river
A detachment of the Central Kazakhstan Expedition of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR worked at the Ak-Mustafa settlement and burial ground. The monuments are located in the upper reaches of the Atasu River, on the border of the Agadyr and Zhana-Arka districts in the Dzhezkazgan region. The settlement is located on the right, and the burial ground on the left bank of the river.
An excavation area of 160 sq. m was laid on the eastern outskirts of the settlement on the river banks. A part of the deepened structure was cleared, the edges of the pit were reinforced with large stones. The thickness of the cultural layer is up to 0.80 m in the pit and 0.20-0.25 m outside it. Pavements made of stone slabs, hearths, and pits have been cleared on the floor. The finds are animal bones, stone and bone tools, a bronze double-eared celt, a socketed two-bladed arrowhead, pieces of copper ore prepared for smelting, and copper slags. Pottery is represented mainly by fragments of dishes of the Alekseevka-Sargary mud, fragments from two vessels of the Begazy-Dandybai appearance were found. Judging by the finds, the building belongs to the Late Bronze Age.
Work continued at the Ak-Mustafa burial ground. Two fences made of slabs dug on edge were excavated. The fences were located close to each other. More northern, longer, contained four stone cist: a small one for children and three large ones. The cists are trapezoidal in plan, oriented to the west with slight deviations, covered with stone slabs. The graves were robbed, individual bones of a person, bronze beads were found, in a child's grave - a jar vessel placed in the northwestern corner. At the northern and southern ends, jar vessels were placed in the fence.
There is one stone cist in the round fence. The grave was robbed, fragments of a large clay pot of the Alakul type and bronze beads were found. Along with scattered human bones, small burnt pieces of bones and coals were found in the mound of the grave.