Research of the Karaganda Museum
The regional local history museum expedition started excavations of the settlement of the Bronze Age Ikpen I. The monument is located 10 km north of the village of Chernigovka, Nura district, Karaganda region, on the first floodplain terrace on the right bank of the Nura River.
The excavation uncovered 909 sq. m of the cultural layer with a thickness of 0.2 to 1.4 m. The cultural layer contained the remains of an ash pan and four residential buildings belonging to different periods of the functioning of the settlement. For the first time, this territory was inhabited in the early Alakul time, as evidenced by three children's burials and ceramics of the lower layer of the ash pan, similar to the dishes of the Petrovka type of Northern Kazakhstan. The remains of three partially studied dwellings belong to the second period of the settlement's existence, one of which contained ceramics of the Alakul type, and two, connected by a passage 2.5 m wide, of the Fedorovo type. The depth of the pits is 0.3-0.5 m; clay coating has been preserved on the floor. At the bottom of the pits, bonfires, household and post pits were found. The last period of the functioning of the settlement includes a fully studied dugout-type dwelling containing rolled ceramics of the final Bronze Age. Before constructing the dugout, a sacrifice was made: a vessel covered with stone tiles and dug into a hole covered with clay waste thrown out during the construction of the pit. This dwelling is located lower along the slope of the terrace than the dwellings of the developed Bronze Age. It covered four well-shaped depressions 1.25-2.3 m deep, containing Alakul and Fedorovo ceramics, and cut through a dwelling with Fedorovo-type ceramics. The floor of the dugout and the wells are covered with clay coating, to which river silt is added. The sub-rectangular dwelling is oriented along the northwest-southeast line, with an area of about 200 sq. m, the depth of the pit is 0.50–0.75 m. An exit up to 3 m wide was found in the northwestern corner, a second corridor-like exit 0.5-0.8 m wide in the eastern wall. At the bottom, there is a stone hearth, a fire pit, household and pillar depressions. An accumulation of copper ore was found on the floor near the southern wall of the dugout.
About 4,000 finds have been recorded, including bronze items: a sickle, a knife, needles, a piercer, and fish hooks. Of particular interest are items related to metallurgical production: ingot and drops of metal, pieces of ore and slag. Many stone and bone tools were collected: arrowheads, pestles, hoes, a stone mace, grain grinders, and whorls.