Research in East Kazakhstan

The expedition of the Kazakh University worked in the Katon-Karagay district of the East Kazakhstan region. More than 100 burial mounds have been discovered. The main excavations were carried out in the Chernovaya burial ground, where several burial mounds are located. 15 burial mounds have been excavated.

The Chernovaya I group consists of eight burial mounds. Three burial mounds with earth mounds 14-20 m in diameter and 1.2-1.5 m high were studied. Stone cist (2.2x0.9x0.8 m) oriented from east to west were found under mounds 1 and 3 in the mainland soil. Both burial mounds were robbed, the bones of the skeletons lay in disarray. In mound 1, about 40 small bronze beads and a rounded gold ornament with holes (obviously, traces of inlay) were collected within a box. In kurgan 3, when clearing a chest, a square (2х2 cm) bronze plaque with patterns of spiral curls and a horn tip with a bushing in the form of a head of a mountain sheep with an elongated neck were found. The sculptural image is reminiscent of Pazyryk.

Mound 2 is of particular interest (diameter 16 m, height 1.49 m). At the bottom of the pit (3.4x1x2.4 m) there was a deck 0.5-0.6 m wide. The deck was hollowed out from a single log, a flat block served as a lid. A pair of holes were made at the ends of the deck and the lid (diameter 5-5.5 cm). The lid was fastened with round wooden tongues (length 24.5 cm, diameter 5 cm), which have been preserved in fragments. The ribs and vertebrae of the buried were found in the wood block along with the stones. All the studied burial mounds belong to the Early Iron Age and date back to the 6th-5th centuries BC. Burials in a wood block on the territory of Kazakhstan were found for the first time.

The Chernovaya II group consists of four kurgans, two of which have been explored. The first mound was robbed. The second mound (diameter 6.5 m, height 0.6 m) was built from stone blocks. In the grave pit (2.2x1.7 m), the buried lay on his back, legs bent at the knees, arms extended along the body. The skeleton is painted with dark red ocher. On the left side, a gifted jar-shaped pot was found, the entire surface of which is ornamented with a horizontal “spruce” made with a comb stamp. The mound belongs to the transitional period from the Eneolithic to the Early Bronze Age and dates from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.