Research of the Karaganda Museum
The museum expedition continued excavations at the Ikpen hill in the Nura district of the Karaganda region.
At the settlement Ikpen 1 (1080 sq. m) fully or partially studied nine residential buildings belonging to different periods of the functioning of the monument. With ceramics close to Alakul, two dwellings were connected by a passage. One of them has been completely excavated - rectangular in shape, with a corner exit (area 140 sq. m, pit depth 0.2-0.5 m). The remains of six structures contained ceramics of the Fedorovo type. They were located in a northeast to southwest chain with common end walls and one corner exit. In one case, a passage to an adjacent room was traced. The area of dwellings is 60-120 sq. m, the depth of the pits is 0.3-0.5 m. At the bottom, there are bonfires, household and post pits, well-shaped depressions (diameter 1.5-2.1 m, depth 1.9-2.8 m). The last period of the functioning of the settlement includes a dwelling containing rolled ceramics of the final Bronze Age. It blocked the recesses and cut through dwellings with ceramics of the Fedorovo type. The dwelling is rectangular, oriented from the northeast to the southwest (the area is about 180 sq. m, the depth of the pit is 0.7-0.9 m). The floor is covered with clay plaster. In the eastern wall there is an entrance up to 2 m wide. A hearth, fire pits, household, and pillar depressions were found. The collection includes about 3 thousand finds made of bronze, stone, bone, and ceramics.
At the Ikpen 2 settlement (216 sq. m) studied two dwellings (one - completely, the other - partially), connected by a passage. Dwelling 1 is irregularly rectangular, oriented along with a northeast–southwest line (area about 70 sq. m, pit depth 0.5–0.7 m). There is an entrance 0.7 m wide and 2.5 m long in the southwestern wall. A fire pit, household and post holes were found on the floor. In the interdwelling space, a burial in a ground pit (0.85х0.30х0.35 m) was recorded and covered with stone slabs. The child lay crouched on his left side, head to the west. At the head was a vessel. Clothing and ceramic material find analogies in the monuments of the Alakul-Fedorovo type of the Urals and Northern Kazakhstan.
In the Ikpen 1 burial ground, 14 soil pits were studied, sometimes covered with stone slabs. One of the pits contained only the bone of a cattle limb, the rest had partially preserved skeletons of children lying crouched on their left (seven) or right (two) sides. In a double burial, the children are placed facing each other. Western orientation prevailed, with deviations to the south or north. In the heads of the buried, there was one vessel each, in one case shells and bronze clips were found. Ceramics is mostly jar. The pot-shaped vessels are close to sharp-ribbed, one is decorated with a molded roller.
Excavations continued at the Maitan burial ground, where four out of 39 fences were examined. The buried lay crouched on their left side, with their heads to the west, with deviations to the south or north. The dead were accompanied by one to five vessels. A bronze knife represents the inventory, grooved bracelets, temporal rings, one and a half turn pendants, bronze and paste beads.