Research in Northern Kazakhstan

For the first time, the North-Kazakhstan expedition of the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute and the North-Kazakhstan Regional Museum of History and Local Lore carried out stationary work in the Tselinograd region. The Zhabai-Pokrovka І, ІІ, Sargary settlements and Sargary and Zhabai-Pokrovka burial mounds (near the Pokrovka village of Atbasar district) were studied.

At the Zhabai-Pokrovka I settlement 420 sq. m was explored. More than 1000 flint objects and Neolithic ceramics were found in the cultural layer 0.40 m thick. Stone inventory is made of light-colored jasper. Flakes and other production wastes predominate. Prismatic cores, blades and tools from them, a small series of flake items were found. Pottery is thin-walled, dark in color, mostly unornamented.

 At the Late Bronze Age settlement in the Sargary tract, a semi-dug-out with an area of 390 sq. m, a depth of 0.5-0.8 m. The dwelling had three corridor-like exits and two passages to neighboring rooms. Two niches up to 3 m wide adjoined the eastern wall of the dwelling. According to the findings of foundries and crucibles, they are associated with metallurgical production. 10 hearths and about 600 holes from pillars were found on the floor of the dwelling. A large number of slate slabs are recorded along the edges of the room. Ceramics and other objects are concentrated in the lower horizon of the filling and at the bottom of the dwelling. The dishes are of the same type - rough, thick-walled, with an admixture of coarse sand and chamotte. Some vessels have rollers. Ornament - rows of notches, "spruce," shaded triangles.

An area of more than 400 sq. m. has been studied at the Zhabai-Pokrovka II settlement. Two chronological complexes stand out well here. One is connected with the Alakul ceramics, the other with the "roller" ware of the final bronze. Among the material finds, a bronze boat hook was found.

Three Iron Age mounds with an average diameter of 10 m and a height of 0.5-0.3 m were uncovered near the Sargary settlement. A bronze mirror in a leather pouch, a stone altar, bone and iron arrowheads, iron swords and daggers, and bow blades were found in grave pits with a depth of 1.5 to 3 m.

 A mound with a diameter of 20 m and a height of 0.4 m was investigated near the Zhabai-Pokrovka II settlement. It contained a catacomb burial. The buried man was lying on his back, with his head to the southeast. A stone spinning wheel and three vessels without ornament were found in the grave.

Work has begun on the Pokrovka III settlement, located near village of Petrovka, Lenin district, North Kazakhstan region, on the second over-floodplain terrace of the left bank of the Ishim River. The remains of four semi-underground dwellings of the Late Bronze Age have been uncovered. The dwellings are sunk into the ground by 0.8-1.3 m. Numerous pillar pits and hearths overlaid with stone were found on the floors. In the center of dwelling 1, two parallel grooves were dug with a width of 0.3-0.7 m, a length of 6 m, to which the main foci of the room adjoin.

3500 finds were found. Ceramics of different times: Cherkaskul, Fedorovo, Alakul. The most interesting finds are a stone casting mold for two-bladed hollow arrowheads, two arrowheads, a bronze cast plaque with a hook for fastening and a single-bladed knife with a straight back without a dedicated handle, ending in a flat circle with a small hole. The study of Kuropatkino II burial ground was continued. Five Bronze Age mounds, one mound of the Early Iron Age and four burials were excavated. The remains of wooden structures were found in all the pits. Ceramics have significant Fedorovo traditions. Bronze beads and piercings, three one-and-a-half-turn temporal rings made of gold leaf on a wooden base and five bronze patch plaques with a diameter of 3-4.7 cm with an ornament in the form of a cross, a swastika, an octagonal star and an oblique lattice were found in the burials.

The expedition also carried out exploration work on the Chaglinka, Baba-Burluk' Imish (Kokchetav region), Zhabai and Zhilandy (Tselinograd region). Irtysh (from Omsk to Tatarka village) Rivers. More than 80 monuments of various eras have been discovered, including 12 sites and workshops of the Stone Age and 15 settlements of the Bronze Age.