The study of the monuments of the Eneolithic of the Kazakh Ishim river region (1950 s – 1996)

Abstract

The article examines the history of the identification and field study of the monuments of the Eneolithic of the Botai type in the second half of the 20^th century. The analysis of reports on archeological exploration and excavations from the Scientific archives of the Margulan Institute of Archaeology and the North Kazakhstan Regional Museum of Local History was carried out. The revealed information is arranged in chronological order and logical sequence. The data on the authorship of the discovery and research of monuments have been clarified. Information about the study of monuments is summarized in a table for ease of orientation. The first information about the Eneolithic materials of the Kazakh Ishim river region was obtained by geologists in the 1950s. In the early 1970s, two Eneolithic monuments of the Iman-Burluk 2 site and the village of Troitskoye village (Troitskoye V) were archaeologically identified. A complex was obtained from the Iman-Burluk 2 settlement, which characterizes the Eneolithic of the region in general terms. The studies of both monuments have not been continued. The main stage of the field study took place in 1980–1996 by the team of the North Kazakhstan Archaeological expedition led by V. Zaibert and is associated with the names of T. Danilenko, V. Zaitov, A. Kislenko, O. Martynyuk, A. Pleshakov, N. Tatarintseva. Settlement-type monuments have been identified and studied to varying degrees: Botai, Vasilkovka IV, Goluboy Zaliv I, Iman-Burluk 2, Krasny Yar I, Roshchinskoye, Troitskoye V, Balandino. The Botai settlement was explored during 16 field seasons, the rest of the monuments – during one or two seasons, or were subjected to periodic surveys. There are no reports on excavations at the Botai settlement in 1991–1996 in the archives, information about them is incomplete. There is work to be done to identify documentation about the excavations of these years.