Shokpartas: a New Eneolithic Site in Central Saryarka

Abstract

The paper deals with Eneolithic materials of the settlement Shokpartas, which is located on the right side of the mountain range with the same name as the Taldy River in the Central Saryarka. The main archaeological complex of the monument belongs to the late bronze age and contains materials of the Begazy-Dandybai (Sargarin-Alexeyev) culture, which is part of the common culture of roller ceramics. In 2018, part of an earthen type dwelling was investigated in the settlement. In the cultural layer of the settlement, together with Sargary utensils, were found flaked stone tools and several fragments of pottery with Neolithic appearance. Stratigraphically, it is impossible to separate these two complexes since the early layer is destroyed by later structures. The stone industry of the Eneolithic period is represented by 526 items, among which there are nuclei, bifaces, flakes, and scrapers. They are made of typical local siliceous rocks. A special feature of the collection is the absence of small arrowheads with a notch in the base, which are markers of Eneolithic complexes of the steppe zone. The presence on the monument of remnants of blanks of nuclei, a large amount of broken stone, production waste, allow us to consider it as a storage- workshop for the primary processing of stone. According to the typology of some tools, the raw materials and manufacturing techniques, the materials are found analogical to in the Eneolithic layer 1a of the Shiderty 3 site, as well as in the synchronous monuments of Northern Kazakhstan and Turgai. The stone industry of Shokpartas is associated with a small number of ceramics decorated with "false textiles" with the method of “pulling through "and "combing". This kind of ceramics have similarities with those found in locals, in the South-Western Kulunda, the Upper Irtysh region and in the Middle Trans-Urals. However, "false-textile" ceramics in General are not typical in Saryarka while mainly prevails on the right Bank of the Irtysh in complexes of the Borly 4 type. The age of the artifacts is determined based on stratigraphic observations of the occurrence of stone industries of a similar type at the stratified site of Shiderty 3 and is supplemented by radiocarbon analysis of Eneolithic complexes in Kazakhstan. Based on this, the early materials of the Shokpartas settlement can be tentatively dated within the second half of the IV-turn of the IV-III Millennium BC, assuming a relatively late age within the epoch. It is difficult to clearly determine their cultural affiliation, which is due to the lack of knowledge of the Eneolithic of Central Kazakhstan, so at this stage of problem, Shokportas materials can only be considered within the Ust-Narym-Shiderty circle of monuments, which tends to the Irtysh Region.