Stone discs from the Botai settlement

Circular stone objects with a hole in the center are among the most numerous and original categories of stone tools from the Botai settlement. Interest in them is caused by the fact that, despite their fairly wide recognition and distribution at sites of the transition period between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, they are usually found in single and not always expressive specimens.

The diameter of the disc usually ranges from 3.5 to 11 centimeters, and the internal minimum diameter of the hole ranges from 6 mm to 2.2 centimeters. The edge may be beveled or straight, sometimes rounded. The raw material is soft, fine-grained, of a sericite type. The surface of the artifacts is processed only by abrasive techniques.

There are many hypotheses regarding the purpose of these artifacts. Small-diameter discs are well known to archaeologists as spindle whorls, however, there are significant objections to such an interpretation of artifacts of this group.