Vannheim von Kvalan in 1842 published the first information about the Shihan. Earlier (1841), Schachtau was visited by Roderick Murchison and Edmund Verney, who compiled a profile through Shakhtau in the form of a brachyanticlinal fold, complicated by a fault. Subsequently, paleontological materials on shihan were processed by S. Kutorga, V. Miller, H. G. Pander, and others; F. Chernyshev and N. Gerasimov gave the most complete description of the brachiopods of Shakhtau.