The article describes morphological and typological characteristics of non-ferrous metal, determines the for-mulae of alloys, as well as identifies techniques used for the production of tools by the Alekseyevka-Sargary cul-ture from the South Trans-Urals (15th/14th and 12th/11th BC). We carried out the morphological and typological study of the non-ferrous metal along with the X-ray fluorescence (Institute of Archaeology RAS, Institute of Mine-ralogy UB RAS; X-MET3000TX analysers from Oxford Instruments Analytical, M1 Mistral from Bruker Nano GmbH) and metallographic (Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RAS; Zeiss Axio Observer D1m microscope) analyses. A total of 19 tools exhibiting morphology inherent to the tool collections of the Alekseyevka-Sargary culture were selected for the study. These tools comprised random finds and items from the settlements of the Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions of Russia, as well as from the Kostanay Region of Kazakhstan: daggers, а spearhead, sick-les, socketed chisels, a spear end cap and single-blade knives. A group of tools and weapons characteristic of all Eurasian cordoned-ware cultures was distinguished — daggers with handguards and socketed grooved chisels. In addition, weapons characteristic of the sites attributed to the Alekseyevka-Sargary culture (Saryarka, Altai, and Semirechye) were identified within the weapon complex of the South Trans-Urals. These weapons included bush hooks of the Sosnovaya Maza type, knives having marked handles, spearheads with holes and socketed straight-blade chisels. The metal of the South Trans-Urals is distinguished by the marked heterogeneity of its chemical composition with the predominance of low-alloyed bronzes Cu–Sn, Cu–Sn–As and Cu–As (66.7 %). There are 4 pure copper items, as well as products from the complex alloy Cu–Sn–As–Ni–Co and products with elevated iron concentrations (up to 2.68 %). These data indicate that the population experimented in the course of metal-lurgical processing of raw materials; they transitioned to smelting metal from sulphide ores or to the smelting of copper with sulphide or silicate nickel ores of the Ufaley Massif (deposits in the Chelyabinsk Region). South Ural craftsmen produced bronze and copper primarily using technologies for casting tools in one-sided (with flat cov-ers) and two-sided moulds. The casting was followed by refining operations using the cold forming technology with the intervals of low-temperature forging modes. This choice of temperature is justified in the procession of low-alloyed bronze. Clearly, the centre for metal production of the Alekseyevka-Sargary culture in the South Trans-Urals was a metallurgical one, with the development of both oxidised and sulphide deposits in the South Urals. Innovative technologies of smelting copper with chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and nickel-containing ores were introduced. The complex of tools attributed to the Alekseyevka-Sargary tribes from the Tobol area is generally identical to the bronze inventory from Saryarka, Altai and Kyrgyzstan. Local craftsmen employed the traditional technologies of processing copper and bronze commonly used in the centres for metal production throughout the area of the Alekseyevka-Sargary culture, working primarily with bronzes low-alloyed by tin. As in previous eras, tin ingots and products were delivered from Central Kazakhstan and Ore Altai, but in much smaller quantities. The small number of products and the data of an analytical study indicate the relocation of the main centres for metal production of the Alekseyevka-Sargary culture from the Urals region (as compared to the big centres of Petrovka and Alakul cultures) to Central and Eastern Kazakhstan, up to Xinjiang in China.
The paper reports morphological and typological characteristics of knives of the Petrovka Culture in the Southern Trans-Urals and Middle Tobol River region (the Early Alakul period, as defined by N.V. Vinogradov). According to the 14С dates (36 dates in total, half them are AMS dates), the chronological period of the Petrovka sites in the Southern Trans-Urals spans the 19th through 18th centuries BC. The inventory metal complexes of the Late Bronze Age cultures between the Don and Ishim Rivers, despite the large territory, have many common types of tools. This is particularly noticeable when comparing the largest category of the tools — the knives (49 specimens). Differentiation of the tools by type was based on the methodology of typological attribution of the inventory taking into account the presence or absence of particular qualitative characteristics and their combina-tion — analysis of the handle decoration, presence of a bolster, knife tang, shape of the transition from the blade to the tang, and shape and cross-section of the blade. Alongside the morphological and typological characteriza-tion of the knives, mapping the tools finds and was also carried out with the search for analogues in neighboring cultures. The most effective results have been obtained by mapping of tools with rhombic tangs, crosshair and interception, which are most numerous (147 specimens). We have identified three types of the knives with promi-nent massive handle, knives with forged sleeve and seven types of the tools with tangs. The identified types of the Petrovka Culture of the Southern Trans-Urals are more or less characteristic of the family of related cultures of the Eurasian forest-steppe and steppe belt — Abashevo, Sintashta, Petrovka, Early Srubnaya, and sites of the Potapovka and Pokrovka types. On the basis of the statistical data, there have been identified the types of the knives with a massive handle, as well as those with a forged sleeve, which are predominantly associated with the metalwork centers of the Petrovka Culture. We have unraveled the particular significance of the knives with rhombic tangs, crosshair and interception in the ritual practices of the entire circle of the cultures from the forest-steppe and steppe belt, apparently related to the special social status of the buried individuals. Prototypes of most forms of knives with tangs have been found in the stereotypes of the objects from the production centers of the Circumpontian Metallurgical Province. The common momentum for the genesis of the forest-steppe and steppe cultures, originating from the Middle Bronze Age cultures of the Eastern Europe and Ural, explains the common morphology of the knives for the family of the related cultures of the first phase of the Eurasian Metallurgical Pro-vince with a variety of forms and in contrast to the uniform shape of the knives of the Srubnaya and Alakul types of the second phase of the Eurasian Province.
The article is aimed at approbation of the scanning electron microscopy technique to analyse the inclusions and phase components of metallographic specimens using the results of spectral, XRF, atomic emission spec-trometric, and metallographic analyses. The comparison of microstructural data with electronic images and XRSMA results in separate phases allowed identification of chemical composition of the inclusions and determi-nation of the nature of the ores used for metallurgical processing. The article presents the results of an analytical study of the metal of the Petrovka Culture (19th–18th c. BC) of the Southern Trans-Urals using Tescan Mira 3 LMU scanning electron microscope with Oxford Instruments Analytical Ltd. Energy dispersive analyzer, implemented for determination of the elemental composition of the phases in the samples. For the analysis, metallographic specimens with the revealed microstructure of the metal were used. In the process of SEM-EDS analysis, visuali-sation of the surface of the specimens was performed, and the topology and structure of the metal were exa-mined. The possibility of successful reduction of the oxide-carbonate ores without the introduction of sulphide miner-als in the beginning of the 2nd mil. BC has been confirmed. It has been concluded that the presence of oxides and sulphides in the structure of pure copper is consistent with the determination of the character of ores used for smelting — oxidized or oxidized in a mixture with sulfides. The technique of identifying marker elements for the types of ores used, including As, Ni, Sb, Fe, Se, Te, has been tested. With a certain degree of probability, the types of minerals used in smelting have been determined. For the sites of the Southern Trans-Urals, where the main metallurgical centre with mines and settlements of metallurgists was located, characteristic was the use of chalcosine-covellite ores in furnace charge, apart from smelting oxide-carbonate ores. In the territory of the Mid-dle Tobol River, in the settlements where metal processing was carried out, copper was used, obtained both from oxide ores and using chalcosine-covellite minerals from the zone of cementation of pyrite deposits.
Сопоставлены данные аналитического изучения медных и бронзовых изделий восточного (прито-больского готовых изделий. В самом начале раннего железного века в восточном Притоболье и При-ишимье для изготовления орудий труда и оружия преимущественно использовали технологии литья из искусственных низколегированных оловянно-мышьяковых и оловянных бронз. Ковка как способ полу-чения готовых изделий практиковалась в единичных случаях.Ключевые слова: Западная Сибирь, ранний железный век, металлопроизводство, историко-металлургические контакты. DOI: 10.20874/2071DOI: 10.20874/ -0437-2017 Предметом исследования явились бронзовые и медные изделия, происходящие из посе-ленческого комплекса раннего железного века Мергень 6 (20 экз.; красноозерская культура, Нижнее Приишимье), а также памятников восточного (притобольского) варианта иткульской куль-туры (18 экз.). Многослойное поселение Мергень 6 исследовалось В.А.
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