Metalworking Techniques on the Eurasian Steppes in the Late Bronze Age: Technical Analyses of the Borodino Treasure Spearheads

Abstract

Summary The Late Bronze Age is a period characterized by chariots and riders, spearheads, bows and battle axes. Such are the assemblages of grave goods attributed to the Seima‐Turbino, Timber‐grave, Abashevo, Sintashta, Pokrovsk and other cultures of the Eurasian forest‐steppe and steppe belt. Although hoard deposits are comparatively rare in this context, this category of finds has also provided some extraordinary examples of metalwork. This paper reports on the analysis of three such artefacts, namely the gold‐ornamented silver‐alloy spearheads from the ‘treasure’ recovered near Borodino in Ukraine at the beginning of the twentieth century. The high‐ resolution technological study of these items presented here includes experimental research to produce similar decorative patterns and a comparison of the resulting traces and imprints with the original archaeological artefacts. The results help to identify use‐wear traces and reveal new information about casting and crafting techniques, tool sets and individual technical styles. Although the spearheads share some basic decorative features such as a gold plate attached to the silver, variations in the tools used and the technical repertoire – chasing, punching, and cutting – suggest that the spearheads were decorated by different hands. The study inevitably leaves many questions about the ‘life history’ for these objects unanswered, but takes the first steps towards a more complete understanding of this remarkable assemblage.