Northern Periphery of the Circumpontian Metallurgical Province: Metal, Alloys, Technology

Abstract

The article summarizes the results of metal research and metalworking of the Eneolithic cultures of the forest zone of Eastern Europe. In total, 897 products were recorded in the regions of the North-West, Volga-Oka, Kama-Vyatka, Ural-Kazakhstan, including 21 molds. A morphological and typological study of inventory was carried out, the vast majority of which comes from settlements (901); 7 ornaments were found in the burial grounds. The chemical composition of the metal was studied by the methods of spectral and X-ray fluorescence analysis (371 items). Manufacturing technology was studied by methods of metallographic analysis (92 items). In the Forest Eneolithic, metallurgically “pure” copper was used with a slight admixture of other elements. It corresponds mainly to the chemical group MP (copper sandstones of the Urals). Archaeological and analytical data testify to the functioning of the Garino center of metallurgy and the Volosovo center of metalworking in the Volga-Kama region, which are relatively thin compared to the centers of the Circumpontian metallurgical province. Metalworking of the Eneolithic cultures of the Volga-Urals developed under the influence of the traditions of the Cis-Ural pit and Middle Volga Balanovo-Fatyanovo and Abashevo hearths. The initial impulses for the formation of metalworking in the post-Neolithic cultures of the northern forest-steppe and the south of the forest zone could come from the centers of the Khvalynsk Eneolithic culture.