This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related t... more This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related to iron-smelting furnaces from Southern Siberia. On the basis of 159 excavated and well-preserved furnaces, nine construction types can be identified. The analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to revise previous models about emergence and development of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia and neighboring regions. We conclude that iron metallurgy developed in the region not in the Scythian time, as has long been assumed, but in the subsequent Xiongnu period of the 2nd century BCE-2nd century CE. During the 3rd-6th centuries CE, metallurgy flourished, which is expressed in the different types and numerous smelting furnaces that coexisting in the same region. This article raises for the first time the problem we have called the ancient Türkic metallurgy paradox. This inexplicable phenomenon describes the sudden and almost complete disappearance of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia in the 7th century CE.
Sohranenie i izučenie kulʹturnogo naslediâ Altajskogo kraâ, 2021
The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnac... more The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnaces in the Altai mountains. These furnaces were the largest iron-smelting construction in Siberia and Central Asia. Archaeological field work carried out in 2018-2020 coupled with the series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to establish that furnaces of this type appeared in the Southeastern Altai not in the era of the Turkic Khaganates, as it was previously thought, but in a previous time within the 3rd-5th centuries AD. The article discusses the design and productivity of the box-shape furnaces. It is hypothesized that the similar in shape Xiongnu pottery kilns type could have been a prototype of large rectangular structures of the box-shape linear furnaces. Radiocarbon analyzes have proven the synchronicity of the Xiongnu pottery kilns and the rectangular furnaces. The sudden disappearance of the box-shape furnaces in the Altai Mountains in the 7th-8th centuries AD and the same sudden appearance of the similar furnaces in Japan in the same period is explained by the possible migration of smelters in the era of the Second East Turkic Khaganate. Keywords: archaeometallurgy, iron-smelting furnaces, Gorny Altai, Xiongnu-Xianbei time
The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron sme... more The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron smelting com-plexes of South Siberia. The production sites are here set outside the settlements, and radiocarbon dating re-mains the only means of their chronological attribution. With the example of Kuyahtanar metallurgical site in the Mountain Altai, we show that the range of a series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the same iron-smelting fur-naces can span a thousand years. It has been established that such a chronological range can be explained by the use of wood from long-lived tree species for charcoal production and the resulting significant apparent age due to the ‘old wood’ effect. The essence of the effect consists in that as a tree grows, its inner annual rings die out and stop exchanging carbon with the environment, while the tree is still alive. Therefore, the pith of a long-lived tree is much older than its outer rings, and radiocarbon analysis determines not the age of the ...
A 3D-recording project was introduced into practice in 2014 by Tomsk State University during inve... more A 3D-recording project was introduced into practice in 2014 by Tomsk State University during investigation of Timiryazevo burial site (5th–10th centuries AD). During the excavation, three-dimensional models of the whole archaeological site were made at each stage, as well as individual records of all artifacts. 3D recording was conducted by SFM technology. The data obtained was used for research and in work on the exhibition project ‖Secrets of Timiryazevo Burial Site: The Circle of Life and Death in Siberian Shamanism‖. The exposition centers on unveiling the meaning of the rite of burying lookalike dolls of the deceased, which was practiced by many indigenous peoples of Siberia. The exposition is designed to enable the visitor to pass through the whole cycle of knowledge extraction together with archaeologists, the ―detectives of the past‖: from a bunch of strange miniscule objects found in the sand to reconstruction of the whole sophisticated rite of the ―ultimate funeral‖ includ...
The paper considers the problem of the time of Islam origin in the Tomsk Ob Region. The lack of r... more The paper considers the problem of the time of Islam origin in the Tomsk Ob Region. The lack of reliable written evidence makes it necessary to involve archaeological data. The analysis of the obsequial rites enabled to suggest that Islam penetrated into the Tomsk Ob Region in early XIII– XIV centuries simultaneously with the spread of Islam across the Golden Horde. The graves arranged according to the Muslim rites were discovered in two necropolises located at the right riverside of the Ob – the Astrakhantsevsky and Shaitan II burial grounds. These facts make it possible to suggest that the Tomsk Ob Region was the part of the Golden Horde.
Abstract We present results of the complex investigation of large-scale iron production at the si... more Abstract We present results of the complex investigation of large-scale iron production at the site of Katylyg 5 (Tuva, Southern Siberia) dating to 3rd-4th c. AD. The excavations have uncovered nine trapezoid underground smelting furnaces, a tonne of smelting slag, smithing remains and a charcoal production zone. The investigation of slag by Optical microscopy, SEM-EDS and ICP-MS confirms the performance of smelting and smithing operations at the site, and also suggests that the smelted ore was magnetite, associated with quartz. The presence of copper (bronze) prills in most of the smithing slag indicates that copper was worked alongside iron in the smithing hearths. The spatial division of the site into three different production zones (smelting, smithing and charcoal-production) suggests a well-organized and self-sufficient industry, that was probably tightly controlled throughout all stages of the chaine operatoire. The trapezoid furnaces identified at Katylyg, are also known from Cis-Baikal region where they date from the end of the 1st millennium BCE and throughout most of the 1st millennium AD. This suggests that the technology of trapezoid furnaces, along with the Kokel culture to which they are attributed, likely emerged in Tuva with the migrations from the Baikal region due to the westward Xianbei expansion during 1st-3rd c. AD.
Abstract The article presents the results of research on a uniquely preserved linear box-shaped f... more Abstract The article presents the results of research on a uniquely preserved linear box-shaped furnace found on the Kuyahtanar iron smelting site in the Altai Mountains (Russian Altai). Furnaces of this type were the largest in North Eurasia, yet reliable data on the structure and emergence thereof have not been available for a long time. The article provides a detailed analysis of the structure of the furnace as well as 3D models of its different parts. A series of radiocarbon dates we produced indicate that this type of furnaces appeared much earlier than previously thought. Box-shaped furnaces emerged in Altai in the 4th-5th centuries and are the oldest in Asia. In the 7th–8th centuries, such furnaces were also spread in Japan. The article also investigates the possibility of a link between the Altai and the Japanese iron smelting traditions and discusses the question of technology transfer in Asia with regard to building and using box-shaped furnaces.
This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related t... more This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related to iron-smelting furnaces from Southern Siberia. On the basis of 159 excavated and well-preserved furnaces, nine construction types can be identified. The analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to revise previous models about emergence and development of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia and neighboring regions. We conclude that iron metallurgy developed in the region not in the Scythian time, as has long been assumed, but in the subsequent Xiongnu period of the 2nd century BCE-2nd century CE. During the 3rd-6th centuries CE, metallurgy flourished, which is expressed in the different types and numerous smelting furnaces that coexisting in the same region. This article raises for the first time the problem we have called the ancient Türkic metallurgy paradox. This inexplicable phenomenon describes the sudden and almost complete disappearance of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia in the 7th century CE.
Sohranenie i izučenie kulʹturnogo naslediâ Altajskogo kraâ, 2021
The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnac... more The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnaces in the Altai mountains. These furnaces were the largest iron-smelting construction in Siberia and Central Asia. Archaeological field work carried out in 2018-2020 coupled with the series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to establish that furnaces of this type appeared in the Southeastern Altai not in the era of the Turkic Khaganates, as it was previously thought, but in a previous time within the 3rd-5th centuries AD. The article discusses the design and productivity of the box-shape furnaces. It is hypothesized that the similar in shape Xiongnu pottery kilns type could have been a prototype of large rectangular structures of the box-shape linear furnaces. Radiocarbon analyzes have proven the synchronicity of the Xiongnu pottery kilns and the rectangular furnaces. The sudden disappearance of the box-shape furnaces in the Altai Mountains in the 7th-8th centuries AD and the same sudden appearance of the similar furnaces in Japan in the same period is explained by the possible migration of smelters in the era of the Second East Turkic Khaganate. Keywords: archaeometallurgy, iron-smelting furnaces, Gorny Altai, Xiongnu-Xianbei time
The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron sme... more The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron smelting com-plexes of South Siberia. The production sites are here set outside the settlements, and radiocarbon dating re-mains the only means of their chronological attribution. With the example of Kuyahtanar metallurgical site in the Mountain Altai, we show that the range of a series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the same iron-smelting fur-naces can span a thousand years. It has been established that such a chronological range can be explained by the use of wood from long-lived tree species for charcoal production and the resulting significant apparent age due to the ‘old wood’ effect. The essence of the effect consists in that as a tree grows, its inner annual rings die out and stop exchanging carbon with the environment, while the tree is still alive. Therefore, the pith of a long-lived tree is much older than its outer rings, and radiocarbon analysis determines not the age of the ...
A 3D-recording project was introduced into practice in 2014 by Tomsk State University during inve... more A 3D-recording project was introduced into practice in 2014 by Tomsk State University during investigation of Timiryazevo burial site (5th–10th centuries AD). During the excavation, three-dimensional models of the whole archaeological site were made at each stage, as well as individual records of all artifacts. 3D recording was conducted by SFM technology. The data obtained was used for research and in work on the exhibition project ‖Secrets of Timiryazevo Burial Site: The Circle of Life and Death in Siberian Shamanism‖. The exposition centers on unveiling the meaning of the rite of burying lookalike dolls of the deceased, which was practiced by many indigenous peoples of Siberia. The exposition is designed to enable the visitor to pass through the whole cycle of knowledge extraction together with archaeologists, the ―detectives of the past‖: from a bunch of strange miniscule objects found in the sand to reconstruction of the whole sophisticated rite of the ―ultimate funeral‖ includ...
The paper considers the problem of the time of Islam origin in the Tomsk Ob Region. The lack of r... more The paper considers the problem of the time of Islam origin in the Tomsk Ob Region. The lack of reliable written evidence makes it necessary to involve archaeological data. The analysis of the obsequial rites enabled to suggest that Islam penetrated into the Tomsk Ob Region in early XIII– XIV centuries simultaneously with the spread of Islam across the Golden Horde. The graves arranged according to the Muslim rites were discovered in two necropolises located at the right riverside of the Ob – the Astrakhantsevsky and Shaitan II burial grounds. These facts make it possible to suggest that the Tomsk Ob Region was the part of the Golden Horde.
Abstract We present results of the complex investigation of large-scale iron production at the si... more Abstract We present results of the complex investigation of large-scale iron production at the site of Katylyg 5 (Tuva, Southern Siberia) dating to 3rd-4th c. AD. The excavations have uncovered nine trapezoid underground smelting furnaces, a tonne of smelting slag, smithing remains and a charcoal production zone. The investigation of slag by Optical microscopy, SEM-EDS and ICP-MS confirms the performance of smelting and smithing operations at the site, and also suggests that the smelted ore was magnetite, associated with quartz. The presence of copper (bronze) prills in most of the smithing slag indicates that copper was worked alongside iron in the smithing hearths. The spatial division of the site into three different production zones (smelting, smithing and charcoal-production) suggests a well-organized and self-sufficient industry, that was probably tightly controlled throughout all stages of the chaine operatoire. The trapezoid furnaces identified at Katylyg, are also known from Cis-Baikal region where they date from the end of the 1st millennium BCE and throughout most of the 1st millennium AD. This suggests that the technology of trapezoid furnaces, along with the Kokel culture to which they are attributed, likely emerged in Tuva with the migrations from the Baikal region due to the westward Xianbei expansion during 1st-3rd c. AD.
Abstract The article presents the results of research on a uniquely preserved linear box-shaped f... more Abstract The article presents the results of research on a uniquely preserved linear box-shaped furnace found on the Kuyahtanar iron smelting site in the Altai Mountains (Russian Altai). Furnaces of this type were the largest in North Eurasia, yet reliable data on the structure and emergence thereof have not been available for a long time. The article provides a detailed analysis of the structure of the furnace as well as 3D models of its different parts. A series of radiocarbon dates we produced indicate that this type of furnaces appeared much earlier than previously thought. Box-shaped furnaces emerged in Altai in the 4th-5th centuries and are the oldest in Asia. In the 7th–8th centuries, such furnaces were also spread in Japan. The article also investigates the possibility of a link between the Altai and the Japanese iron smelting traditions and discusses the question of technology transfer in Asia with regard to building and using box-shaped furnaces.
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