Abstract
The work considers the new data on the Bronze Age metallurgy obtained from the analysis of materials from excavations of Levoberezhnoe settlement (Sintashta II). Through the X-ray fluorescence analysis, optical and electron microscopy, we examined the composition of artifacts; the mineral composition and textural, structural and geochemical peculiarities of metallurgical slags. The mineral composition of flat slag fragments is presented by olivine, glass, and magnetite. The relic mineral inclusions are Cr-rich spinels with various compositions. The compositions of the melt inclusions are diverse: one, two, and three-phase inclusions of copper, bronzes, sulfides, and arsenides are recorded. These metallurgical slags are identical to samples from other Bronze Age fortified settlements of the Southern Urals and related to the LBA I period. We suppose the copper ores associated with ultramafic rocks were used. The glassy formless slag and several other artifacts can be attributed to the metallurgical technology of the LBA III period.
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References
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This work was supported by the State Program no. AAAA-A19-119061790049-3.
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Ankushev, M.N., Petrov, F.N., Blinov, I.A., Rassomakhin, M.A. (2021). New Data on the Metallurgy of the Bronze Age Based on Materials from Levoberezhnoe Settlement (Sintashta II). In: Yuminov, A., Ankusheva, N., Ankushev, M., Zaykova, E., Artemyev, D. (eds) Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy. GAM 2019. Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48864-2_15
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