Bronze Age Mining Communities in the Semey and Pavlodar Irtysh region

Research Article

Abstract

The publication examines issues in the history of the study of archaeological cultures and the development of metallurgy in the Bronze Age. An important region for understanding the complexity and characteristics of these processes in Northern Eurasia is the territory of the Abay region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Traces of the emergence of mining and a manufacturing economy have been recorded at sites in the Semey and Pavlodar Irtysh regions. The purpose of this article is to provide a historiographical overview and determine the extent of research on this topic. The list includes works that highlight the results of archaeological research into settlements, burial grounds, and ancient mining sites. The Early Bronze Age period is key to understanding this. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the authors set out to analyze published data on sites whose cultural layers contain evidence of late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age materials. This allowed us to refine the chronology of the initial Early Metal Age in the region. Data on the ceramic assemblage, metal objects, and burial rites made it possible to examine the historical and cultural affiliations of the monuments. Research materials from ancient mines and workings for tin, copper, and gold characterize ancient technologies developed by tribes that inhabited the region during the Bronze Age. A significant role is given to a historiographical review of studies devoted to the study of metals and the chemical composition of ores, which demonstrate the uniqueness of the ore deposits of eastern Kazakhstan. Data from natural science analyses are necessary to identify the boundaries of a regional metallurgical center and the routes of distribution of products from this center. The discussion and results describe the processes of penetration of the Early Bronze Age archaeological cultures into the region: the Yamnaya and Afanasievo cultures. The use of additional sources allowed the authors to hypothesize the routes taken by the Early Bronze Age population, traces of which have been recorded at sites in Western, Northern, and Eastern Kazakhstan, and to understand their role in the subsequent development of mining and Bronze Age cultures. This concerns the monuments of the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, united into the Alakul and Nura (Fedorovskaya) archaeological cultures.  As can be seen from the sources, the subsequent coexistence of two cultural formations in the same territory during the 16th–15th centuries BC became the basis for the formation of the Alekseevsko-Sargary archaeological culture of the 15th–12th centuries BC, which played an important role in the final stage of the Bronze Age.