Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 41 (3) 2013

Annotation:  The Bohunician in Moravia and Adjoining Regions A Paleolithic Cache at Tolbor (Northern Mongolia) Upper Paleolithic “Sounding Artifacts” from Mesin, Ukraine: Modifi cation Marks An Experimental Technological Study of Upper Paleolithic Kostenki-Type Figurines Geoinformation Modeling of Environments Favorable for Prehistoric Humans of the Altai Mountains Mechanisms Shaping the Transition to Farming in Europe and the North American Woodland Intramural Burials of Children at Bronze Age Sites in the Southern Urals (Early 2nd Millennium BC) Clay Plates with Stylized Ornithomorphic Representations from Section VI of the Gorbunovo Peat Bog Composite Bows from Uch-Kurbu in Kyrgyzstan Bronze Age Copper Mining in the Mugodzhary An Ongoing Tradition: The Use of Russian Metal Dishware in Ob Ugrian Rites The Spring Festival of Akaska / Bidzim Nunal Celebrated by the Southern Udmurts in the Late 19th–Ear The Iranian Chapter in the History of the Chuvash A Micro Computerized Tomography (X-Ray Microscopy) of the Hand Phalanx of the Denisova Girl The Foramina Transversaria of the Sunghir 2 and 3 Cervical Vertebrae Dental Affi nities of the Irmen People, Western Siberia Paleopathology of the Population of Krasnoyarsk, Central Siberia (Pokrovskiy and Voskresensko-Preobr   

Bronze Age Copper Mining in the Mugodzhary

A.M. Yuminov, V.V. Zaykov, V.F.Korobkov, and V.V. Tkachev.

This study presents the results of geoarcheological research carried out at 19 copper ore sites belonging to the Mugodzhary mining and metallurgical center. Four types of copper ores differing in geological setting, body structure, reserve grade as well as mineral and chemical composition, were mined at the center. The geographic coordinates and the main parameters of mines (morphology, quarry size, and ore body) are specifi ed along with the scope of their development. A detailed description is given of the eight most typical Bronze Age mines. The age of individual mines is also determined. The total quantity of ore mined from the ore fi elds included in the study is estimated at 55,000 tons, which may have produced as much as 1750 tons of copper.

Keywords: Mugodzhary mining and metallurgical center, Bronze Age, copper ores, composition, material extracted.