Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (1) 2010

Annotation:  Siliceous Rock of the Southern Urals: Distribution and Usage in the Stone Age Periods, Boundaries, and Contact Zones in the Far Eastern Insular World of the Neolithic (Based on Oyster Cultivation and Archaeology as Producing Activities Early Iron Age Dyupsya Burial, Central Yakutia The “Osmium Trace” in Mineral Inclusions in Ancient Gold Artifacts Social Structure of the Early Medieval Population in the Upper Kama Region (Based on Evidence from t Bronze Helmet Recently Discovered in Mongolia The Matchmaker’s Staffs from Fort Nadym of the 17th–18th Centuries Dendrochronological Survey of the Towers from the Kazym Ostrog Dendrochronological Dating of the Groundsill for the Bell Tower of the Spasskaya Church in Irkutsk Marriages among the Tobol-Irtysh Tatars in the Late 18th – Early 20th Centuries The Altai Cossacks in the 18th – Early 20th Centuries ANTHROPOL A Fossil Human Humerus from Khvalynsk: Morphology and Taxonomy Skeletal Remains from Buston VI – a Sapalli Culture Cemetery in Uzbekistan New Craniometric Evidence on the Origin of the Karelians (the Kylalahti Kalmistomäki Burial Ground) The Maikop Crania Revisited   

The “Osmium Trace” in Mineral Inclusions in Ancient Gold Artifacts

V.V. Zaykov, E.V. Zaykova, and V.A. Kotlyarov.

Micro-inclusions of minerals of the osmium group were detected in Ural golden ornaments dating from the 15th century BC – 9th century AD. All of these minerals belong to the high-temperature iridium subgroup. The diversity of composition and morphology of inclusions point to their placer origin. Their sources are placers related to ultrabasite deposits of the large faults of the Ural Fold Zone. The authors suggest a method of detecting osmium minerals in ancient gold from the ultrabasite zones of Southern Siberia, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and other regions. Additional analyses of platinoids from placers and veins will help to reconstruct the “osmium routes” along which golden artifacts were distributed.

Keywords: Micro-inclusions, osmium, micro-sound analysis, burial mounds, Urals, “osmium trace,” Bronze Age, Scythians, ultrabasite, golden artifacts, placers.