Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42 (3) 2014

Annotation:  Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic in Bondi Cave, Republic of Georgia Development of a Virtual 3D Model of Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains Holocene Seal Imagery in the Lake Baikal Region of Eastern Siberia The Organization of the Mortuary Space in the Late Bronze Age: The Stary Sad Burial Ground, Baraba F Cheek-Pieces for a Horse Harness from the Kamenny Ambar Settlement “Hoofed Carnivore” Image Carved on a Bone Spoon from the Sara Burial Ground, Eastern Orenburg Region Subsistence and Ritual Practices at the Polui Fortifi ed Settlement, Western Siberia (Based on Fauna Revisiting the Chronology of the Early Sculptural Art of Kashmir, India New Belt of the “Byzantine Circle” from the Medieval Bayanovsky Burial Ground in the Perm Territory Alloy Composition in the Prestigious Silver Ware of the Old Turkic Period of Southern Siberia Concerning the History of Russian Archaeology in the Studies of A.D. Pryakhin (For the 75th Annivers Elements of the Inau Cult in Ethnic and Cultural Contacts of the Southern Far East The Mount of Yzykh Tagh with Relation to the Sacred Space and Ritual of the Khakas (Late 19th–20th C Native Populations of the Northern Altai: Demographic Processes of the Late 19th–Early 21st Century Bilateral Asymmetry of Long Bones in Bronze and Early Iron Age Pastoralists of the Altai   

Alloy Composition in the Prestigious Silver Ware of the Old Turkic Period of Southern Siberia

A.P. Borodovsky.

A series of silver artifacts (ornaments, belt sets, horse equipment, and utensils) belonging to the most dynamically developing categories of the material culture of the Old Turkic period were examined using X-ray spectral analysis. The study of silver alloy compositions of various prestigious objects from representative archaeological complexes of southern Siberia (Kudyrge, Tuekta, Katanda, Bertek-34, Yustyd, and Ur-Bedary) made it possible to single out their main territorial groups: Altai, Kuznetsk, and Middle Yenisei. Four main kinds of silver alloys were identifi ed: Ag-Cu, Ag-Cu-Su, Ag-Cu-Pb-Su, Ag-Cu-Zn. The highest silver content was found in the Old Turkic vessels of the fi rst group. The belt decoration items and horse equipment parts demonstrate a variable alloy composition, mirroring cultural contacts between southwestern Siberian groups and those living in the adjacent regions in the second half of the 1st millennium AD.

Keywords: Southern Siberia, Old Turkic period, silver, prestigious objects, ornaments, belt set, horse tack, silver vessels.