Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 47 (3) 2019   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.3.038-047

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The Is hkinino Bronze Age Mining Complex in the Southern Urals:
Radiocarbon Dating

V.V. Tkachev

Orenburg Federal Research Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pionerskaya 11, Orenburg, 460000, Russia

This article presents the results of radiocarbon dating of buried soils beneath the dumps of ancient mines in the Ishkinino cobalt and copper pyrite deposit area, in the Southern Urals. The conserved upper horizons of stratigraphic sequences underlying the dumps of four mines were subjected to radiocarbon analysis. For comparison, samples from Bronze Age sites in the same area were used. Chronological ranges of the Yamnaya, Sintashta cultures, and Kozhumberdy cultural group were evaluated. Calibrated intervals of the buried soils from the Ishkinino mines show a good agreement with the respective intervals relating to human and animal bones from nearby Bronze Age cemeteries and settlements. The early stage of the mines (2200-1840 BC) corresponds to the Sintashta culture. Most geological and archaeological features at Ishkinino date to 1780-1130 BC, the same as the Kozhumberdy settlement and cemeteries representing the Alakul tradition. As the results suggest, radiocarbon dating of the buried soils underlying the mine dumps is relevant to the absolute and relative chronology of ancient mining—especially when archaeological contexts are of little help.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Southern Urals, Ishkinino archaeological area, copper mine, radiocarbon dating