Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (4) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.4.084-094

Annotation:  Early Middle Paleolithic Industries in Southeastern Dagestan Middle Paleolithic Bone Retouchers: Size or Proportions Shulbinka Paleolithic Site, Eastern Kazakhstan, Revisited Con Moong Cave: A Stratifi ed Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Site in Northern Vietnam Novopetrovka III—an Early Neolithic Site in the Western Amur Basin and Its Chronology Peculiarities of Using 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography in Caves Elk Figurine from Tourist-2, Novosibirsk: Technological and Stylistic Features Foundries at Stary Tartas-5—an Early Bronze Age Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe Wells as a Source of Cultural and Chronological Information: The Case of Kamennyi Ambar, Southern Tr Mobility of the Suzdal Opolye Settlers in 900–1150 AD Descendants of Eleudei: The Problem of Oirat-Buryat Ethnic Contacts Floral Designs on Sacrifi cial Towels from an Old Believers’ Prayer House The Origin of the Okunev Population, Southern Siberia: The Evidence of Physical Anthropology and Gen The Paleogenetic Study of Bertek-33, an Afanasyevo Cemetery on the Ukok Plateau, the Altai Mountains   

Foundries at Stary Tartas-5—an Early Bronze Age Site
in the Baraba Forest-Steppe

I.A. Durakov¹ and L.N. Mylnikova²

¹Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Vilyuiskaya 28, Novosibirsk, 630126, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This study focuses on areas evidencing bronze casting at the Odino culture site, Stary Tartas-5, in the Baraba forest-steppe. One such area is within dwelling 1 and has a smelting hearth and pits situated nearby; the other, outside the dwelling, has a smelting kiln. We provide characteristics of these areas and their archaeological context. Each artifact from the foundries is described in detail, parallels are listed, and results of binocular microscopy of the molding compound are outlined. Based on findings of thermogravimetric studies, we assess the functions of technical pottery represented by fragments, and the number of times various items of the casting set could have been used. Previously, crucibles shaped as straight-walled jars have not been found at Odino sites, with the exception of a single intact specimen from burial 286 at the Tartas-1 cemetery. Dwelling 1 at Tartas-5 and the workshop associated with it were apparently parts of a single household. The Odino bronze casting tradition was retained by the Krotovo population, who supplemented it with innovations, such as the use of oval cups with thicker bottoms adapted to their own casting practices. The Odino sites in the Baraba forest-steppe date to the first half of the third millennium BC. It is concluded that the evidence of the bronze casting industry found at Stary Tartas-5 is the earliest in that region, and that its level in the Odino culture was high.

Keywords: Odino culture, Baraba forest-steppe, Stary Tartas-5, bronze casting areas, crucibles, nozzles, molds