Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 52 (1) 2024   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.1.109-116

Annotation:  Origin of Neanderthals. Neanderthals of the Altai: Myth or Reality? The Origin of Biogenic Horizons in the Pleistocene Strata of Denisova Cave: Mineralogical and Geoche Newly Discovered Remains of a Late Upper Paleolithic Dwelling in the Northern Baikal Area: Cultural Sanctuary with “Kalguty” Style Images in Northwestern Mongolia (Preliminary Data) Pottery Traditions Among the Carriers of the Novosibirsk Variant of the Kulaika Culture: A Multidis Origin and Date of Cast-Iron Moldboards from Southern Siberia The Wanyan Digunai (Wanyan Zhong, Esikui) Funerary Complex in Primorye Cultural Horizons at the Uyelgi Cemetery Mound 11, Southeastern Urals Types of Construction Nails from Markul, Abkhazia (Based on Metallographic Analysis) A Log Structure in the Northern Palisade of Fort Umrevinsky An Archaeobotanical Study of the Bukhta Nakhodka Fort, the Yamal Peninsula (13th to Early 14th Centu Archaeological and Anthropological Study on the Grave of Eunuch-Offi cial Couple Serving for a Royal Traditional Bow of the Selenga Buryats (Based on a 2019 Field Study)   

Types of Construction Nails from Markul, Abkhazia
(Based on Metallographic Analysis)

G.V. Trebeleva¹, S.V. Konushkin², M.A. Sevostyanov², and G.Y. Yurkov³

¹Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117292, Russia

²Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 49, Moscow, 119991, Russia

³Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygina 4, Moscow, 119334, Russia

During excavations at the Markul fortified settlement, Republic of Abkhazia, a cluster of iron items, including nails, was found. Nails usually draw little attention as they cannot serve as chronological indicators. Several attempts at constructing a typology of nails have proved unsuccessful. The quality of metal of which they were forged has not been studied purposefully, although it can be relevant to the use of nails and construction practices. Here, we present the results of a metallographic analysis of J9 nails from Markul (J3 spec. from a simultaneously formed cluster of iron items, and six spec. found elsewhere at the site). The findings suggest that they can be subdivided into three types in terms of metal structure and, accordingly, of properties of nails: those with a ferrite structure (“soft”), those with a ferrite-pearlite structure (“strong”), and those with a cementite structure (“extra strong”). These types correlate with three types of construction materials used in Abkhazia in the Late Classic and Medieval period. Lack of correlation between metric properties of nails and metal structure suggests that the latter was intentionally formed for specific tasks, depending on the characteristics of the details joined by nails.

Keywords: Metallography, nails, Abkhazia, Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, Markul fortified settlement