Elemental composition of the metal of the accompanying inventory from the burial mound No. 4 of the Utinka burial ground of the Tagar culture (based on the materials of the excavations of V. V. Bobrov in 1974, 1975 in the northern forest-steppe)

Abstract

In order to supplement the data on the change of the traditions of bronze production of the Tagar culture at the Saragashen and Tesin stages in the northern forest-steppe, it was undertaken the study of the elemental composition of bronzes from the burials of different periods in the burial mound No. 4 of the Utinka burial ground. Three burials from the 5th-4th centuries BC and a crypt from the 2nd-1st centuries BC were excavated and attributed in 1974 and 1975 by V. V. Bobrov. To compare the alloys of items intended for specific individuals who died in the Tagar era, the data on the composition of the metal are considered in the context of the items belonging to the sets that accompanied specific buried individuals. The elemental composition of the metal of 36 objects made of copper-based alloys was determined using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. The studied materials are represented by five objects from the crypt; 11 objects from grave No. 1; 15 objects from grave No. 2; five objects from grave No. 3. Analysis of the obtained data showed that for the metal of the inventory of three graves of the 5th-4th centuries BC, the predominant ligature is tin, present in this capacity in all the studied bronze alloys from graves No. 1 and No. 2, as well as in the metal of 80 % of the objects from grave No. 3. In addition, lead was found as a ligature in the bronzes of grave No. 2. In relation to the metal of objects from the crypt of the 2nd-1st centuries BC, alloying with tin was identified as an isolated case. The predominance of arsenic and the presence of antimony as alloying components of the alloys were established here. A comparison of the metal of objects from four sets of accompanying inventory showed, in general, the unity of the bronze recipes within the sets. Based on the nature of the distribution of ligatures and natural impurities to copper, it is assumed that two pairs of objects were made from the metal of one casting (chase No. 104 and ingot No. 53 from grave 2; hemispheres No. 22m and 22b from grave 3).