Manufacturing complex of the Abidnya settlement of the late Roman time: first results of the interdisciplinary research

  • Olga S. Rumyantseva Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Ul’yanov Street, Moscow 117292, Russia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5648-6079
  • Irina A. Saprykina Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Ul’yanov Street, Moscow 117292, Russia
  • Anna N. Belitskaya Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Academičnaja Street, Minsk 220072, Belarus
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2022-2-73-94

Abstract

The Abidnya settlement of the Kievskaya archaeological culture, located in the Mogilev Region of Belarus, was earlier considered as a manufacturing centre for the Eastern European enamelled objects. An interdisciplinary research of the evidence for the production metal objects has been carried out in the course of our project. It has included the morphological analysis of the crucibles; the study of the chemical composition of their surface and content with the portable X-ray fluorescence analysis and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy; the surface distribution of the finds, which could be related to the industrial complex – crucibles, smelting landles, casting moulds, beads of red opaque glass – possible raw materials for enamelling, production wastes etc. According to the results of our study, the evidence for the enamelling cannot be attested on the site. All the studied finds are related to the melting (remelting) and casting of the copper-based alloys, containing zinc, tin, lead. Brass, bronze and multicomponent copper alloys could have been among them.

Author Biographies

Olga S. Rumyantseva, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Ul’yanov Street, Moscow 117292, Russia

researcher

Irina A. Saprykina, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Ul’yanov Street, Moscow 117292, Russia

researcher

Anna N. Belitskaya, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Academičnaja Street, Minsk 220072, Belarus

researcher

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Published
2022-05-10
Keywords: Kiev archaeological culture, Eastern European champlevé enamels, late Roman period, casting, crucibles, brass, bronze, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, portable X-ray fluorescence analysis
Supporting Agencies We are very grateful to O. A. Vorotnikova, the conservator of the archaeological collection of the department of old Belarusian culture of the Center of studies of Belarusian culture, language and literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and to V. N. Tarasevich, the research fellow of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus for the kind assistance in work with the collections from Abidnya. We are also thankful to A. A. Trifonov («Carl Zeiss», Moscow) and E. A. Saprykin (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna) for the study of the chemical composition of the Abidnya’s crucibles’ surface and content. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (research project No. 18-09-40093).
How to Cite
Rumyantseva O. S., Saprykina I. A., Belitskaya A. N. Manufacturing complex of the Abidnya settlement of the late Roman time: first results of the interdisciplinary research // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2022. 2. PP. 73-94.
Issue
No 2 (2022): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
Section
Archaeology

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