Abstract
This paper reports on the results of archaeometallographic studies of iron items from the Myakinino 1 and Myakinino 2 settlements located in the Moscow region. The Myakinino complex is one of the largest archaeological sites in the Moscow region. It was found that metallurgical production existed at Myakinino 1, while no smelting residues were discovered at Myakinino 2. Examining the chemical composition of iron items using X-ray fluorescence analysis did not reveal substantial differences in trace elements. However, analysis of the slag inclusions in the iron items using a scanning electronic microscope helped identify differences in trace element contents in the metal. Technological schemes for blacksmithing were described based on archaeometallographic analysis. This analysis found significant differences in the sets of technological schemes used to make blacksmith products at the two sites and differences in the percentage shares of the iron items made by particular technological schemes in both assemblages. Such differences reflect different conditions for supplying iron products to the local population. In the case of Myakinino 1, it was a local ironworking production of a rural type, whereas, in the case of Myakinino 2, iron items were imported from an urban production center.
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Notes
- 1.
GOST R ISO 643–2011 is The State standard of Russian Federation.
- 2.
Phosphoric iron was determined based on the ferrite grain size (coarse grain), the presence of ghost structure and the high microhardness of the ferrite (above 206 HV0,1).
- 3.
A technological scheme means a set of blacksmithing actions and operations performed to make an artifact.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project 19-18-00144-P. The authors would like to thank Dr. J. Hošek (Restoration laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Prague) for providing the opportunity to conduct analytical research using the X-ray fluorescence analyzer. Also, we thank Ivan A. Blinov and Ivan S. Stepanov for the EDX analytical studies.
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Zavyalov, V.I., Terekhova, N.N. (2023). Results of Archaeometallographic Studies of Iron Items from Ancient Rus Settlements in the Moscow Region. In: Ankusheva, N., Chechushkov, I.V., Epimakhov, A., Ankushev, M., Ankusheva, P. (eds) Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy. GAM 2022. Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46424-9_25
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