Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Burials with Casting Molds from Tartas-1, Baraba Forest-Steppe
Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Burials with Casting Molds from Tartas-1, Baraba Forest-Steppe
DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.025-034
V.I. Molodin and I.A. Durakov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
This article describes five burials with casting molds from the Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) cemetery Tartas-1 in the Baraba forest-steppe. Three of them form a distinct group belonging to two parallel rows of graves. One of the reconstructed molds was used for casting Seima-Turbino-type celts, and another, for manufacturing thin rods, round in section. A core was found, which was used for making a hole in a tiny chisel-like tool. All the molds are made of clay and bear traces of prolonged use. They were made using a bottom board; molding mixture was smoothed and tamped, excessive material was removed with a narrow-bladed cutting tool, and lines were drawn on the raw surface. Certain graves with casting tools were single, others were collective. All basic age and sex groups are represented: adults, adolescents, women, and children, apparently suggesting that all were involved in manufacture, and that the skills were transmitted from one generation to another. Because children were involved too, status was heritable. Emphasis on bronze casting in the funerary rite, virtually without traces of other specializations, indicates a separate social stratum, whose share was no higher than 4 %. Obviously, not all its members were professional casters; some may have participated occasionally.
