Origin and Evolution of the Earliest Iron-Smelting Technologies in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin

Origin and Evolution of the Earliest Iron-Smelting Technologies
in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.1.127-137

P.B. Amzarakov
ANO “Archaeology of Khakassia”, Prigorsk 6B, off. 15, Chernogorsk, 655156, Russia

The Khakass-Minusinsk Basin is archaeologically one of the best studied regions of Russia. Bronze artifacts from the pre-Scythian and Scythian epoch from that area are famous worldwide. However, iron production appears rather late there. From 2009 to 2018, a joint Russian-Japanese expedition excavated several sites documenting the earliest iron manufacture in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. On the basis of these excavations and experiments, metallurgical technology was reconstructed. The results suggest an evolutionary model of metal production in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin during the Xiongnu-Sarmatian period. Three types of iron-smelting furnaces are described, structurally differing in terms of air-blasting and slag removal. The conclusion is made that the initial iron production technology had been borrowed, and later evolved in situ.

Keywords: Tes culture, Tashtyk culture, ancient metallurgy, bloomery furnace, slags