A series of samples of silver products (jewelry, belt accessories, horse equipment and utensils) belonging to the most dynamically developing categories of material culture of the ancient Turkic era was studied by X-ray spectral analysis. The study of the silver composition of prestigious objects from representative archaeological complexes (Kudyrge, Tuekta, Katanda, Bertek-34, Yustyd, Ur-Bedari) in Southern Siberia allowed us to identify their main territorial groups: Altai, Kuznetsk, and Middle Yenisei. Four types of alloy were determined: Ag-Cu, Ag-Cu-Su, Ag-Cu-Pb-Su, and Ag-Cu-Zn. The highest silver content was found in ancient Turkic vessels of the first type. Items of belt accessories and details of horse equipment are distinguished by a significant variety of alloys. The metal composition of silver products of various categories fully reflects one of the main features of the ancient Turkic era - the intensity of cultural and economic contacts between different population groups in the south of Western Siberia and neighboring territories in the second half of the first millennium AD.

Keywords: Southern Siberia, ancient Turkic period, silver, prestigious items, jewelry, belt accessories, horse equipment, silver vessels.

Introduction

Silver in the ancient Turkic era was one of the most widely used metals for the manufacture of various prestigious items. Among these products, jewelry, belt accessories, utensils and horse equipment are most often presented. We emphasize that almost all of them (with the exception of horse equipment) are depicted on ancient Turkic sculptures (Figure 1), reflecting the social priorities of the" world " of things of the medieval era. A similar "picture" is shown by a number of burial complexes of this time, in which there is already a complete set of objects, including details of horse equipment (bridle, harness and saddle).

From a constructive point of view, the objects studied represent individual products (vessels, jewelry) and clothing complexes (belt accessories and details of horse equipment). Along with this, all the above-mentioned types of objects are the most dynamically developing categories of material culture of the ancient Turkic era. Therefore, a qualitative analysis of the metal composition of such items can reveal a number of features of their production, design, distribution and significance. In particular, it is possible to establish the main characteristics of silver quality in the above-mentioned categories of the subject complex in order to clarify the differences among these products and the factors that caused them. In the Russian archeology of research with-

The work was carried out within the framework of the Altai State University project "Ancient settlement of Siberia: formation and dynamics of cultures in Northern Asia" (N 2013 - 220 - 04 - 129 supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Resolution No. 220).

page 95

Figure 1. Prestigious metal objects depicted on ancient Turkic stone sculptures. 1 - statue from the Toto tract (Kurai steppe, Gorny Altai); 2 - statue of Kyzyl-Tey (Tuva).

The study of the metal of ancient Turkic products was carried out within the framework of both collections of individual archaeological sites (Roslyakova and Shcherbakov, 2005) and subject complexes from the vast territories of the south of Western Siberia (Borodovsky and Obolensky, 2002; Borodovsky et al., 2005).

Materials and methods

To ensure the representativeness of the sample, ancient Turkic silver products were selected from the materials of "reference" archaeological complexes (Ur-Bedari, Tuekta, Katanda, Bertek-34, Yustyd, Yustyd-12, Kudyrge, Tadduair-1, etc.) in Southern Siberia, including the Kuznetsk Basin, Gorny Altai, and the northern forest-steppe territories on the left bank of the Middle Yenisei. Some of these items (silver vessels) are characteristic attributes of the complex of objects of the Kurai culture (VIII-X centuries AD) [Savinov, 1984, p. 165, Tables IV, 24].

A series of samples (50 copies) from the Ancient Turkic period was studied by X-ray spectral analysis on a Camebax-Micro microprobe by engineer L. N. Pospelova at the Joint Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineralogy (JIG) of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Borodovsky et al., 2005, p. 21). Later, V. V. Babich (an employee of the Institute of Fine Arts of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) used the author's cluster analysis program that implements the ACC algorithm (similarity structure analysis) to identify the main groups of the composition of silver alloys [Borodovsky et al., 2005, pp. 27, 33, 34, Fig.10]. It should be emphasized that the clothing complex itself in archeology can be considered as a variant of subject clustering.

According to the composition of the metal, silver products of the ancient Turkic era (the second half - the end of the first millennium AD) can be divided into four main groups: Ag-Cu, Ag-Cu-Su, Ag-Cu-Pb-Su, and Ag-Cu-Zn (Fig. 2). However, according to functional characteristics (jewelry, belt sets, utensils, horse equipment) items had very significant differences. The greatest" purity " and similarity of silver composition were found in ancient Turkic vessels from the Sayano-Altai territory (Fig. They were divided into four groups. Close enough-

2. Cartography of the metal composition of the studied silver products of the Ancient Turkic period in the south of Western Siberia, a -Ag-Cu; b-Ag-Cu - Su; c-Ag-Cu-Pb - Su; d-Ag-Cu-Zn.

3. Cartography of the studied silver vessels of the ancient Turkic period in the south of Western Siberia.

page 96

4. Silver content in the metal composition of vessels from Gorny Altai.

some metal correspondence is observed in products made from Bertek-34, Ur-Bedari and the vessel tray from the fence in Yustyd. The other group includes samples from Katanda and Tuekta. Minor metal differences were noted in the vessel from Talduair-1 and the body of the vessel from the fence in Yustyd. The most prominent metal composition among all the listed ancient Turkic vessels is a bowl with a senmurv from Degtyarevka (Kuznetsk Basin), which was deliberately compared as a morphologically different product. It should be emphasized that the vessel from Bertek-34 from the Ukok plateau was made of the highest quality silver (Figure 4). The significant similarity of a number of qualitative (metal composition), morphological (vessel shape) and decorative (finishing details) parameters of these objects give every reason to assume their origin from one or several closely related sources. production centers with a similar technological level of production and a similar raw material base.

No less interesting is the fact that some parts of ancient Turkic vessels were made of metal of different composition, for example, the body and pan of a vessel from the ancient Turkic fence of Yustyd (Fig. 4). A similar feature can be traced in later Sasanian silver utensils. In particular, the ring base of the Nilda dish was made of an alloy with a higher silver content (48%) than the bowl itself (44.7 %) [Ibid., p. 42]. In addition, the main part of this dish contained clear fractions of copper impurities. They may have been included in the alloy of the product during the remelting of low-quality silver coins, as a consequence of the medieval silver crisis in Central Asia [Kazakov, 1991, p. 13, 14].

In general, the high purity of the silver used to make the ancient Turkic vessels under study underlines the high status of these objects, which are depicted on the stone sculptures in the very center (see Fig. 1).

Discussion of the results

Analysis of the metal composition of prestigious objects of the ancient Turkic era allowed us to identify their main territorial groups: Altai, Kuznetsk and Middle Yenisei (see Figure 2). The similarity of metal composition within one territory was characteristic mainly for the Kudyrge burial ground in Gorny Altai. This is quite an interesting observation, because at the typological level, the Kudyrginsky subject complex (VI-VII centuries), in comparison with others in the south of Western Siberia, according to D. G. Savinov, differs in obvious features and unity [1984, p. 163, Table II]. Analysis of the metal composition of objects included in this complex opens up new possibilities for substantiating its chronology. The fact is that the silver objects from the Kudyrge burial ground probably reflect the archaic tradition of making products from native silver. This technology existed until the middle of the first millennium AD (Borodovsky et al., 2005, p. 74). It is interesting that in other archaeological complexes of the Sayan-Altai region (Ur-Bedari, Tuekta, Yustyd, Yustyd-12, Koibala-1, Markelov Mys-2), the similarity of the composition of silver alloys was not traced.

For a number of products, we can talk about the manifestation of certain epoch-making trends. For example, jewelry (earrings) for a long historical period (from the first millennium BC to the end of the first millennium AD) in the south of Western Siberia was made of copper silver. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, copper-zinc alloys with an admixture of tin appeared. A similar characteristic of the metal composition was also inherent in the ancient Turkic belt fittings. In comparison with these items, the silver vessels of the ancient Altai Turks represent a more homogeneous sample. This category of items is characterized by silver (from 94.71 to 98.99%) with a low content of copper and gold (see Figure 4). Utensils from the middle Yenisei and from the Kuznetsk basin were made of a silver-copper alloy with a slight tin admixture.

The most similar in metal composition of silver items (jewelry and belt accessories) are-

page 97
there are objects from Kudyrge (mog. 5), the silver content of which is more than 87 %. The medieval selection of horse equipment parts from the Sayano-Altai territory is the most heterogeneous. The material for their manufacture could be pure silver (Koibaly-1) or with an admixture of lead and tin (Yustyd-12) or a non-homogeneous alloy with inclusions rich in copper (44.72%, Ur-Bedari). Items of belt fittings are also distinguished by a variety of metal composition. These characteristic details of the ancient Turkic costume are often one of the attributes of stone sculptures (see Figure 1). The composition of belt accessories, as well as horse equipment, includes quite a lot of items, which opens up wide opportunities for analysis.

In particular, the metal of plaques and pendants of the well-known ancient Turkic dial belt from Tuekta (Fig. 5) belongs to three groups: Ag-Cu, Ag-Cu-Su, Ag-Cu-Pb-Su. And most of these products belong to the first two. In the first group (Ag-Cu), the metal of the set plates differs slightly, while in the second group (Ag-Cu-Su), the alloy composition is characterized by great similarity. The plaques of this belt were made of an alloy of silver and copper in various proportions. Impurities of tin (up to 7.46 %) and lead (up to 4.53 %), as well as insignificant amounts of gold and zinc, were found.

In general, the studied objects from archaeological sites of the Middle Ages in Southern Siberia are distinguished by a variety of metal composition. First of all, this applies to the materials of Yustyd-12, Ur-Bedari, Tuekty and Markelov Mys-2. The variety of silver alloys in the subject complex of the ancient Turkic period is clearly associated with the process of improving the production of silver products in the context of a significant complication of the social structure and organization of society.

Conclusion

An object complex in archeology is a stable combination of various categories of things that reflect cultural and historical processes for a certain territory and chronological period. In the course of the conducted research, a close similarity of the metal composition of a number of medieval objects united by functional characteristics was established. This was especially evident in the ancient Turkic silver vessels on the territory of Sayano-Altai. In general, it was possible to study the metal composition of silver vessels of the first type, which is characteristic of the Altai-Teles Turks (Savinov, 1984, p. 125).

The question of the different purpose of ancient Turkic silver vessels of the first and second types based on the silver content in their alloys is not solved as unambiguously as on the basis of morphology, design features and the context of detection. There is a point of view that the former were used mainly in everyday life, and the latter were ritual or ceremonial [Ibid., pp. 125, 126]. Nevertheless, among the vessels studied, there were products with a silver content of both 96.7 % (Talduair-1) and up to 98.9 % (Yustyd, Bertek-34). The latter came from various ritual complexes of ancient Turkic times -memorial fences (Yustyd) and burials (Bertek-34). It should be emphasized that the second type of vessels from the State Hermitage Collection is also characterized by a similar silver content - from 96.4 to 99.1 %. Based on these preliminary data, we can conclude: the typology of silver ancient Turkic vessels proposed by D. G. Savinov,

Fig. 5. Silver content in the metal composition of parts of the Tuekta belt

page 98
most likely, it should be corrected. To begin with, one of the distinctive typological features of products of the second type - shaped shields on handles with ornaments [Ibid., p. 125] - is also inherent in a number of vessels of the first type. In addition, it should be emphasized that the objective characterization of the material of objects is one of the basic characteristics of any typology. Moreover, preliminary materials science analysis showed that the composition of the alloys of silver vessels of two types is similar. Such features may well reflect not only the origin (deposits) of silver, but also the various production centers where they were made, where, in fact, these types of utensils could have been formed. To solve this problem, a comprehensive study of the entire collection of ancient Turkic vessels known in Southern Siberia is necessary. The sample already studied is almost a third of their total number.

In general, in the second half of the first millennium AD in Southern Siberia, along with products made of high-grade silver, objects made of copper and high-grade silver began to appear. Such a composition of silver products of different categories fully reflects one of the main features of the ancient Turkic era - the intensity of cultural and economic contacts of various population groups in the south of Western Siberia and neighboring territories, along with the general trend of a gradual decrease in the silver content in the metal from which the objects were made.

List of literature

Borodovsky A. P., Obolensky A. A. Drevneye serebro Sibiri (istoriko-raw material aspect) [Ancient silver of Siberia (historical and raw material aspect)]. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAET SB RAS, 2002. - Vol. X. - pp. 265-266.

Borodovsky A. P., Obolensky A. A., Babich V. V., Borisenko A. S., Mortsev P. K. Ancient silver of Siberia. Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS Publ., 2005, 86 p. (in Russian)

Kazakov B. I. Oskolki luny [Fragments of the Moon], Moscow: Znanie Publ., 1991, 144 p.

Roslyakova N. V., Shcherbakov Yu. G. Preliminary results of the analysis of the elemental composition of bronze and silver products / / Kubarev G. V. Kul'tura drevnykh tyurok Altay: Based on the materials of funerary monuments. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAET SB RAS, 2005, pp. 348-390.

Savinov D. G. Peoples of Southern Siberia in the Ancient Turkic era. - L.: Publishing House of Leningrad State University, 1984. - 174 p.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 17.03.14, in the final version-on 20.03.14.

page 99

Permanent link to this publication: