Bronzes from the Tagar burial mound Nekrasovo II (research based on the data of excavations in 1970)

The paper focuses on the research of the items from the Tagar burial mound Nekrasovo II excavated in 1970 under the supervision of A.I. Martynov. The importance of the research is much determined by the location of the site, towards the northwest zone of the Tagar culture. The excavations of a number of archaeological sites were conducted on the territory of Mariinsky forest-steppe in 1956-1976. They resulted in a wide range of archaeological remains. Due to subjective reasons (loss of archaeological finds and their descriptions, illustrations of poor quality, discrepancy between published and archival data) the finds have been studied insufficiently. Meanwhile, comparison of written records, work with the collection of finds, selection and atomic-emission analysis of metal prove the archaeological finds from the Tagar sites of Mariinsky forest-steppe to be a qualitative source of the material history of the northwest part of the Tagar society. The classification of the grave items from Nekrasovo is made according to the typology suggested by A.V. Subbotin. The types of bronze daggers, stamps, chisels, knives, awls, "mirrors", hemispherical plaques, bone arrowheads, stone and bronze beads excavated at Nekrasovo are defined in the paper. The objects of unknown purpose from Nekrasovo site are regarded as the third type according to the typology by D.G. Savinov. The typological and quantitative characteristics of Nekrasovo grave items allow the author to conclude that the burial mound Nekrasovo II was a "pure" necropolis dated as of the advanced (Saragash) stage of the Tagar archaeological culture (V-III centuries BC). Statistical treatment of the data obtained from the atomic-emission spectrometry of metals reveals six types of copper-based alloys: "pure" copper, arsenic copper or bronze, tin bronze, tin-arsenic bronze, lead-tin bronze, lead-tin-arsenic bronze. The main type of the alloys from Nekrasovo is tin bronze constituting 75% of the items made of it. The data on the metal alloys from one of the sites of the forest-steppe zone of the Tagar culture can be compared with the metal from other South Siberian archaeological sites of V-III centuries BC. In particular, metal collection from Nekrasovo "is inferior" in the amount of tin bronzes to the metal found in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin and the Middle Yenisei sites dated as of the Saragash stage. Besides that the metal from Nekra-sovo is noted for the low amount of lead alloys. The above mentioned results give additional information about the Tagar nonferrous metallurgy and metal finishing.

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