The technical ceramics of Krotovo culture (Central Baraba)

Foundry is one of the leading industries of the Early and Developed Bronze Age in Siberia. The problem of the metalworking is studied unevenly. The main attention is focused on morphological, typological and physical-chemical analysis of metal products, the study of technical ceramics (molds, crucibles, nozzles) often plays a secondary role. The main purpose of this article is making the most complete list of the finds of technical ceramics of Krotovo culture of the forest-steppe Baraba. Currently, this group of sources is presented by a significant series which include several categories of objects: molds, crucibles, ladles for molten metal, nozzles. The paper takes into account 55 ceramic molds of Krotovo culture, all of them can be divided into two types. The first kind of molds was made of fragments of household pottery and is designed for casting small plates in the form of strongly elongated ovals. Molds of the second group were made in a special way using a model plate in some cases, the imprints of wooden patterns (from those plates) are discovered on the joint parts. The molding material was put on top with large patches, bold lines were often drawn on wet clay after extraction of the model. This group of molds was designed to obtain large thin-walled castings of a complex profile: celts, adzes, spearheads. Molding compositions comprised clay, small (up to 0.05 cm) calibrated sand and liquid or solid organic were used for the manufacture of molds. The molding material was homogeneous, the sand was evenly spread on the surface of the edges of fragments. There were used two fundamentally different types of melting crucibles in Krotovo culture metalworking. The first type is a sophisticated melting device consisting of drop-shaped cups, fixed in a clay form as an oval ring which is the outer shell of the product. The outer crucible walls are formed of clay strips attached to the surface of the large fragment of a vessel so that the latter served as a bottom of the received containers. The crucible of the second type have an oval or drop shape, rounded edges, well defined drain, smooth and very thick bottom. Thus, in metalworking production of Krotovo culture, peculiar equipment complex appears. It includes ceramic molds and the associated model set (models, under-model plates, forming tools), two types of crucibles, ladles for molten metal and nozzles.

Keywords

Authors

References