New Results from the Analysis of Ferrous Metal Artifacts from the Tankeyevka Burial Ground in the Context of Studying Khazar-Bolgar Period Blacksmithing Traditions

Abstract

The paper deals with the results of a technological analysis of blacksmithing products discovered in 2019 during the excavations at the Tankeyevka burial ground of the IX–X centuries. The metallographic collection of this monument includes 10 items: an adze-hoe, two knives, an axe, three arrowheads, a bit ring, a blade fragment and a "staple". Macro- and microstructural observation allowed the authors to determine the technology of their manufacture. It turned out that the adze, the blade of the fragmented tool and possibly the axe were forged using structural forge welding. These items belong to the II technological group, characterized by "progressive" manufacturing schemes that require highly qualified skills. Knives, arrowheads and a snaffle ring, although they represent the first, "simplified" technological group, nevertheless have signs of using techniques and technologies aimed at improving the working properties and quality of forgings: carburization, local hardening, simplified "damasking" (rolled /twisted package). The new data used find analogies in previously studied materials on Early Bolgar and Saltovo-Mayaki ironworking and give grounds to talk about the existence of an early medieval "steppe" centre of blacksmithing in Eastern Europe, as well as the possibility of distinguishing the Middle Volga (Volga-Kama) variant of blacksmithing traditions.