ИСТИНА

Copper, tin, lead, calamine, silver and gold were not mined in Russia prior to the late 17th century. Whether in the form of coins, ingots, scrap or waste, non-ferrous metals and alloys reached the jeweller’s workshops in Old Rus’ by means of long-distance trade. In recent years, teams from research laboratories in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Kazan’ and Kiev have undertaken chemical analysis of metalwork, such that today the composition of over 3000 objects has been tested (Eniosova et al. 2008). In addition, metal residues from crucibles found in 9th- to 11th-century urban centres and rural settlements have been identified, complementing the data we have from finished objects and metalworking debris. This paper will review the available analytical data relating to the use of copper-alloys in particular regions of the Old Russian territory. For the purposes of comparison, information relating to sites in Viking-Age Scandinavia have been included (Oldeberg, 1942-43, 1966; Forshell, 1992). Until now, this information has been scattered through various publications, and has never been studied in synthesis. Herein, the results will be brought together in a single database, and classified according to their main element concentrations (Cu, Sn, Pb and Zn). Statistical examination of this analytical data reveals geographical and chronological variation in the compositions of metals produced and worked in a number of manufacturing centres. Results show a clear north/south division of the Old Rus’ territory in the 9th -11th centuries. Alloys of copper and zinc (including brass and gunmetal) clearly dominated non-ferrous metalwork of the northwestern Rus’. In materials from Staraya Ladoga, Ryurik Gorodishche, Gnezdovo, and the early levels at Novgorod and Pskov, alloys contain between 50 and 70 % brass. In contrast, in the Middle-Dnieper region, the key alloys used were tin and tin-lead bronzes (finds of this composition are known only as isolated examples in the north-west). Brass and gunmetal do not make up more than 18% of the alloys analysed from Kiev, Chernigov, Šestoviča or the other settlements on the banks of the Middle Dnieper. It is likely that Scandinavia and the Baltic countries were the main suppliers of copper-zinc alloys to the Russian north-west during the Viking Age. In Scandinavian metalworking, a high zinc content (15-25%) indicates that fresh brass was available in the North. This stable tradition may have emerged out of close contacts with provincial Roman workshops from as far back as the first centuries AD (Bollingberg, Lund Hansen, 1993). The chemical compositions of copper alloys found in the northwestern Rus’ contrast markedly with these Scandinavian samples. The low zinc content in the Russian specimens (rarely greater than 10%) points to the melting down of scrap from diverse sources and, possibly, to a limited supply of raw material.