Каймачинский клад эпохи бронзы из Северо-Западного Крыма: РФлА состава сплава
Kaymachinsky Bronze Age Hoard from North-Western Crimea: XRF Analysis of Alloy Composition

Summary/Abstract: The article studies the alloy and production technology of Bronze Age jewelry and tools from the Kaimachinsky hoard of 2020, discovered in gulches of the catchment area of Lake Donuzlav in Northwestern Crimea. All items from the hoard find analogies in the Loboykovsky hoard (Left Bank of the Dnieper). At the location of the hoard, a settlement of the Late Bronze Age was discovered with the help of magnetic surveys, and two more settlements of the Middle and Late Bronze Age were discovered on the neighboring capes of the Kaymachinskaya Balka. An X-ray fluorescence analysis of items from the hoard was carried out. Outstanding finds are bimetallic pendants with punched ornaments, which have the only complete analogy among the items of the Loboykovsky hoard. The base of three pendants is made of “pure” copper, the fourth is made of tin bronze (Sn 4.26 %). A sheet of gold-silver-copper alloy is forged on top of the base. The similarity of the pendants with gold decorations from the horizon of the Ópályi and Forró hoards suggests that they came from the Carpathian region. Probably, a razor with a figured blade and another razor with a rounded end made of high-tin bronze also came from there. A dagger and a round plaque made of tin bronze, are possibly of Central European origin as well. The most “archaic” alloys are typical for one of the sickles and a razor knife made of arsenic bronze, which brings them closer to the Kuban metallurgical group. The remaining tools are cast from alloys of the Left Bank (Lb according to E. N. Chernykh) metallurgical group.

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