Среднее Зауралье в контексте Западноазиатской металлургической провинции: феномен коптяковской культуры
The Central Trans-Urals in the Context of the Western Asian Metallurgical Province: the Koptyaki Culture Phenomenon

Summary/Abstract: At the turn of III—II Millennium BC, the Middle Urals joined the system of cultural relations of the West Asian Metallurgical Province of the Late Bronze Age, which is evidenced by artifacts of Koptyaki archaeological cultures. The exceptional phenomenon of the Koptyaki culture is that it demonstrates implementation and development of advanced technologies in an underpopulated region, without appropriate conditions for production of food. Instead, it provided good conditions for the development of mining, metallurgy and metalworking. Extensive deposits of ores and unlimited forest (fuel) resources, in combination with skillful local population, fostered adoption of imported bronze-casting traditions and emergence of Koptyaki-Seima metallurgical center, which incorporated advanced technologies from Seima-Turbino and Eurasian steppe masters. Weapons (daggers, axes, сelts, spearheads, arrows) made the main part of the production. The abundance and diversity of weapons, along with other artifacts and situations, suggest the high role of the military factor in the local cultural genesis.

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