Tricky technology of making silver seed beads in the Early Bronze Age, NW Caucasus

Abstract

This study reconstructed the technical chaîne operatoire of silver seed bead production in the Maikop culture on the basis of tracewear analysis and experimental research using silver beads from the Early Bronze Age dolmen (c. 3200–2900 bce) in kurgan 2 at Tsarskaya (1898). The results demonstrate that such beads were produced as a “garland” lost wax casting, when a garland of beads is formed on a hollow dry stalk (straw) that burns out during the casting process. The technology of “garland” casting is an original and, probably, the earliest solution in history that helped address the issue of large-scale production of uniform cast precious metal seed beads. It is not yet clear whether this technology was originally developed in the Caucasus or brought here from Western Asia, where the Maikop culture has its roots.