Were metalworkers itinerant? Interdisciplinary analysis of a metalworker’s burial at the Krivoe Ozero late Bronze Age cemetery (southern Trans-Urals, Russia)

Abstract

Diagnosing the mobility of individuals involved in metal production helps to understand practices of metallurgy and related social processes in the southern Trans-Urals during the Late Bronze Age. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of a unique Sintashta culture grave of an elderly male individual, dated to the early 2nd millennium BCE. The grave is notable for evidence of craft specialization in metal production, as indicated by a specific set of artifacts, while the deceased individual possessed unusual physical appearance, which apparently did not cause his social marginalization. The individual’s lifetime mobility is suggested by ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values in his tissues that differ from those typical for the cemetery locus and the presence of non-local copper ore indicates long-distance exchange or import. We assume that craft specialization in metal production could be a factor in individual mobility related to the ore procurement and metal exchange.