New Data on the Technology of Manufacturing Blacksmith Products of the Golden Horde Rural Settlements Based on Metallographic Analyses Results of Items from Bagaevka and Shiroky Buerak Settlements

Abstract

The article introduces into scientific circulation the results of metallographic studies of the technology of blacksmithing products originating from excavations and casual finds from Bagaevka and Shiroky Buerak, the Golden Horde settlements of the Lower Volga region. In historiography, there is a shortage of studies of iron processing technology of the Golden Horde population from the Lower and Middle Volga regions. This article is intended to partially fill the existing research gap based on the results of archaeo-metallographic studies conducted in the archaeological laboratory of the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University. In the study, the authors use the archaeo-metallography method, developed by B.A. Kolchin, and currently widely applied in Russian archaeological science. As a result, it was established that simple bloom iron, raw irregularly carburized steel and specially prepared high-carbon steel were the main raw materials for blacksmithing products of the Bagaevka and Shiroky Buerak settlements. In the arsenal of forging products of the Bagaevka settlement, 86.8% of technological operations belong to group I (simple technologies without the use of a structural joint by forging welding of bloom iron and high-carbon steel, without copper soldering) and 13.2% belong to group II (wares with a structural joint by forging welding of bloom iron and steel with copper soldering). 58% of the metallographically studied wares were made of bloom iron and raw irregularly carburized steel. 29% of the items were forged technologically in order to obtain high-quality products. 15.8% of the products were made of all-steel work pieces, 10.5% produced from package work pieces. Cementation technology was recorded in 2.6% of the items. End welding and forging from two-lane iron-steel work pieces, which amounted to 5.3% each, were identified in the technological schemes related to the technological group II. In general, the revealed technological features of the blacksmith products of the Bagaevka collection are characteristic of the iron processing in the Middle Volga region in the Golden Horde period.