Lead Isotope Analysis of the Bronze Age Metal in the Steppe Cis- and Trans-Urals

Abstract

AbstractThe Southern Urals in the 4th-2nd millennium BC was a key mining and metallurgical region of Eurasia with hundreds of copper deposits and thousands of ore occurrences developed from the beginning of the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, where three major (the Trans-Urals, Cis-Urals, and Ural-Mugodzhary) mining and metallurgical centers were located. Lead isotope ratios are used in archaeology to identify raw materials for the production of metal in antiquity. The lead isotope composition does not change during metallurgical processes and remains constant regardless of the ore roasting temperature or Red-Ox conditions of smelting this work aims to identify the potential sources of ore raw materials for the production of many copper artifacts of the steppe Cis-Urals and Trans-Urals of the Bronze Age by multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) lead isotope analysis. The results of lead isotope analysis made it possible to obtain new data for many copper artifacts (products and ingots) of various periods of the Bronze Age (4th-2nd millennia BC). The detected variations in lead isotopes indicate a rather clear connection between copper artifacts and the original ores of the Trans-Urals or Cis-Urals.KeywordsLead isotopesCopper ingotsCopper oresProvenanceLate Bronze AgeCis- and Trans-Urals