ZOTINO III: AN EARLY IRON AGE METALLURGICAL CENTER IN THE TRANS-URALS

Abstract

In 1974 and 1977, an archaeological expedition from the Ural State University excavated part (441 m2 ) of a fortifi ed Early Iron Age manufacturing site on the Bagaryak River near Zotino, in the forest zone of the Trans-Urals foothills. The site, measuring 80 m by 50–66 m (total area, 3800 m2 ), is located on a 40–43 m high cliff. Its northeastern inland side is protected by a low stone and earthen wall, preserved to the height of 0.75 m, and is delimited by a shallow outer drainage ditch. The single entrance is ~2 m wide. Under the wall, there is a thin layer of buried soil with fragments of the Itkul ceramics. Inside the wall, carbonaceous sandy loam, pieces of calx, and charred remains of wooden structures were found. Our reconstruction suggests that the original 2 m wide wall consisted of two rows of logs and a built-in square tower ~3.0 m by 2.6 m. The base of the walls and tower were strengthened with rubble, and its outer face was enforced with limestone slabs. Near the wall and along the northwestern edge of the site’s inner space, remains of three adobe platforms for processing copper and iron were identifi ed, two dug-in ovens, a utility pit and, apparently, remains of an adobe melting furnace. This is the easternmost and latest (400–100 BC) seasonal fortifi ed metallurgical center of Itkul—an autochthonous culture in the forest zone of the eastern Ural Mountains. In the forest-steppe east and south of it, on the lower reaches of the Sinara and Karabolka rivers, the westernmost fortresses built by the Gorokhovo herders (500–100 BC) are situated—the likely source of the Itkul fortifi cation tradition.