Chemical Composition of Non-Ferrous Metal From Golden Horde Cities: preliminary data

Abstract

This paper discussed the results of a study of the chemical composition of 170 non-ferrous metal samples originating from Golden Horde cities and rural sites of the Lower Volga region and Azak. XRF and SEM/EDS methods were used as methods of determining the elemental composition. The most significant groups of metal for all sites were two- and three-component bronzes with low and high concentrations of tin, as well as brass and multicomponent alloys, which somewhat brings the Golden Horde metalworking closer to the traditions of South-Eastern and North-Eastern Rus. In the materials from Selitrennoye settlement, more than half of the samples are various types of brass, while at other monuments (Azak, Bolgar, rural monuments of the Uvek district) their share doesn’t exceed 10%, which may indicate the uneven use of various alloys in different regions of the Golden Horde. Another distinctive feature of the Golden Horde metal is the extremely limited use of fusible alloys.

Keywords

• golden horde
• non-ferrous metalworking
• chemical composition
• xrf analysis
• scanning electron microscopy (sem/eds)