The earliest evidence of iron metallurgy in the Lower Ob river region (source: Ust-Polui excavations in 2010–2012)

Abstract

For the first time, the article reveals the ancient iron metallurgy sources discovered in 2010–2012 in the sacrifice site of Ust-Polui (Salekhard). Ust-Polui archaeometallurgical objects date back to the 3rd century BC — 1st century AD and they are the earliest evidence of ferrous metallurgy in the Сircumpolar zone. Discovery of the new Early Iron Age ferrous metallurgy site demonstrates the specific way of human adaptation to the conditions of Extreme North. Ust-Polui materials push the origins of metallurgic technologies in the North of Western Siberia virtually several centuries back in time and significantly expand the geography of ferrous metallurgy at the cusp between the eras. All bloomery slag and ruins discovered in 2010–2012 were associated with an ancient moat, at the edge of which the bloomery process must have been organized. Basing on the thickness of bloomery walls (1,5–3 cm) and slag morphology, it is suggested that Ust-Polui metallurgists used small smelting furnaces (1 m high at the most) without special canals for draining liquid slag. Archaeological and geochemical analysis proves that all slag described in this article was produced as a result of developing the same iron ore deposit. The new evidence of Early Iron Age ferrous metallurgy at the Arctic Circle opens up new horizons for research. We have not seen any other similar evidence of ferrous metallurgy that far North at the cusp of the epochs. It was only in the Middle Ages that smelting furnaces began to appear in the Circumpolar zone of Scandinavia, the largest metallurgic region of Northern Europe, and furnaces of the Early Iron Age were found much further South from the Arctic Circle. No Early Iron Age smelting furnaces were discovered at the Arctic Circle latitude of Alaska, Northern Canada or North-Eastern Siberia. Therefore, Ust-Polui is probably the most Northern point on the Earth where ferrous metallurgy was developed by ancient people.

Keywords

• Ust-Polui
• Circumpolar zone
• iron production
• the Early Iron Age