Archaeometallurgical approaches to the study of copper-arsenic alloys of the Bronze Age

The paper analyzes a representative series of 109 experiments on alloying of refined copper with arsenic minerals in fullscale conditions in the amounts sufficient to produce metal-consuming tools, as well as experiments on casting, annealing of blanks, and their subsequent forging and founder work. Arsenopyrite served as a source of arsenic in experimental copper alloys. It was established that the copper solution can be enriched with arsenic ligatures in three main ways: dissolution of arsenopyrite powder in the superheated copper melt by poling (mixing) with a wooden pole; joint crucible melting of arsenopyrite powder overlaid with copper shot and a «coat» of crushed charcoal; joint reduction melting of copper and arsenopyrite minerals. According to these technological schemes, it is possible to enrich copper solutions with any arsenic compounds. Only the first two methods make it possible to obtain alloys with a given proportion of Cu and As, as well as mediu-andhigh-arsenic compounds. This paper presents the data of instrument measurements of the melting phases of experimental samples of arsenic alloys and the features of their physicochemical properties. In total, 17 tools were made from low-andmedium-arsenic alloys (from 1,5 to 5 % As) which is consistent with typological standards of East European cultures of the Bronze Age.