Foundry complex of the early-advanced bronze age at the Karier Tai-1 site (Baraba forest-steppe)

New evidence of the Bronze Age, which was obtained during the excavations in 2019 in the Baraba forest-steppe, is published in this article. An Early Bronze economic and production complex of the early third millennium BC, which included a bronze casting site was investigated at the Karier Tai-1 site. The site had a hearth dug into the ground and utility pits containing pottery, animal and fish bones, and limestone nodules. The technical function of this hearth is indicated by the fragments of molds, crucible, and apparently the fragments of the bottom lining, found in the filling of the hearth. A number of objects also related to foundry, including the fragments of a mold and crucible, abrasives on ceramic fragments, fragments of clay plastic art and plaster were found in the adjacent territory, in the filling of the ditches, and in the layer of soil above the objects. The article describes the foundry equipment and structure of the hearth, and shows parallels with other sites of that time. Pottery evidence from the complex demonstrates its originality and manifests the features of the Odino and Krotovo archaeological cultures of the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC). This chronological position is also confirmed by the radiocarbon date obtained from an animal bone found in the filling of the ditch. The foundry equipment is syncretic in nature, although tends to show more similarities with the Krotovo culture. An earlier stratigraphic position used to be recorded for the Odino culture, however, the syncretism of ceramics and radiocarbon date indicate that active interaction between the carriers of these archaeological cultures had already begun in the early third millennium BC.