Genesis of Alakul culture in the context of mining archeology

The paper contains an overview of local variants of the early (Petrovsky) stage of the Alakul Сulture and its metal-production activity that was linked with the operation of a number of mining and metallurgical centers in the Ural-Kazakhstan Region. During their migration, the early Alakul population groups developed all the sources of copper and tin in ancient times, which formed the mineral resource base for non-ferrous metallurgy on the eastern flank of the West Asian (Eurasian) Metallurgical Province. Relatively isolated local cultural groups within the Early Alakul range were deeply integrated with each other in the mining and metallurgical industry, forming a sophisticated system of interrelated mining, metallurgical, and metalworking centers.