Studies of the furnaces near Balyktuyul village (Altai Republic) in 2018

In 2018, a Joint archaeological team of IAET SB RAS and Japanese researchers investigated the center of metal production in the vicinity to Balyktuyul, Altai Republic, Ulagan District. The paper describes the remains of three types of old furnaces and two manufacturing areas. Special attention was payed to furnace working chambers and the filling. It makes possible to reconstruct the processes of furnace construction and metal production and to evaluate the amount of produced metal. Bloom, slag and coal have been sampled for AMS-dating. For the first time, furnaces with the remains of the interior logs placed vertically were uncovered and studied. Calibrated dates for this furnace type (395-425 AD) indicate their usage during the Hunnu-Sarmatian period. The excavations revealed a large center of metal production in Gorny Altai that existed for more than 500 years.