Foundry workshop of the Odinovo culture (the evidence from the Tartas-1 site)

The article presents the results of studying the foundry workshop of the Odinovo culture (Early and Developed Bronze Age), which was discovered at the Tartas-1 burial site in the Baraba forest-steppe. The Odinovo culture at the Tartas-1 site is represented by several burial grounds, individual burials, and bronze casting complex consisting of four economic structures. All these buildings were located in a compact group in a form of elongated chain along the north-south at the back of the terrace, closer to its eastern edge. Production equipment of this bronze casting complex included crucibles, mould core, as well as fragments of scorified technical ceramics, casting molds, and bone artifacts. All buildings mentioned above showed traces of metalworking, while other types of economic activities were poorly expressed with finds limited to several knife-shaped blades, bone tool, fragment of arrowhead, and remains of ichthyofauna. The buildings were small in size, had light frame structure and, judging by the remains of the ichthyofauna, functioned in the spring and summer, while metalworking showed signs of a fairly high level of development. The analysis offoundry equipment has revealed that the artisans had the skills of casting hollow objects in detachable multi-part molds. Molding was carried out according to specially made models on the mold board using two types of crucibles, which subsequently became common for the carriers of a number of Siberian archaeological cultures. Sophisticated clay compounds were employed in manufacturing molds and crucibles; these compounds were adjusted to the purpose of foundry equipment and differed from clay compounds of household pottery. A number of ritual pits contemporaneous with these buildings were discovered during the research; they contained pottery fragments of the Odinovo culture as well as bones and scales offish. Thus, bronze casting in the Odinivo culture was sometimes accompanied by funeral rituals and cycle of ritual actions with the prominent role offish.