Production of elements of belt sets in the middle ages (based on the 2018 excavation materials from the Rodanovo settlement)

The foundry of the first half of the 11th century discovered in the Rodanovo settlement which was used for the production of parts of belt sets is among the significant discoveries of the field archaeological season of 2018. Belt sets with metal buckles, boom sheets and belt tips were very popular among the inhabitants of the medieval Perm cis-Urals, both men and women. Undoubtedly, there was production of belt sets in the region with a rich copper stock and developed foundry practice which is confirmed, in particular, by the presence of unique local types of boom sheets and buckles. However, direct evidence of the production of those decorations in local workshops was not found. A representative range of defective, unfinished and finished goods, half-finished blanks of separate structural parts of belt sets (castings for pegs) was found in the workshop of the Rodanovo settlement. On the one hand, this collection helped to reconstruct the production technology of various elements of belt sets and the sequence of technological operations from the selection of models for the production to the final rework of goods and their release into use. On the other hand, it was possible to identify some features of the workshop functioning. All technological operations related to founding of belt sets were aimed at obtaining large range of decorations. There was one technological style of the master in the products of the workshop. The style is not only in the same sequence of operations for producing various elements of a belt set and using one instrument but also in using a certain «habitual» for the master metal alloy. The workshop made products based on copying local and imported decorations.