Chemical composition of items made of non-ferrous metal from the Ananyino cemetery

This paper focuses on the results of the studies conducted to identify thechemical composition of non-ferrous metal of the items coming from the Ananyinocemetery that are kept in the collection of the Finnish Museum Department (excavations,surface finds and purchases by I. R. Aspelin and A. M. Talgren). The sample of 217 itemspredominately includes various types of jewelry and costume details. The analysis wasconducted by the RFA method using a S1 Titan handheld XRF analyzer (Bruker). Thesample of 385 test specimens includes heavily alloyed tin and tin-lead bronze, whichaccount for around 90 % of the sample; these alloys were used to produce all types ofjewelry from the collection, which are dated to the period spanning from the Ananyinoculture to the Middle Ages. Items made in the Scythian animal style, Scythian armorplates constitute a substantial share of the items made from tin-alloyed bronze, which is anevidence of great importance that the North Caucasus and the North Pontic metalworkingcenters played in development of the Ananyino non-ferrous metallurgy. The share ofso-called classical types of alloys (pure copper, low-alloyed bronze, arsenical bronze)is rather modest in the sample; such alloys were mostly used to make arrowheads and asmall amount of jewelry as well as items that are not attributed to the Ananyino cemetery(e. g. mirrors).