Traceological Analysis of Stone Tools of Miners and Metallurgists from Zhezkazgan Copper Deposits

This article presents the results of a traceological study of two collections of stone tools – tools of miners from the Kresto-Center quarry and metallurgists from the Milykuduk settlement, located in the zone of Zhezkazgan copper deposits in the Zhezkazgan-Ulytau Mining and Metallurgical Center (MMC). Structural and raw materials, typological, technological, functional, and contextual analyses were used to study the collection, which consists of 63 items. As a result of the research, it was found that the settlement of Milykuduk was engaged in ore processing, and the Kresto Center quarry was engaged in its extraction. The metallurgical specialization of the population of Zhezkazgan-Ulytau MMC was dictated by the richest deposits of oxidized and sulfide copper ore. Region Saryarka was one of the largest centers of mining and ancient metallurgy for the entire Northern Eurasia during the Late Bronze Age. Mining and metallurgical production was an important and complex production process of antiquity, the level of which was an indicator of the development of the productive forces of ancient society.

A Review on "Mountain Shoria: From Ancient Metallurgy to Modern Mining Industry. Historical Essays" by A. I. Kopytov and V. M. Kimeev (Kemerovo: Primula, 2020. 432 p.)

The review assesses the significance of A. I. Kopytov and V. M. Kimeev’s new monograph dedicated to the development of Mountain Shoria and its indigenous people – the Shor ethnos. The monograph describes the stages of the development of the Shor people, as well as the local administrative and territorial transformations. It gives a retrospective of Shoria as an object of scientific research and outlines the problem of the local industrial development. The authors assessed the prospects of museumification of the historical and cultural heritage. The present review compares A. I. Kopytov and V. M. Kimeev’s contribution to the study of Mountain Shoria with that of their predecessors and states the apparent value of the monograph.

Some Reflections on the Ancient Metallurgy of Sumhuram (Sultanate of Oman)

Multidisciplinary research on the metallurgy-related items and features from the ancient South Arabian harbour of Sumhuram, in southern Oman, have shed light on ancient copper and iron production and use at the site, pointing out what appears to be a definitely unusual practice in particular for what concerns copper alloying. In this paper, the archaeometallurgical data are summarised and discussed with the aim of showing that the existence of a copper working tradition specific to South Arabian centres can be tentatively postulated and that at least two different networks of metal production and exchange probably existed, centred on the opposite sides of the southern Arabian Peninsula.

Detecting and Mapping Slag Heaps at Ancient Copper Production Sites in Oman

This study presents a new approach for detection and mapping of ancient slag heaps using 16-band multispectral satellite imagery. Understanding the distribution of slag (a byproduct of metal production) is of great importance for understanding how metallurgy shaped long-term economic and political change across the ancient Near East. This study presents results of slag mapping in Oman using WorldView-3 (WV3) satellite imagery. A semi-automated target detection routine using a mixed tuned matched filtering (MTMF) algorithm with scene-derived spectral signatures was applied to 16-band WV3 imagery. Associated field mapping at two copper production sites indicates that WorldView-3 satellite data can differentiate slag and background materials with a relatively high (>90%) overall accuracy. Although this method shows promise for future initiatives to discover and map slag deposits, difficulties in dark object spectral differentiation and underestimation of total slag coverage substantially limit its use. Resulting lower estimations of combined user’s (61%) and producer’s (45%) accuracies contextualize these limitations for slag specific classification. Accordingly, we describe potential approaches to address these challenges in future studies. As sites of ancient metallurgy in Oman are often located in areas of modern exploration and mining, detection and mapping of ancient slag heaps via satellite imagery can be helpful for discovery and monitoring of vulnerable cultural heritage sites.