The spread of metal and metal production technology in the Far Northeast and Alaska over the second millennium BC to the first millennium AD

ABSTRACT

Findings and traces of early metallurgical production in the Far Northeast of Asia and Alaska show that the spread of bronze and iron metallurgy took place mainly along the Lena River towards of the Far Northeast, as well as to Taimyr. Spread of metallurgical technology is confirmed by the casting mould for a burin or awl, which was discovered in Eastern Chukotka on the Amguema River. However, metals in Chukotka were obviously too rare to trade until the first millennium AD. An eastward decline in emphasis on metals is evidenced. Across the Bering Strait, into Alaska, iron appeared nearly two thousand years later than it existed within the the Far Northeast of Asia. Traces of metallurgy production were not found in Alaska. The spread of metals across Northeast Asia to Alaska indicates the existence of lasting and persistent connections between the Lena River Basin, the Far Northeast and Chukotka.

KEYWORDS:

• Northeast Asia
• Arctic
• Yakutia
• Chukotka
• Alaska
• metal production

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Alexander I. Lebedintsev (N.A. Shilo Northeast Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, Magadan, Russia) for valuable advice in preparing the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Here in after for the calibration of dates, the Calib 7.0.4 program is used with a value of ±2 sigma.

2. The radiocarbon dating was obtained by Prof. Katsunori Takase on a research grant JSPS KAKENHI (15H01899) at the Institute of Accelerator Analysis Ltd. in Japan using accelerated Mass Spectrometry (AMS).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Viktor M. Dyakonov

Viktor M. Dyakonov, Ph.D. (Hist.), Senior research fellow at the Department of Archeology and Ethnography, Institute of Humanities Studies and Problems of Indigenous People of the North, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dyakonov is engaged in a comprehensive study of the archaeological sites in Yakutia and adjacent territories from a wide chronological range, including the Paleolithic to the late Middle Ages. His areas of interest are funeral rites, prehistoric art, movement of technology and raw materials in antiquity, and the protection of archaeological heritage.

Kunney A. Pestereva

Kunney A. Pestereva, Senior Lecturer at M. K. Ammosov Northeastern Federal University. Pestereva lectures on archeology and history of Yakutia in the Faculty of History. Her research interests are related to the archeology of Yakutia and northeastern Russia

Alexander D. Stepanov

Alexander D. Stepanov, Deputy Director of Science at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, M.K. Ammosov Northeastern Federal University. His main scientific interests are Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Early Metal cultures in Yakutia and Northeast Asia.

Owen K. Mason

Owen K. Mason (Ph.D., Quaternary Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1990) is Research Affiliate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His major areas of interest include the geoarchaeology, and stratigraphy of Alaskan beach ridges and dunes, as well as the study of the aesthetics and designs of the Ipiutak, Old Bering Sea and Birnirk cultures. He has published widely, edited several books, including the Oxford Handbook of Arctic Prehistory, and has authored over 40 papers in books and journals from Quaternary Research, American Antiquity to the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology on all aspects of Alaska prehistory and on coastal hazards. Dr. Mason has co-authored papers on the sourcing of volcanic rocks in the Aleutians and on metal artifacts recovered in Alaska. He has served on the board of directors for the Alaska Anthropological Association, editor of the Alaska Journal of Anthropology and is a fellow of the American Association Advancement of Science. Dr. Mason is co-Principal Investigator in a NSF-funded project on Birnirk/Thule Origins at Cape Espenberg, Alaska.