High-Tin Forged Oriental Bronzes on the Territory of Khazaria

Abstract

Two bronze artefacts, a mirror fragment and a dish, were found in the territory of Khazaria, at the site of Right-bank Tsimliansk fortified settlement in a household pit, and near Bolshaia Orlovka settlement in a destroyed barrow mound. Right-bank Tsimliansk fortified settlement dates to the second half of the 9th century, while the burial from Bolshaia Orlovka falls within the 8th century. Chemical and technological investigation of the artefacts showed that both were made of bronze with 20-21% tin using hot forging. Similar technology for producing vessels, mirrors and other items emerged in the 6th-4th centuries В.С.E. in Eastern [“Oriental”] territories such as Central Asia, India, Iran, and south-eastern Asia. The methodology exists in some countries today. Rather than concluding that the finds represent evidence of regular trade contacts between Khazaria and the East, the authors consider that the artefacts are unique unrepresentative finds.

Keywords:

• Khazaria
• tin-content bronzes
• Tsimliansk fortress
• Bolshaia Orlovka settlement
• Sarkel
• Saltovo-Maiaki
• Central Asian connections
• chess pieces

Notes

a. The authors use the term Oriental in this article, including in its title, without concern for “Orientalism” critiqued in the West, where many see the term as over-generalizing, stereotypical and old-fashioned. Similarly, a well-respected Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow has kept its name in the post-Soviet period. To not distract from the substance of the points made here about widespread Eastern use of high-tin forged bronze technology, we have translated many of the “Oriental” references in this article to the less controversial “Eastern.” For more on Central Asian connections with the Khazars, see the articles by Igor Semenev in this issue and the previous one, and by Damir Khairetdinov in this issue.