Warriors Seimintsy and Turbintsy, or Bronze "chain" through Eurasia
Well, I don’t want many - not one or two, but many VO readers, to part with the military culture of Mycenaean Greece and the legendary Troy. However, in our country, there are almost more mysterious cultures of the Bronze Age in Russia than somewhere “there” in the East or the South. For example, we say “stone age”, “culture of the stone age”, but we only know about it that there all the tools of labor were stone. Then the “Bronze Age” began and all the tools were made of bronze? But what about the Eneolithic - "copper-stone age", intermediate between the technology of stone and bronze? But the Bronze Age itself is much more complicated than we used to imagine. This is a set of cultures that left behind, well, just a huge amount of various monuments. And do not think that all of them were only in ancient Egypt, Sumer, or in China, and only there were cast ancient bronze swords and daggers. On the territory of our East European Plain also existed the culture of the ancient metallurgists. And what about Siberia? After all, it is cold there ... But even there, among the pre-writing cultures of the Bronze Age, there are beautiful examples of ancient craftsmanship. They are there a lot of these cultures. But even among them, the Seimino-Turbinsky culture stands out among others in terms of the development of the metallurgy of northern Eurasia of the late Bronze Age, and, perhaps, is one of the most mysterious ...
The famous Borodino treasure.
Discovered this culture by chance. In 1912, an infantry regiment learned to dig trenches near the station of the Sejm gubernia in the Sejm. Found a lot of green objects and began to dig further, but at the same time the commander of the unit also reported where it was necessary and even superficially, described the findings, highlighting the presence of four groups of objects among the finds. And in the same year and the same method, but for 3000 km from this place, the famous Borodino treasure was found in Bessarabia, consisting of similar things. Then, in 50-s in Siberia, the Turbinsky burial ground and the burial ground on Shustovaya Hill were excavated, and the fifth monument of this culture was found near the village of Rostovka on the Irtysh tributary near Omsk.
In all cases, these were burial grounds, not villages, and very rich in relation to the grave goods. That is, the people of this culture did not spare their bronze products on their dead. Many burial grounds were destroyed, but in a strange way - the skulls and bones were broken, but their wealth was not touched!
Borodino treasure in the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
Given the lack of writing in both Seimino-Turbino and neighboring cultures, building a chronology of the existence of this culture is an important question with a rather vague answer. To determine the chronology of the Seimino-Turbino culture, three relative “binding lines” are used: the Balkan Mikenian, East Asian (Yin) and Caucasian ones. The most common are the first two of them. However, a comparative analysis of the products of the Balkan-Mycena and East-Asian binding lines gives significant differences in determining the time of the Seima-Turbino culture. Western binding gives the result of the order of the XVI century. BC er According to the East Asian data, the culture of the Seimins and the Turbins can be dated by much later terms - not earlier than 1300 BC. er and up to the 9th — 8th centuries. BC er This contradiction is resolved by the hypothesis that the appearance of the Seimino-turbine metallurgical culture in the Altai region was the impetus for the development of metallurgy in the East Asian region. In support of this assumption, there is the fact that such elements of Yin material culture as the use of race horses, war chariots, yoke, bronze weapons, sleeves and other products appeared without prototypes in China.
Consequently, on the basis of the Balkan-Mycenaan lines of bindings, it is possible to take the corresponding XVI-XV centuries as the time of the Seimino-Turbin culture. BC er And if the chronological boundaries of the culture of the Seimints and Turbins caused certain discussions, the geography of their distribution was determined quite accurately.
Map of the "bronze chain." Fig. A. Shepsa.
Restoration of the territory of residence of Seymin residents and Turbians was carried out according to the available archaeological data. The most eastern finds are found in small burial grounds and single burials of the Sayan-Altai region. The largest center in Western Siberia is confined to the basins of the middle Irtysh and Omi and is centered around the Rostovka burial ground. To the west of the Urals, Seima-Turbine metal products are concentrated in the Middle and Southern Kama Region, up to the Volga River, with individual items found up to the Sura basin. The most western major burial grounds are the Sejm and Reshny in the basin of the Lower Oka. Separate products were found down to the Baltic Sea in Finland and Estonia, as well as in Moldova (Borodino treasure). An important feature in the distribution of Seima-Turbian artifacts is their almost complete absence in the Ural Mountains, which looks rather strange, since the Urals at that time was a significant raw material base for metallurgy. Thus, the Seimino-Turbino culture was spread over the vast territory of Northern Eurasia, which means the fact of its significant influence on the neighboring cultures.
Ceramics of Seimino-Turbino culture from the Vladimir region. That's great rarity. But she is.
As mentioned above, the bulk of metal products is concentrated in burial grounds of various sizes. The largest of them are the Sejm, Turbino, Reshnoe, Rostovka and Satyga. Also, a large number of items are located in the proposed sanctuary in Kaninskaya cave. In large burial grounds and a sanctuary, 315 metal products and eight molds were found.
"Warrior and Horse" - the famous pommel knife. Burial ground Mid II millennium BC. er Omsk Irtysh. Western Siberia. Excavations V. I. Matyushchenko. MAES TSU.
The peculiarities of the Seimino-Turbino necropolis include the weak preservation of the remains of the buried. According to the assumption, based on the location of the bones of the dead, burials were deliberately defiled by representatives of other cultures for ritual purposes.
Of considerable interest is the sanctuary of the Kaninskaya cave in the Trinity-Pechersk district of the Komi Republic. A feature of this place is the presence of traces of the activity of two cultural horizons: Seimino-Turbino and medieval. In addition, single guns of the early Iron Age were found in the cave. An 41 damaged item made of Seimino-Turbino metal was found in the cave.
The second category of burials are small (up to four strictly fixed burials) burial grounds and single graves. They are unevenly scattered in the territory occupied by the Seimino-turbinians: there are more of them in the area of large necropolises.
The morphological base is 442 metal products and 30 molds. There are also 39 items related to Seimino-Turbino bronze, but typologically different from other cultural monuments. First of all, these are impressive sized tips of prints up to 44 cm long! By their form, they resembled Zulu assegai, had a stiffener, and had a plug-shaped sleeve. The straight sides of the tip, extending from the tip, were carefully pointed, repulsed on the anvil and sharpened with abrasive. Some had a hook on the sleeve. A.I. Soloviev in his monograph “Weapons and Armor. Siberian armament: from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages ”(Novosibirsk, 2003) suggested that these spears had a short handle, and they could prick and chop like swords! In addition, they used decorated Celtic axes, daggers and curved knives. The handle was decorated with cast ornament, and the tops depicted figures of people and animals. All products are distinguished by a fairly high technological level. Also, many of them have various patterns and ornaments, which can also serve as one of the classification signs of the Seimino-turbine inventory.
Knives Seima-turbine type.
The tools, weapons and decorations of this culture differ, first of all, not only typologically, but also in their chemical composition. It is the uniqueness of the alloys used by the Seimino-turbines that caused such attention to them. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the 71% (331 product and 22 morphologically uncertain sample) of the Seimino-Turbian finds was determined by the method of spectral analysis at the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Seven main chemical-metallurgical groups of Seimino-turbine metal were identified.
1. Metallurgically "pure" copper (Cu). All impurities are present in small quantities, and their presence can be explained by natural causes or the addition of bronze scrap to copper.
2. Arsenic copper or bronze (Cu+As). The main impurity is arsenic (from a few ppm to a few percent). Other impurities are due to the same reasons as for copper.
3. Arsenic-antimony bronzes (Cu+As+Sb). The content of arsenic is similar to the previous group, the amount of antimony is always less than that of arsenic. Variations in composition due to mixing scrap of other alloys are possible.
4. Copper-silver alloys or billons (Cu+Ag). The amount of silver from whole fractions to tens of percent. Arsenic is often present.
5. Silver-copper alloys (Ag+Cu). The main component is silver. The rest are similar to the previous group.
6. Tin bronze (Cu + Sn). The amount of tin ranges from 1 to 10%. Lead, antimony, and other elements of unclear origin may also be present in the alloy.
It can be seen that the main feature of the Seimino-turbine bronzes was the use of arsenic as an alloying component. Arsenic as an alloying component improves the mechanical properties of copper, being a ligature, similar in action to tin. There are several hypotheses that substantiate the presence of arsenic in bronze seimintsy and turbinians. The most supported by the facts is the hypothesis about the natural origin of this admixture. This is due to the fact that in the Urals, where copper was mined by representatives of the Abashev culture, there are no tin deposits at all. But at the same time the content of arsenic is increased in local copper ores. Another confirmation of this hypothesis is the fact of a decrease in the relative number of tin bronzes in the western direction, as well as the fact that the nearest tin mines were located in the territory of Rudny Altai. However, natural reasons to explain the presence of such a large amount of arsenic in the products is very difficult. In the process of smelting copper, which contains arsenic, the latter always burns out, and its quantity decreases sharply. This means that it was added at the end of the melting process specifically (by increasing the melt flowability), immediately stirred and poured into the mold.
True, you can imagine what these people breathing with! There is, however, a hypothesis that the foundries were located on the tops of the hills, where the wind constantly blows and stayed with "leeward". But ... experience shows that it does not save from poisonous arsenic vapors. And who knows, maybe because of their specific metallurgy, they just all died (men), and the women "switched" to other tribes and dissolved among them.
So, according to the researchers, the chemical features of the Seimino-turbine metal are due, above all, to the inadequate resource base and creative kind of people of this culture!
As for other military equipment - and moving across the expanses of Eurasia from Altai to Moldova, they simply could not help but fight - then the Seimians and Turbins had armor from ... horny plates made of antlers of deer and elk, sewn on a leather base. The same were the leggings and bracers. It is interesting that, judging by the tops of the knives' handles (sculptural group from the Rostovka burial ground), the Seima-Turbian warriors moved on skis, holding on to the reins of a galloping horse! It can be assumed that the Andronovo culture prevailed to the south, in the steppes, the soldiers of which rode on chariots, while to the north, in the forests, moving in winter along the river beds, the Seimans and Turbins lived, but for some reason moved from east to west.
Well, in the end they left Siberia on the territory of Eastern, and perhaps Western Europe, and somewhere here were dissolved among the masses of ancient tribes!
The famous Borodino treasure.
Discovered this culture by chance. In 1912, an infantry regiment learned to dig trenches near the station of the Sejm gubernia in the Sejm. Found a lot of green objects and began to dig further, but at the same time the commander of the unit also reported where it was necessary and even superficially, described the findings, highlighting the presence of four groups of objects among the finds. And in the same year and the same method, but for 3000 km from this place, the famous Borodino treasure was found in Bessarabia, consisting of similar things. Then, in 50-s in Siberia, the Turbinsky burial ground and the burial ground on Shustovaya Hill were excavated, and the fifth monument of this culture was found near the village of Rostovka on the Irtysh tributary near Omsk.
In all cases, these were burial grounds, not villages, and very rich in relation to the grave goods. That is, the people of this culture did not spare their bronze products on their dead. Many burial grounds were destroyed, but in a strange way - the skulls and bones were broken, but their wealth was not touched!
Borodino treasure in the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
Given the lack of writing in both Seimino-Turbino and neighboring cultures, building a chronology of the existence of this culture is an important question with a rather vague answer. To determine the chronology of the Seimino-Turbino culture, three relative “binding lines” are used: the Balkan Mikenian, East Asian (Yin) and Caucasian ones. The most common are the first two of them. However, a comparative analysis of the products of the Balkan-Mycena and East-Asian binding lines gives significant differences in determining the time of the Seima-Turbino culture. Western binding gives the result of the order of the XVI century. BC er According to the East Asian data, the culture of the Seimins and the Turbins can be dated by much later terms - not earlier than 1300 BC. er and up to the 9th — 8th centuries. BC er This contradiction is resolved by the hypothesis that the appearance of the Seimino-turbine metallurgical culture in the Altai region was the impetus for the development of metallurgy in the East Asian region. In support of this assumption, there is the fact that such elements of Yin material culture as the use of race horses, war chariots, yoke, bronze weapons, sleeves and other products appeared without prototypes in China.
Consequently, on the basis of the Balkan-Mycenaan lines of bindings, it is possible to take the corresponding XVI-XV centuries as the time of the Seimino-Turbin culture. BC er And if the chronological boundaries of the culture of the Seimints and Turbins caused certain discussions, the geography of their distribution was determined quite accurately.
Map of the "bronze chain." Fig. A. Shepsa.
Restoration of the territory of residence of Seymin residents and Turbians was carried out according to the available archaeological data. The most eastern finds are found in small burial grounds and single burials of the Sayan-Altai region. The largest center in Western Siberia is confined to the basins of the middle Irtysh and Omi and is centered around the Rostovka burial ground. To the west of the Urals, Seima-Turbine metal products are concentrated in the Middle and Southern Kama Region, up to the Volga River, with individual items found up to the Sura basin. The most western major burial grounds are the Sejm and Reshny in the basin of the Lower Oka. Separate products were found down to the Baltic Sea in Finland and Estonia, as well as in Moldova (Borodino treasure). An important feature in the distribution of Seima-Turbian artifacts is their almost complete absence in the Ural Mountains, which looks rather strange, since the Urals at that time was a significant raw material base for metallurgy. Thus, the Seimino-Turbino culture was spread over the vast territory of Northern Eurasia, which means the fact of its significant influence on the neighboring cultures.
Ceramics of Seimino-Turbino culture from the Vladimir region. That's great rarity. But she is.
As mentioned above, the bulk of metal products is concentrated in burial grounds of various sizes. The largest of them are the Sejm, Turbino, Reshnoe, Rostovka and Satyga. Also, a large number of items are located in the proposed sanctuary in Kaninskaya cave. In large burial grounds and a sanctuary, 315 metal products and eight molds were found.
"Warrior and Horse" - the famous pommel knife. Burial ground Mid II millennium BC. er Omsk Irtysh. Western Siberia. Excavations V. I. Matyushchenko. MAES TSU.
The peculiarities of the Seimino-Turbino necropolis include the weak preservation of the remains of the buried. According to the assumption, based on the location of the bones of the dead, burials were deliberately defiled by representatives of other cultures for ritual purposes.
Of considerable interest is the sanctuary of the Kaninskaya cave in the Trinity-Pechersk district of the Komi Republic. A feature of this place is the presence of traces of the activity of two cultural horizons: Seimino-Turbino and medieval. In addition, single guns of the early Iron Age were found in the cave. An 41 damaged item made of Seimino-Turbino metal was found in the cave.
The second category of burials are small (up to four strictly fixed burials) burial grounds and single graves. They are unevenly scattered in the territory occupied by the Seimino-turbinians: there are more of them in the area of large necropolises.
The morphological base is 442 metal products and 30 molds. There are also 39 items related to Seimino-Turbino bronze, but typologically different from other cultural monuments. First of all, these are impressive sized tips of prints up to 44 cm long! By their form, they resembled Zulu assegai, had a stiffener, and had a plug-shaped sleeve. The straight sides of the tip, extending from the tip, were carefully pointed, repulsed on the anvil and sharpened with abrasive. Some had a hook on the sleeve. A.I. Soloviev in his monograph “Weapons and Armor. Siberian armament: from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages ”(Novosibirsk, 2003) suggested that these spears had a short handle, and they could prick and chop like swords! In addition, they used decorated Celtic axes, daggers and curved knives. The handle was decorated with cast ornament, and the tops depicted figures of people and animals. All products are distinguished by a fairly high technological level. Also, many of them have various patterns and ornaments, which can also serve as one of the classification signs of the Seimino-turbine inventory.
Knives Seima-turbine type.
The tools, weapons and decorations of this culture differ, first of all, not only typologically, but also in their chemical composition. It is the uniqueness of the alloys used by the Seimino-turbines that caused such attention to them. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the 71% (331 product and 22 morphologically uncertain sample) of the Seimino-Turbian finds was determined by the method of spectral analysis at the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Seven main chemical-metallurgical groups of Seimino-turbine metal were identified.
1. Metallurgically "pure" copper (Cu). All impurities are present in small quantities, and their presence can be explained by natural causes or the addition of bronze scrap to copper.
2. Arsenic copper or bronze (Cu+As). The main impurity is arsenic (from a few ppm to a few percent). Other impurities are due to the same reasons as for copper.
3. Arsenic-antimony bronzes (Cu+As+Sb). The content of arsenic is similar to the previous group, the amount of antimony is always less than that of arsenic. Variations in composition due to mixing scrap of other alloys are possible.
4. Copper-silver alloys or billons (Cu+Ag). The amount of silver from whole fractions to tens of percent. Arsenic is often present.
5. Silver-copper alloys (Ag+Cu). The main component is silver. The rest are similar to the previous group.
6. Tin bronze (Cu + Sn). The amount of tin ranges from 1 to 10%. Lead, antimony, and other elements of unclear origin may also be present in the alloy.
It can be seen that the main feature of the Seimino-turbine bronzes was the use of arsenic as an alloying component. Arsenic as an alloying component improves the mechanical properties of copper, being a ligature, similar in action to tin. There are several hypotheses that substantiate the presence of arsenic in bronze seimintsy and turbinians. The most supported by the facts is the hypothesis about the natural origin of this admixture. This is due to the fact that in the Urals, where copper was mined by representatives of the Abashev culture, there are no tin deposits at all. But at the same time the content of arsenic is increased in local copper ores. Another confirmation of this hypothesis is the fact of a decrease in the relative number of tin bronzes in the western direction, as well as the fact that the nearest tin mines were located in the territory of Rudny Altai. However, natural reasons to explain the presence of such a large amount of arsenic in the products is very difficult. In the process of smelting copper, which contains arsenic, the latter always burns out, and its quantity decreases sharply. This means that it was added at the end of the melting process specifically (by increasing the melt flowability), immediately stirred and poured into the mold.
True, you can imagine what these people breathing with! There is, however, a hypothesis that the foundries were located on the tops of the hills, where the wind constantly blows and stayed with "leeward". But ... experience shows that it does not save from poisonous arsenic vapors. And who knows, maybe because of their specific metallurgy, they just all died (men), and the women "switched" to other tribes and dissolved among them.
So, according to the researchers, the chemical features of the Seimino-turbine metal are due, above all, to the inadequate resource base and creative kind of people of this culture!
As for other military equipment - and moving across the expanses of Eurasia from Altai to Moldova, they simply could not help but fight - then the Seimians and Turbins had armor from ... horny plates made of antlers of deer and elk, sewn on a leather base. The same were the leggings and bracers. It is interesting that, judging by the tops of the knives' handles (sculptural group from the Rostovka burial ground), the Seima-Turbian warriors moved on skis, holding on to the reins of a galloping horse! It can be assumed that the Andronovo culture prevailed to the south, in the steppes, the soldiers of which rode on chariots, while to the north, in the forests, moving in winter along the river beds, the Seimans and Turbins lived, but for some reason moved from east to west.
Well, in the end they left Siberia on the territory of Eastern, and perhaps Western Europe, and somewhere here were dissolved among the masses of ancient tribes!
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