Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Bronze-to-brass transition in the medieval Bukhara oasis

Bronze-to-brass transition in the medieval Bukhara oasis The Bukhara oasis, with its unique geographic location, played an important role during the medieval period when it led the region’s political development as part of the Islamic world adjacent to the pastoralists in the northern steppe. Such a distinctive geopolitical environment likely left a visible trace in the shaping of material culture, which we tested by focusing on numerous copper-based metal objects recovered from a medieval site near Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Different types of objects including lighting devices, household objects, small buckles, and rings were metallographically examined for their microstructure and alloy composition. A clear sign of technological transition from bronze to brass was consistently observed in all the object types under consideration where scrap bronze served as one of the key raw materials. Large objects were mostly made of alloys containing a substantial amount of zinc. In contrast, the small buckles and rings were strictly divided between those with and without the addition of zinc, suggesting the simultaneous existence of two different alloy traditions regarding the use of zinc. We discuss these analytical results to relate the emergence of such a unique technological tradition to the region’s sociopolitical settings. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Springer Journals

Bronze-to-brass transition in the medieval Bukhara oasis

Download PDF
13 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/bronze-to-brass-transition-in-the-medieval-bukhara-oasis-GchfCbFVHL

References (27)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature 2021
ISSN
1866-9557
eISSN
1866-9565
DOI
10.1007/s12520-021-01287-3
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Bukhara oasis, with its unique geographic location, played an important role during the medieval period when it led the region’s political development as part of the Islamic world adjacent to the pastoralists in the northern steppe. Such a distinctive geopolitical environment likely left a visible trace in the shaping of material culture, which we tested by focusing on numerous copper-based metal objects recovered from a medieval site near Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Different types of objects including lighting devices, household objects, small buckles, and rings were metallographically examined for their microstructure and alloy composition. A clear sign of technological transition from bronze to brass was consistently observed in all the object types under consideration where scrap bronze served as one of the key raw materials. Large objects were mostly made of alloys containing a substantial amount of zinc. In contrast, the small buckles and rings were strictly divided between those with and without the addition of zinc, suggesting the simultaneous existence of two different alloy traditions regarding the use of zinc. We discuss these analytical results to relate the emergence of such a unique technological tradition to the region’s sociopolitical settings.

Journal

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences – Springer Journals

Published: Jan 28, 2021

There are no references for this article.