Metallurgical Production in Northern Eurasia in the Bronze Age

Copper is the first metal to play a large part in human history. This work is devoted to the history of metallurgical production in Northern Eurasia during the Bronze Age, based on experiments carried out by the author and analyses of ancient slag, ore and metal. It should be noted that archaeometallurgical studies include a huge range of works reflecting different fields of activity of ancient metallurgists. Often, all that unites these is the term 'metallurgy'. This work considers the problems of proper metallurgy, i.e. extracting metal from ore. A number of accompanying operations are closely connected with it, such as charcoal-burning, ore dressing, furnace constructing, and preparation of crucibles. In some instances the author touches upon these operations; however the main topic of the work is the smelting process. The closing stage of the metallurgical production is metalworking including various casting and forging operations, and also auxiliary operations: making of crucibles, casting molds, stone tools for metal forging. These problems are, as a rule, out of frameworks of this research.