Kon'kova L.V. Ancient and Medieval Far Eastern Bronze and Ethnocultural Relations in Eastern Asia

Abstract: The systematic study of Ancient and Medieval bronzes from archaeological monuments of the Russian Far East through a series of methods (emission spectrum analysis, metallography, examination of the isotopic composition of lead) has allowed to identify a series of traditions in the working of metal. The traditions developed during the course of the ethnocultural exchanges between the Far Eastern population and the foreign ethnic groups that appeared in the Far East beginning with the end of the second millennium B. C. E., and which reflected the cultural processes that occurred in the depth of the Asian steppe. Successively several traditions replace each other. The “Siberian” tradition is linked to the changes of a global nature and with the formation of the cultural similarities of the epoch of the late Bronze Age. The Manchu-Korean tradition is characterised by impulses from North-Eastern China and Korea during the first millennium B. C. E. The appearance of the “Turkish” tradition was caused by the Turkish expansion on the continent. This tradition manifested itself in unique forms of waist and harness linings. The “Amuric” tradition existed during the early Medieval period and is tied to the local tribes. The last tradition, the “Jurchen” tradition, existed during the Middle Ages and revealed itself through a simplification of technological schemes, a widening of the range of articles and a partial substitution of bronze with iron even for costume decorative elements.

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