Kovaleva K.S. Golden Horde Bracelets from the Lower Volga Region Monuments (Production Technique and Elemental Composition)
Kseniya S. Kovaleva, Laboratory Assistant, Laboratory for Archaeological Research named after prof. A.S. Skripkin, Volgograd State University, Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation
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Abstract. A series of 13 bracelets from the Golden Horde period (second half of the 13th – 14th century AD) originating from urban and burial monuments of the Lower Volga region was studied using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis to determine their elemental composition; the main manufacturing techniques were also identified. The items presented in the sample belong to the common types of Golden Horde bracelets – wire and plate, with variations of ornaments and their combinations characteristic of the Golden Horde monuments of the Lower Volga and Bulgarian regions, as well as among the Mordvin population of this period. The following main technological schemes were identified: casting with minor mechanical deformation (bending), casting with pressure finishing (forging, drawing, cutting), and forging. The decoration of the bracelets was either cast together with the body or applied by chasing (traces of three types of chasing were identified) and/or engraving. The majority (11 out of 13) of the bracelets were made of brass; the average zinc content in these suggests a likely intent to preserve the golden color of the alloy, imitating precious metal. Two items were made of other metals – unalloyed copper and high-grade two-component silver. Comparison with samples of rural monuments in the Ukek area and another, Bulgarian, region of the Golden Horde showed a close relationship between the composition and type of the product – most bracelets are also made of brass with medium and high zinc content; bronze and copper are present to a lesser extent. Such a pronounced role for brass in bracelet production is absent in contemporaneous Old Russian samples. This study of a single artifact category allows us to assume that the Golden Horde craftsmen had at their disposal a sufficient amount of zinc-containing raw materials to maintain the composition of the alloy and, accordingly, control the color imitating the precious metal. However, the question of the source of brass entering the territory of the Ulus of Jochi remains open.
Key words: Golden Horde, metalworking, non-ferrous metals, brass, bracelets, X-ray fluorescence (XRF).
Citation. Kovaleva K.S., 2025. Zolotoordynskie braslety s territorii pamyatnikov Nizhnego Povolzh’ya (tekhnika izgotovleniya i elementnyy sostav) [Golden Horde Bracelets from the Lower Volga Region Monuments (Production Technique and Elemental Composition)]. Nizhnevolzhskiy Arkheologicheskiy Vestnik [The Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin], vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 159-178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2025.3.6
Golden Horde Bracelets from the Lower Volga Region Monuments (Production Technique and Elemental Composition) by Kovaleva K.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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