Bronze-to-brass transition in the medieval Bukhara oasis
Park J.-S. Voyakin D. Kurbanov B.
February 2021Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
2021#13Issue 2
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.
Bronze and brass , Bukhara , Medieval period , Sociopolitical settings , Transition
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hongik University, Jochiwon, Sejong, 30016, South Korea
Department of Documentation and Archaeological Conservation, Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of History of Bukhara, Bukhara State University, Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Documentation and Archaeological Conservation
Department of History of Bukhara
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026