Pages: 41-55

The article offers the results of a study of the chemical and isotope composition of Pb in silver from an Early Slavic hoard of group I, that was found on the territory of Kursk Oblast (Sudzha-Zamostie), and identifies possible sources of silver imports into the Dnieper region in the 6th—7th cc. The analysis of the chemical composition of metal was made for the head nimbus fragments, for the Byzantine plate fragments and for 15 details of a heraldic belt set. XRF-analysis of the box-shaped belt details revealed that method of plates attachment by plumbum was used in the process of their making; nimbus was made by plating of copper basis with fine silver plates. Only 10 elements of a belt set and a fragment of Byzantine plate were selected for isotope analysis by Pb-Pb method, following the results of the study of metal composition and the technique for their making. As a result of Pb-Pb analysis, ore sources located within the Carpathian ore province were identified as the most possible sources of silver imports into the Dnieper region. Nevertheless, the source of silver that was used for making this plate with stamp could be located outside the specified region, because the high content of gold in silver correlates with data obtained for Sassanian coins made of silver from Asia Minor.

Keywords: Dnieper region, Early Medieval hoards, silver, chemical composition analysis, isotope analysis, source of raw materials

Information about authors:

Irina Saprykina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrey Chugaev (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IGEM RAS). Staromonetny Lane, 35, building 1, Moscow, 109017, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Lubov Pelgunova (Moscow, Russian Federation). A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution. Leninsky Ave., 33, Moscow, 119071, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Vlasta Rodinkova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Darya Stolyarova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]