Alloy Composition in the Prestigious Silver Ware of the Old Turkic Period of Southern Siberia1

A series of silver artifacts (ornaments, belt sets, horse equipment, and utensils) belonging to the most dynamically developing categories of the material culture of the Old Turkic period were examined using X-ray spectral analysis. The study of silver alloy compositions of various prestigious objects from representative archaeological complexes of southern Siberia (Kudyrge, Tuekta, Katanda, Bertek-34, Yustyd, and Ur-Bedary) made it possible to single out their main territorial groups: Altai, Kuznetsk, and Middle Yenisei. Four main kinds of silver alloys were identified: Ag-Cu, Ag-Cu-Su, Ag-Cu-Pb-Su, Ag-Cu-Zn. The highest silver content was found in the Old Turkic vessels of the first group. The belt decoration items and horse equipment parts demonstrate a variable alloy composition, mirroring cultural contacts between southwestern Siberian groups and those living in the adjacent regions in the second half of the 1st millennium AD.