The early metal age in eastern Eurasia. The issue of cultural relationships

The paper explores one of the understudied issues related to the spread of metal from extraction/production centers to the periphery. Metal appeared in Central Asia in III mill. BC. Subsequently, metal items penetrated the eastern regions (Trans-Baikal region, Primor'ye, Yakutia, Manchuria, and Korea) at the end of II - early I mill. BC. The Sayan-Altai region, Mongolia and the Trans-Baikal region are rich in metal deposits. The regions rich with metals located further to the east form part of the Pacific metallogenic belt. The paper describes imitations of metal weapons (spearheads and daggers) made from local shale rock. Three chronological groups of such replicas were singled out: items of the Seyma-Turbino type, items of the Karasuk type, and daggers of the Tagar type. The spectral and metallographic studies of metal artifacts from the southern Far East of Russia demonstrate developed traditions of metalworking that do not have local origin. In accordance with the data of lead isotope analysis, the metal the artifacts were made from, originated from the eastern Sayan Mountains or the western Baikal region. We may reasonably infer from this analysis that the population groups bringing metal had come to the Far East from the west. Yet long-term relations between them and the local population did not lead to drastic changes in the technological development of the Far East peoples despite abundance of rich ore deposits.