Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The article presents a rare Late Bronze Age find – a socketed celt-shaped hammer discovered at the Atshubar settlement in Northern Kazakhstan. The site is part of the Kokshetau mining-metallurgical center and belongs to the group of production settlements of the Sargarinsko-Alekseevskaya culture within the community of cultures with roller-impressed ceramics. The aim of the study is to determine the typological affiliation of the artifact, identify its analogies, clarify its cultural-chronological position, and examine the origins of this category of specialized tools. The research is based on comparative-typological, morphological, and cartographic analyses of the find. In its structural features, the hammer is similar to specimens from Eastern Kazakhstan, Jetysu, Northern Kyrgyzstan, and Northwestern China, but it differs by having a larger socket and lacking decorative elements. It is concluded that the eastern group of celt-shaped hammers emerged within the metallurgical complex of the roller-ceramic cultural community under the influence of western metallurgical traditions adapted to the local production environment of the Sargarinsko-Alekseevskaya culture. Introducing the Atshubar specimen into scholarly circulation expands the source base on specialized tools of Late Bronze Age metalworking and helps refine our understanding of cultural-technological interactions between the western and eastern parts of steppe Eurasia.
Source: Cultural Heritage
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7214949844