TECHNOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES OF BRONZES OF THE CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS
The article covers in detail some important issues for disclosure of the topic: history, application, differences and common nature of these bronzes. It is pointed out that bronze was the first artificial metal in the history of human society. It has replaced natural copper due to its improved physical and technical characteristics: a relatively low melting point, good casting properties, i.e. the ability in the molten form to fill the most inaccessible areas of shape, good performance in metalworking, corrosion resistance, forging at low heating, high aesthetic properties: colour, gloss. These characteristics are inherent in both the European and the North Caucasian bronze. But this commonality implies a distinction too. In the Central Europe the bronze age led to the emergence of the "classic bronze", that is an alloy of copper with tin, where tin is present in the amount of 5-8% of the total weight. In the North Caucasus tin was practically absent. But then deposits of copper and the sources of arsenic close to them were found. It was on this basis that local metallurgy appeared. And it provided the possibility of obtaining intrinsic North Caucasian bronze, and production of intrinsic original products. The subject of the article also answers the detailed coverage of technological differences in the nature of these bronze alloys: influence of the melting points difference, density, hardness, content of tin or arsenic on different needs of their public use. The article introduces the reader to the situation of the Caucasian export products to the neighboring regions, to the near abroad and foreign countries. The export concerned not only finished products, but also bronze ingots - blanks of metal for further processing. It gave the opportunity to establish particular manufacture of bronze products for the neighboring tribes, in whose territory there were no minerals. The article emphasizes general influence of European and North Caucasian bronze on the overall development of the entire European continent on the way to the progress.