Features of Bone and Horn Processing Based on Materials of Ash Heaps Near the Bronze Age Settlements Stepnoye and Streletskoye-1 in the Southern Trans-Urals

Bone/horn objects are an integral part of the tool complex of any Bronze Age settlement of the Southern Urals and were used in all spheres of life of ancient collectives. The study of collections of bone and horn artifacts obtained during the excavations of ash heaps near the Stepnoye (Sintashta archaeological culture) and Streletskoye-1 (Alakul archaeological culture) settlements (Plastovsky and Troitskiy districts of the Chelyabinsk region) revealed common and different features in the bone-cutting production of the two sites. Natural science analyses of soil layers led to the conclusion that the territory of both ash heaps were used for the work of bone cutters, but at the Streletskoye-1, among other things, carcass cutting and selection of raw materials for production took place, and at the Stepnoye — work with selected material. The volume of work with bone and types of bone tools do not differ significantly on the two sites, but the specifics of the Stepnoye are a large number of blanks and waste products from elk horn, which are absent in the Streletskoye-1 layers. A large number of horn products with a status character — cheek-pieces, spatulas, kibiti, etc. — were found in the Stepnoye-1 cemetery accompanying the settlement. One of the specializations of the Sintashta bone cutters of the Stepnoye was working with elk horn, a rare raw material from which items of “elite” status were made with artistic skill. In the later Alakul period, the extinction of this tradition can be noted.