Olga Korochkova

Vladimir I. Stefanov

The article publishes the results of the recent excavations at the site of Shaitanskoye Ozero II in the Kirovgrad region of Svardlovsk oblast’. Koptyakovo-type pottery, stone artifacts, and a fragment of a crucible holding a drop of copper have been found in the crevices and lows between boulders, at the level of the ancient surface. Prestigious items, i.e. metal artifacts and weapons (a spearhead, a socketed chisel, daggers, kelts and knives), stone arrowheads and workpieces for them have been found buried in the soil. The small hollows that contained the artifacts are located in the spaces that hold no large stones; after the hollow had been dug, the bronze and copper items were deposited there, sometimes in a vertical position. Most of the hollows contained two buried items, fi ndings of single or several items are less frequent. The functioning of the site was connected with the cult practices of the Koptyakovo culture population (fi rst half of the 2nd millennium BC) in the mountain and forest Trans-Urals, primarily of the metal-makers and smiths who inherited the traditions of Seima-Turbino metalworking on the other hand and the craftsmen of the Petrovka-Alakul nucleus on the other hand.