Institute of Steppe UB RAS, 1 Pionerskaya st., Orenburg, 460000, Russia [Bogdanov-step@yandex.ru]

Resume. The paper deals with the analysis of stone (talc, chloride) and clay “utyuzhki” from the collections of the Orenburg region museums. These artifacts, whose name (“utyuzhok” in Russian means a small smoothing iron) refers to their bar-shaped form with one or several grooves on the “back”, come from the Late Neolithic and Early Metal Period sites of Northern Eurasia. The stability of their form, coupled with their wide distribution area and transculturality, testify to a unified function of these tools. After critically examining a number of varying opinions on this score, the author puts forward a hypothesis that the “utyuzhki” were flyweights and served as load dividers for the vertical weaving loom of the “Egyptian type”.

Keywords: Late Neolithic, Early Metal Period, Northern Eurasia, stone and clay “utyuzhki” (“irons”), transfer of technical novelties, loom, weaving.

Received 13.09.2018.

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2019-1-125-148

For citation: Bogdanov S. V. The function of “utyuzhki” from the steppe Ural. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2019 (1), 125-148 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2019-1-125-148

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