Bronze knives
Bronze8 knives are represented by two variants (i.e., blades with one or two cutting edges). One knife (from Sazagan) consists of a long tangless blade with a single cutting edge. The handle part is not distinct from the blade but blunt and lowered down. The cutting edge is sharpened by hammering, the tip of the knife is round. The described item is considered as a multifunctional tool, used as a knife, a sickle, and/ or a chopper (see Figure 24.4,13). It is typologically closest to the Petrovka artifacts of northern Kazakhstan (Petrovka II settlement) and southern Urals (Kulevchi III, Kinzarskoe settlements) (Avanesova 1991: 26, fig. 30, 1, 2; fig. 31, 1, 2). This can be completed by finds of identical knives in the burial grounds of Sintashta (Ci, in the barrow surmounting burial 14, see Gening et al. 1992: 274, fig. 153, 20) and Kamennij Ambar-y (Kurgan 2, tomb 8, see Epimakhov 2005: 151, fig. 30,10). These knives are relatively large in size (37-22 cm). Similar-shaped tangless blade tools, where the handle is in the continuation of the blade, are found in the Turbino and Potapovka burial grounds (Bader 1964: 83, fig. 77; Vasil’ev et al. 1994: 55, fig. 51, 8) and in the First Maslovka Abashevo settlement (Prjakhin 1976: 145, fig. 27, 19). The above-mentioned knives, despite their general morphological similarity, differ because of their double-edged blades.
The single-edged blade knives from the Dzham and Zardcha Khalifa burials are handle-casted knives (see Figures 24.2a, 4 and 24.5,11). Here, the transition between the handle and the blade differs from the previous one. By their morphological features they are close to similar items found in Petrovka settlements of the southern Urals (Kulevcho III and Ust’ Suerskoe) and northern Kazakhstan (Petrovka II, Konezavod III) (Evdokimov 1976: 510; Vinogradov 1982: 3-12; Zdanovich 1983: 41-50, tab. 10; Potemkina 1985: 53,1, 2; Avanesova 1991: 26-28, tab. 30, 6; 31,4, 8). It should be noted that the same kinds of finds have been discovered in Andronovo burials of western Siberia at Elovka II and Chernozer’e I (Matjushenko 1973: 8-9; Gening and Stefanova 1994: 13, tab. 6).
Double-edged blade knives are represented by two different types - dagger and knife. The dagger has a leaf-shaped double-edged blade, a slightly raised central rib, an almost unpronounced cross-guard, and a distinct shaft. The central axis of the blade is slightly thickened giving it a lens-like profile. The shaft has a narrow rectangular profile (Figure 24.3, 17). In the general scheme of evolution of the double-edged blade dagger-knives with rib, the Sazagan dagger represents the first stage (Avanesova 1991: fig. 22, 3, 4). New materials from Sintashta-like sites (the Ci kurgan and pit burial at Sintashta, Kamennij Ambar, Verkhnjaja Alabuga) complete and assure these assumptions (Potemkina 1985: fig. 80, 12; 82, 18; Gening et al. 1992: fig. 140, 1; 148, 19; 152, 6; Epimakhov 2005: fig. 25, 1; 48, 20). Variations in this knife shape are attested in syncretic (Abashevo-Srubnaja, Poltavkino-Srubnaja) burial grounds of the Volga-Ural interfluve like Natal’ino-2 (Malov 1980: 153; 1993: tab. 2,19; 3, 25) and Solnechnoe (Agapov et al. 1983: fig. 6, 4). Not less interesting is the similarity (weak median rib) with the knife from Sapallitepa (Askarov 1977: tab. 30, 6) (Figure 24.9,5).
The other Sazagan knife with a short leaf-like blade and a wide tang smoothly issued from the blade is also worthy of interest. It has a flat lens-like section (see Figure 24.4, 15). Knives of this kind represent the second type (B) of early double-edged tools in
Figure 24.9 Pre-Andronovo artifacts from the early layers of the
Sapalli culture: 1: stone mold: Dzharkutan, citadel, room 5; 2: pre-Andronovo pottery: Dzharkutan, temple, corridor 3, reliquary; 3: horn cheek-piece: Dzharkutan, temple, subtower premise of the eastern wall; 4: metal plate knife: Dzharkutan, citadel, room 4; 5: metal knife with overlapping notches: Sapallitepa, room 15; 6: single-blade metal knife: Dzharkutan, residential quarter, hill 5; 7a): petioled metal tip: Sapallitepa, grave 82 (field drawing by O.M. Grjaznov); 7b): The same tip after electro-mechanic cleaning; 8: stone arrowhead: Dzharkutan, citadel; 9: stone arrowhead: Dzharkutan, temple, outside the northern part of the wall.
the development of dagger-knives (Avanesova 1991: 25, figs. 22-27). Their closest typological similarities are in the knives from Sintashta complexes (Gening et al. 1992: fig. 51, 13; 88, 5; 96, 14; 140, 4; 146,1, 2; 148, 9; Batalov et al. 1996: fig. 6, 2), and they share close characteristics with a similar item from a Potapovka burial ground (Vasil’ev et al. 1994: fig. 46, 6). Finally, there is a closer (geographically) analogy with the double-edged blade knife discovered in the citadel of Dzharkutan
(excavation VI, room 4, Dzharkutan period), which serves as yet more evidence for the early relationships between the steppe and the ancient farmers’ population (Figure 24.9, 4). In general, the Sazagan artifacts demonstrate close typological similarities with the South Ural knives of the Eurasian metallurgic province early phase (Chernykh 2007: 74, fig. 5, 3).
The knife from Zardcha Khalifa is different from the above-mentioned knives (Figure 24.5,9). It has a double-edged blade and a tang, a leaf-like elongated shape with a slightly raised rib. The blade section is flat on one side, and slightly swollen on the other. The tang has a sharpened tip and is rectangular in section. The blade is severely worn out. Typologically close knives were present in the Middle Bronze Age layers at Altyn Depe (Kircho 2001: 76, fig. 3), at Dashly-3 (Sarianidi 1977: 76-77, fig. 36), and at Shortughai, mound B, period IV (Francfort 1989: vol. II: pl. 78, 2; pl. XXXIX, 2). They are known at Sapallitepa (Askarov 1977: 72, tab. 30, 7), at Sarazm IV (Isakov 1991b: fig. 77, 1-2), as well as in graves of the Farkhor cemetery (Bobomulloev et al. 2016: 27, fig. 18, 4). In general, double-edged, tanged, flat-section leaf-like blades were common in the second half of the 3rd-2nd millennia BC (Ruzanov 2013: 122).
