As time went on, local Finno-Ugrian specialists in nonferrous metalworking became familiar with the modes of producing and processing ferrous metals. They produced goods that were in fact iron copies of local artefacts traditionally made of bronze (celts and flat axes). However, two basic technological secrets of ferrous metalworking practiced by alien Caucasian craftsmen – deliberate production of steel and use of heat-treatment – remained unknown to the local smiths.
Caucasian traditions were not deeply introduced into the system of local ironworking. The impact obtained by the local tribes consisted only in assimilation of ferrous metal and the most primitive modes of its processing.
In the Volga-Kama region Caucasian traditions in ferrous metalworking disappeared together with the disappearance of the Akhmylovo phenomenon. Still, the idea of iron production was conceived thanks to the metallurgic experience of local bronze founders. We can trace the realization of this idea in the late Anan'ino period in the Middle Kama region. Here, as we have shown, local metallurgical production was established in the 5th – 4th cc. ВС, which is well documented archeologically. We prove the spread of metallurgic idea by the character of raw material used in the 5th—3rd cc. ВС in the Middle Kama region: it was low-phosphorous metal, the same as in the early Anan'ino period on the Middle Volga. It gives evidence of exploitation of similar ore sources. The goods themselves are represented by simple shapes produced in limited quantity, and show a primitive technology, which has no connections with the blacksmith technique revealed in the Akhmylovo material.
In the 2nd с. ВС – the 2nd c. AD development of iron production in the Volga-Kama region can be seen in the held of metallurgy: local people started to use bog and meadow iron ores. The late Anan'ino traditions were preserved in the held of technology. Ironworking made its appearance in the periphery of the Volga-Kama region (in the beginning of the 1st millennium AD the new metal appeared at the Glyadenovo sites as far as the Vychegda region). We can trace back the contacts in production sphere between local groups of population that resulted in formation of technological stereotype, which determined further development of blacksmith craft. This stereotype could be characterized by the following features: limited assortment of iron artefacts, use of iron or raw steel for production, use of piled welding technology for producing blanks, and an extremely rare use of carburization and heat-treatment techniques.
In the 3rd—5th cc. (Azelino and Mazunino cultures) against the background of local production made by the well-estab– lished stereotype we can clearly single out imported goods, which illustrates the pattern of external contacts in the shape of artefacts exchange. As an example of such contacts we point to the presence of artefacts similar by their shape and technology, such as axe-like objects both at the sites of local (Azelino and Mazunino) and alien (Imen'kovo and Turaevo) population. As far as these items are not specific of the Finno-Ugrian circle of artefacts, they appear to have been imported. Apparently, they were produced by the Imen'kovo people (only in the Imen'kovo sites such objects have been found in associations).
The materials of the 5th—8th cc. give evidence that technical and technological stereotype in blacksmith's craft of the Volga-Kama population (Polom and Lomovatovo cultures) did not change crucially. The changes affected only the proportion of characteristic features (increased number of steel objects).
The dramatic changes in ironworking are registered in the late 1st millennium AD. These were expressed in the spread of blacksmith products of new shapes and introduction of new technologies in local blacksmith craft. It was the period of change in the technical and technological stereotype. Welding becomes its characteristic feature (three-fold welding technology, weld– ing-in, and various kinds of welding-on). During the 9th—13th cc. three-fold welding technology turned to be basic scheme in the blacksmith production. The spread of this technology invented in Scandinavia, was related to the increase of trans-European trade by the Great Volga route. The idea of three-fold welding technology was accepted by local craftsmen. However, it was not always properly realized: sometimes the central strip forming the working edge was shaped of softer materials than the side strips, or it could have been made just of iron, or of phosphorous iron. Objects' shapes often were of local origin.
This new stereotype in ironworking ofthe Volga-Kamaregion was preserved until the middle of the 2nd millennium AD.
As for the Volga and Oka region, the earliest blacksmith production penetrated to the territory of D'yakovo culture from the Scythian world. However, it did not seriously affect the formation of local blacksmith's craft. It were the innovations related to the coming of alien population with certain techniques to the Moskva river area that played an essential part in formation of ironworking among the D'yakovo culture tribes (the late 1st millennium ВС). Among these innovations we should point to production of quality high-carbon steel, use of complicated technologies of welding together iron and steel, extensive use of heat-chemical and heat-treatment techniques in ferrous metalworking. The discussed stereotype gradually spread over the area of D'yakovo culture and remained unchanged until the end of the culture's existence, thanks to stable life conditions of the D'yakovo population for many centuries.
Another stereotype in the Volga-Oka region we can see from the materials of the Ryazan-Oka cemeteries culture and the Finno-Ugrian peoples known from the chronicles (the Mordvinians, the Merya, and the Muroma tribes). By its general features until the 9th c. it looks similar to what we have revealed in the Volga-Kama region. Despite various contacts of local population in other spheres, in ironworking not any technical innovations can be traced.
In the 9th c. same as in the Volga-Kama region, we see dramatic changes in blacksmith's craft here. Among the Merya tribes and the population of the Tver-Volga region the base of high-quality iron production (especially, in production of knives) becomes technological welding (with domination of three-fold welding). Along with the imported products made by the classical scheme of three-fold welding, we meet with local low-quality imitations of this technology. The spread of objects made by three-fold welding technology was related to involving the Merya tribes and the Tver-Volga region population into trans-European trade by the Great Volga route.
The Mordvinian tribes remained in the limits of traditional ways of ferrous metalworking. Their contacts in the production sphere were limited to the import of objects and rarely – to imitation of the imported models.
The extensive analytical material for the study of ironworking of the Finno-Ugrian peoples of the Volga and the West Ural regions we have used in this work allows us state that technical and technological stereotype in this branch of production is quite a stable element of culture. Stability of the production traditions during a long period of time is clearly seen. Despite numerous migrations, invasions of alien population into the territory of the Finno-Ugrian peoples, and transformations of local cultures, there were no noticeable changes in their blacksmithing until the 9th c. AD. It was the 9th c. when a sharp leap-forward occurred in the milieu of the Finno-Ugrian peoples of the Volga and the West Ural regions. It was connected with their involvement into trans-European trade system by the Great Volga-Baltic route. The transformation manifested itself in wide spread of blacksmith products of common European shapes and introduction of new technologies in local blacksmithing. A change of technical and technological stereotype took place: three-fold welding and welding-in technologies were adopted, heat-treatment of high-quality objects became a tradition, and a new kind of raw material – phosphorous iron – was used purposefully.
A different situation we can see by the example of the Mordvinian tribes. Here there was no change of technical and technological stereotype that could have been explained by their relative territorial isolation. The Mordvinians paid tribute to the Khazarian kaganate, and later to the Volga Bulgarian state. Hence, the alien influence on them was limited to acquirement of blacksmith products or local imitations of their shapes.
The objects (mainly knives) made by three-fold welding technique are the most significant markers of the Finno-Ugrian peoples' relationships in the 9th—11th cc. The earliest finds of this kind (the 7th—8th cc.) are known in Scandinavia. By the late 8th– 10th cc. these appeared in Eastern Europe in the sites that are considered trade and craft centres (Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, Gnezdovo, Sarskoe hillfort and Krutik). At that time there traces of Scandinavian population's presence there are evident.
The products from these centres had immediately got great demand and spread in the Finno-Ugrian world quite rapidly up to rather distant ctTCclS (for example, the Permian tribes on the Vychegda). Technologically these goods could be easily discriminated from local products, and they mark the northwestern direction of contacts.
The idea of three-fold welding technology was adopted by local craftsmen. However, they did not clearly understand its core and specifics of its use (welding together phosphorous iron and high-carbon steel). The shapes of objects often remained local. The adopted innovation was used in the Perm blacksmithing until the 14