The Zhou Shu says that the Ashina smelted iron for the Rouran on the southern slope of the Golden Mountain.[1] The archaeology of the Altai gives that report a place on the ground. In the south-east of the range, in the Chuya and Kurai basins, lies the largest cluster of bloomery furnaces that the region has so far shown.[2]

The furnaces

The Altai holds a significant number of iron-melting furnaces, and the Chuya and Kurai basins hold the highest concentration of bloomery furnaces.[2] The researchers call this district the Mountain Metallurgical Area.[2] Many mines are also known there.[2]

The excavators of some furnaces found early medieval objects inside them. They were iron bits and stirrups.[2] The finds place at least part of the furnaces’ use in the early Middle Ages.

The Göktürks and the district

The authors of the study read the district as the economic base of the Göktürks. They write that the mining and smelting district of the south Altai was tied to the economic activity of the Göktürks, and that iron was the most important resource.[2] Their reading of the history follows from that.[3] On this reading the Ashina settled in the Altai among local people, and they received from the Rouran access to the ore, and the number of furnaces suggests that production was large.[3] The smelters did not stop at the tribute they owed the Rouran. They also made iron for their own needs.[3] The early victories over the Rouran then show an army with the best weapons of the steppe.[3]

This is a reading of the finds and not a finding of them. The same authors state the limits. The chronology of the furnaces and the specific features of iron production in the different periods remain unclear. The iron and steel industry of the Altai has not been the subject of special investigation in recent decades.[2]

Finds from the graves

The graves of the Altai show iron in use before and during the Göktürk age. The older groups, Bulan-Koby and Kok-Pash, hold iron arrowheads, armour plates, knives and swords.[4] The later Kudyrge type, dated to at least the middle of the fifth century, brings a new object: the iron stirrup, unknown in the older groups.[5] Artistic bronze plates for belts and harness appear with it.[6] The authors name these two categories, stirrups and harness plates, as the main difference between the sites of pre-Türkic and Türkic times.[6] The article on horse harness tells the history of the stirrup.

The square stone enclosures with their sculptures, stelae and balbal stones also yield iron: pieces of horse harness, arrowheads, armour plates and a helmet, quiver hooks and knives.[7]

Limits of the sources

The Chinese sources name the Golden Mountain and the Ashina as smelters. They do not name a furnace, a mine or a valley.[1] The equation of the Chuya and Kurai furnaces with the smithies of the Ashina rests on the geography of the Altai and on the authors’ reading.

References

  1. ^ a b Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou), juan 50
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Konstantinov 2018, p. 15
  3. ^ a b c d Konstantinov 2018, p. 20
  4. ^ Konstantinov 2018, p. 12
  5. ^ Konstantinov 2018, p. 12–13
  6. ^ a b Konstantinov 2018, p. 13
  7. ^ Konstantinov 2018, p. 14

Sources

Literature

  • Nikita Konstantinov; Vasilii Soenov; Synaru Trifanova; Svetlana Svyatko, History and culture of the early Türkic period. A review of archaeological monuments in the Russian Altai from the 4th–6th century AD (2018)

Related

What links here1

Institutions and Titles
The Economy of the Steppe Empires

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Bloomery Furnaces of the South Altai.” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/institutions/altai-bloomery-furnaces/

Last revised: 7 November 2026