History of metallurgy in the Urals

The history of metallurgy in the Urals stands out to historians and economists as a separate stage in the history of Russian industry and covers the period from the 4th millennium BC to the present day.Гаврилов Д. В. Горнозаводский Урал XVII—XX вв. Избранные труды. — Екатеринбург: УрО РАН, 2005. — c. 85 — . The emergence of the mining district is connected with the history of Ural metallurgy. The geography of the Ural metallurgy covers the territories of modern Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Udmurtia, Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast and Orenburg Oblast.Баньковский Л. История и экология: очерки об истоках исторической гидрогеографии — Соликамск: 2008. — c. 69 — OTRS — Книга доступна по лицензии CC BY-SA 4.0, 3.0

In the 18th century, periods of formation and development of industrial metallurgical centers stand out in Urals metallurgy, for example, the rapid construction and economic growth of more than two hundred metallurgy factories during the 18th to the first half of the 19th centuriesBashkortostan. At the Junction of Europe and Asia — Ufa: Bashkir Press Publish House, 2015 — pp. 32-33. until the abolition of serfdom on February 19, 1861, in the Russian Empire, which led to reductions in the labor force.Струмилин c. Г. Очерки экономической истории России и СССР. — М.: Наука, 1966. — c. 80 — 2500 экз. There was also a sharp drop in production rates in the early 1900s but that was followed by recovery and growth by 1913. In the 20th century, after recovering from the decline caused by the Russian Revolution(s): 1905, February 1917, and October 1917 and the Russian Civil War (November 1917 - June 1923),Mawdsley, Evan (2007). The Russian Civil War. New York: Pegasus Books. ISBN 9781681770093. Ural metallurgy had a strategic impact on ensuring the defense of the USSR on the Eastern Front of World War II which is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. In the 21st century, the development of metallurgical enterprises in the Urals is associated with the formation of vertically integrated full cycle companies.

The main milestones in the development of metal production technologies in the Urals include the transition from bloomery or the old iron production method to the Kontuazsky forge (for remelting heavy scrap)Ржешотарский А. А., Менделеев Д. И. Кричный передел // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). — СПб., 1890—1907. and the puddling methodШкерин В. А., Микитюк В. П. Диффузия технико-технологических новшеств и организационных моделей в промышленном секторе в XIX — начале XX в. // Диффузия технологий, социальных институтов и культурных ценностей на Урале (XVIII — начало XX в.) / отв. ред. Е. В. Алексеева. — Екатеринбург : УрО РАН, 2011. — c. 119—120. — 405 c. — 300 экз. — in the second half of the 19th century. Later, there was the development of hot blast at the end of the 19th century. Further, there was a transition to coke fuel and the introduction of steam engines. Finally, there was the development of open-hearth and Bessemer methods of steel production at the beginning of the 20th century.

Primitive metallurgy The first period of metallurgical production in the Urals date back to the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. During the Bronze Age, primitive copper-bronze metallurgy was developed among the pastoral tribes of the Urals. The beginning of the development of the Kargalinsky copper ore deposit, located along the Kargalka and Yangiz Rivers, began during this period.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 239-240, In the first half of the third millennium BC, centers of copper metallurgy were formed in the Western Urals and in the Kama region, the ore base that provided numerous mineral deposits of copper sandstone.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 242,

The second millennium BC was characterized by the massive spread of copper-bronze metallurgy practically throughout the Urals, and the development of new technologies and metal processing. The Seima-Turbino phenomenon of the distribution of high-quality bronze products in the vast expanses of the forest-steppe zone of Eurasia belongs to this period.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 242-243, История Урала / Под общ. ред. И. c. Капцуговича. — 2-е изд. — Пермь : Пермское книжное издательство, 1976. — Т. 1. Первобытнообщинный строй. Период феодализма. Период капитализма. / ред. тома В. В. Мухин. — c. 16-20 — 5000 экз. The centers of metallurgy of the Southern Urals of the 2nd millennium BC include settlements of the Sintashta, Abashevo and Arkaim cultures.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 244-246, The development of bronze metallurgy in the Urals was hindered by the lack of tin deposits, the alloying of copper which allowed to obtain high-quality bronze. Therefore, the metal objects found at the excavations of the Bronze Age settlements are mainly represented by products made of ordinary copper and arsenic bronze.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 248-249,

During the period from the end of the 2nd millennium BC to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, the most ore-rich areas of the southern Ural copper mines were depleted and abandoned. In the middle of the first millennium BC, metallurgical products were mastered by representatives of Srubnaya culture. In the second half of the 1st millennium BC, there were isolated pockets of Ananyino culture in the Kama-Volga region and Itkul culture in the Urals.

The appearance of iron in the Urals dates back to the 1st millennium BC. In the Kama-Volga region iron products were made from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC, and in the Ural Mountains from the fifth to the fourth centuries BC. In general, the massive penetration of primitive iron metallurgy with the use of forges in the Urals began in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Forest tribes of the northern Urals and in the north of Western Siberia mastered iron metallurgy by the end of the 1st millennium BC. In the settlements of the Gorokhovo and Kara-Abyz cultures, along with bronze, iron products were found to be in use.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 253 —

The 1st millennium AD was characterized by the massive distribution of iron in the Urals and Western Siberia. The oldest blast furnace in the Urals, belonging to the Pyanoborsk culture, was discovered by Vladimir Gening at the settlement of Cheganda I, on the territory of modern Udmurtia. Also, for the settlements of the Upper Kama region at the beginning of the Iron Age, the separation of metallurgical production into a separate craft was characteristic, which made up the specialization of entire villages or parts of them. The spread of iron crafts was facilitated by the resettlement of the Ugric tribes of the Petrogrom culture in the Urals. Remains of iron-smelting furnaces of the 6th-9th centuries were found during excavations of hill forts near modern Yekaterinburg.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 255-257 — История Урала / Под общ. ред. И. c. Капцуговича. — 2-е изд. — Пермь : Пермское книжное издательство, 1976. — Т. 1. Первобытнообщинный строй. Период феодализма. Период капитализма. / ред. тома В. В. Мухин. — c. 21-22 — 5000 экз.

In the 11th to the 13th centuries, metal goods made by Western European artisans began to penetrate the Urals through trade routes, which contributed to the expansion of the range of products smelted. Excavations at the Kama settlements or hill forts of Idnakar, Vasyakar, Dondykar, Kushmansky, and others have shown that in the 11th to the 15th centuries the main unit for smelting iron was a blast furnace. The metalworking complexes consisted of forges and tool kits. The development of heat treatment and welding of metals proceeded unevenly throughout the Urals.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 259 - In the 1st millennium, the main products of metallurgists were items for military and hunting purposes: arrowheads, spears, axes, knives, and fishhooks. From the beginning of the second millennium, agricultural implements began to predominate.Кашинцев Д. А. История металлургии Урала / под ред. академика М. А. Павлова. — М., Л.: Государственное объединенное научно-техническое издательство, Редакция литературы по чёрной и цветной металлургии, 1939. — Т. 1 (и единственный): Первобытная эпоха XVII и XVIII веков. — c. 21 — 2000 экз.

By the end of the 1st millennium, ore mining and its own copper-bronze and iron production in the Urals gradually ceased due to the depletion of available resources, competition with more developed cultures, and ethnographic changes that had begun. The penetration of Russians into the Urals, associated mainly with the abundance of furs in the region, facilitated the infiltration of new technologies, including metallurgical ones. In the 17th to the 18th centuries, abandoned ancient mines served as a kind of indicator for geologists in search of ore. With the help of such finds, the Gumeshev and Kargalin deposits of copper ores, the deposits of the Verkh-Isetsky (Upper Iset) and Kyshtym mining districts, as well as the Mednorudyansk deposit were discovered.Алексеев В. В., Гаврилов Д. В. Металлургия Урала с древнейших времён до наших дней — М.: Наука, 2008. — c. 263-264, 280 — Кашинцев Д. А. История металлургии Урала / под ред. академика М. А. Павлова. — М., Л.: Государственное объединенное научно-техническое издательство, Редакция литературы по чёрной и цветной металлургии, 1939. — Т. 1 (и единственный): Первобытная эпоха XVII и XVIII веков. — c. 20-21 — 2000 экз.Барбот де Марни Е. Н. Урал и его богатства. — Екатеринбург, типография газеты «Уральская жизнь»: Издание П. И. Певина, 1910. — c. 2

The 14th to the 16th centuries