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The investigation into the technological aspects of all the materials and archaeological evidence supporting the existence of organized production activity at the mediaeval Bulgarian complexes can be delineated into the following categories: workshops;Instruments and guides, scales and coins;Base metals and alloys, metallurgical analysis;Technological process. The subject of the first category is the site where production is carried out - the workshop and its connection to the complex's remaining components. The second stage of this investigation considers its separate parts - the furnace, the area surrounding the furnace, the hearth and the pit where rejected articles are discarded. Objects found during the investigation define the function of these separate areas.Results show that the objects are primarily made of copper, copper-tin alloy (bronze, lead and silver. Considering, it can be concluded that jewelry production was very well-organized and suited to fulfilling all of the requirements of this craft.Local medieval artisans mastered and applied the whole range of techniques and skills involved, further developing and perfecting many of them.
About the author
In 2011 Stela Doncheva was appointed associate professor of medieval archeology in NAIM-BAS. From 2004 she was excavated the first known complexes for metalwork in Medieval Bulgaria. Her interests are related to the medieval history and culture, metallurgy and production of metal art, reconstruction of church architecture in Middle Ages.
