Tkachev V.V.

Key words: Late Bronze Age, archaeometallurgy, geoarchaeology, Urals-Mugodzhary mining and metallurgical center, archaeological micro-regions, Kozhumberdy cultural group.
The numerous deposits and occurrences of copper in the Urals mountain country (South Urals) and the Mugodzhary mountains gave rise to the development of a mining and metallurgical center in the Late Bronze Age. Sites of the Kozhumberdy type evolved around the Late Bronze Age copper workings. They played an important role on the western flank of the Andronovo cultural and historical community. The article analyses the functional mechanisms of the economic and cultural system, which was segmental in organization. Its archaeological reflection can be found in the compact micro-regions where several categories of contemporaneous archaeological sites are located. They are connected with geoarchaeological sites in the areas where the copper deposits are found. Integrated study of the sites will allow reconstructing the economic and cultural model of the Urals-Mugodzhary mining and metallurgical center and determining its place within the system of the Eurasian metallurgical province.