This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related to iron-smelting furnaces from Southern Siberia. On the basis of 159 excavated and well-preserved furnaces, nine construction types can be identified. The analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to revise previous models about emergence and development of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia and neighboring regions. We conclude that iron metallurgy developed in the region not in the Scythian time, as has long been assumed, but in the subsequent Xiongnu period of the 2nd century BCE – 2nd century CE. During the 3rd–6th centuries CE, metallurgy flourished, which is expressed in the different types and numerous smelting furnaces that coexisting in the same region. This article raises for the first time the problem we have called the ancient Türkic metallurgy paradox. This inexplicable phenomenon describes the sudden and almost complete disappearance of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia in the 7th century CE.

本文系统地整理了目前已知的所有与西伯利亚南部炼铁炉相关的考古数据和放射性碳测年数据。根据159座出土且保存完好的火炉，可以确定九种建筑类型。对一系列放射性碳测年的分析使得修正先前关于西伯利亚南部及邻近地区铁冶金的出现和发展的模型成为可能。我们得出的结论是，该地区的铁冶金技术并不像人们长期以来所认为的那样在斯基泰时代发展起来，而是在随后的公元前 2 世纪至公元 2 世纪的匈奴时期发展起来。公元3至6世纪，冶金业蓬勃发展，这体现在同一地区共存的不同类型和众多的冶炼炉。本文首次提出了我们称之为古代突厥冶金悖论的问题。这种令人费解的现象描述了公元七世纪西伯利亚南部的炼铁业突然几乎完全消失。