Staircase turret of the St. George’s cathedral in the Yuriev Monastery: archaeology, architecture and fresco painting

The article focuses on the architecture of the staircase turret of the St. George’s Cathedral in the Yuriev (St. George’s) Monastery near Novgorod and fresco wall paintings in the drum and dome at the top of the turret as well as those marked on the walls of the spiral staircase itself. This painting made in the first half of the 12th century can be interpreted in different ways: at present, experts have been associating it with the monastic use. Moreover, the room in the drum of the dome is regarded as a solitary space for monastic prayer. The analysis of the architecture of the staircase turret leads to conclusion that most of its features are related to the princely order and with the main purpose of the tower: a way to rise to the choir loft intended for the prince and his entourage. In this regard, the understanding of the nature of the painting at the top of the turret may change. The article also touches on the chronology of the construction and painting of the St. George’s Cathedral: the painting of the turret was suddenly stopped, which may be due to several events. The most probable one is the beginning of the construction of the princely St. John’s Church in Petryatin Court in 1127, where masters from the St. George’s Cathedral could be transferred to.

Christian burials with vessels in Moscow State: to the status of the issue

The article considers Christian burials with vessels of the late 14th – mid-17th centuries. During this period, burial vessels became an important part of the funeral rite of Muscovy. The volume of material sufficient for statistical processing made it possible to reveal the most characteristic features of the funeral ritual with a vessel in the grave. The following signs were selected for study: areas where such burials occur, persons who were buried this way the locations in which a vessel was placed in the grave. Archaeological evidence has confirmed the emergence of this burial tradition primarily in Moscow and the surrounding area. This burial rite was more common in monasteries and elite necropolises. Vessel was not a required object. They are more often found in male burials than in female ones. The results of the study indicate that in performing the funeral ritual people tried to adhere to a certain single tradition while clear canonical rules were lacking. Thus, it was the priest conducting the ceremony who decided whom with and where to place a vessel in the grave.

Bone ice skates in the medieval Novgorod (based on archaeological research of the Institute of Archaeology RAS in 2018–2019)

The article summarizes available information on bone ice skates and presents the results of research and classification of the collection of skates of the 11th–15th centuries found by the Novgorod Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology RAS. Medieval ice skates are small bone runners made from the tubular bones of large domestic animals. All objects show traces of the specific processing of original bones: cut off epiphyses and a flattened plantar side (sliding surface). The amount of accumulated archaeological material, instrumental study of wear pattern on the working surface, experiments in the use and manufacture of skates, numerous ethnographic parallels in the use of bone skates in a number of countries almost up to the present day, as well as the fact of skating on bone shoes recorded in a 12th century source, make it safe to say that, in functional terms, ice skating was one of the forms of winter pastime and was a part of the Novgorod dwellers’ everyday life.

Interconnection between the dynamics of natural conditions and populating of the Qarabag plain of Central Azerbaijan in the 4th millennium BC

Climatic changes that took place in the 4th millennium BC (the second half of the Atlantic period, 6–5 thousand years ago) as revealed with the palynological data from the settlements of the Qarabag (Karabakh) plain of Central Azerbaijan caused direct changes in the lifestyle and economic structure of the Leylatepe culture carriers. Three consecutive changes in humidity were recorded, each of which coincides with a certain type of settlements, differing in their topography, quality of the construction material used, area and density of settlement.

Dynamics of development of rural blacksmith craft in Rus

It is impossible to obtain a full-fledged description of the industrial culture of Rus without studying the role of rural handicrafts. The research on the vector of development of rural blacksmith craft is of great interest, in particular, the extent to which this vector reflects the dynamics of urban craft. It was established that rural craftsmen did not only supply raw materials to urban craft centres and produce technologically simple products, but also embraced technological innovations. The accumulated analytical data made it possible to suggest the coinciding dynamics of the development of urban and rural handicrafts. The authors conducted a comparative analysis for such a category of objects as knives, which is one of the most numerous groups of iron tools. The article shows a complex picture of the chronological distribution of technological patterns for making knives on rural sites. It is concluded that the rural blacksmith craft in Rus was in constant development.

Glazed pottery of the Eastern origin in the South part of the Eastern Europe. The main types and sourses of production

The article focuses on the analysis of glazed ware imported into the southern regions of Russia from the Early Middle Ages to the Golden Horde period. The author studied most common types of glazed ware and their sources. In order to compare, the paper considers the groups of ware brought to the Pontic and the Volga River regions. From the 7th century in the northern Pontic region, vessels produced in Constantinople appeared. Various groups of Byzantine pottery were recorded there till the beginning of the Golden Horde period. In the Caspian region, glazed ware appeared not earlier than the middle-late 9th – early 10th century coming there from Central Asia and the Middle East. In the 11th century, there were no significant changes in the sources and number of imported products in the Pontic, while the Volga River region falls under the influence of the North-Eastern Caucasus, Transcaucasia and the Middle East (mainly Iran). In the second half – end of the 12th century, the Volga region was becoming one of the key areas points in the trade of kashi ware of Middle Eastern origin. In the 14th century, Byzantine ware first appeared there. The same period was marked with the rise in local pottery production in the Pontic and Azov littoral which contributed to the spread of these products throughout Eastern Europe.

6th century Amphorae with Menorah Representation from Phanagoria

During excavations in 2019 in Phanagoria at the Lower City site, two amphorae with red paint dipinto representing a seven-lamp menorah were found in a fire layer dating from around the middle of the 6th century. Representations of seven-armed candelabrum on amphorae and generally on containers were a sign that they contained a kosher food, i.e. suitable for consumption according to Halakha – a corpus of laws guiding activities of a Jew. Thus, the published amphorae attest to the presence of a Jewish community in the city in early Byzantine time and fill a chronological gap in a short list of archaeological and written evidence about the Jewish community of Phanagoria, moreover, the fact that the vessels were found at a fairly close distance from each other in a narrowly dated gated complex may indicate the presence of a Jewish quarter there. The finds are of particular importance due to the fact that the number of amphorae and other vessels with dipinti representing a menorah known to date is rather insignificant. Their findings are known only from excavations in several centres of the Northern Pontic and Palestine.

The floors of Smolensk churches of the 12th–13th centuries

In 17 of 21 Smolensk’ 12-13 century buildings there were found floor remains with different state of preservation. Some were found quite intact in significant area in situ, and other are represented with single findings of glazed tiles. Neither smalt, nor slate slabs were used in that buildings. In two churches there were found sandstone slabs, imitating the slate. In another two churches was mainly used lime mortar grouting. The most widespread materials for the decoration of the floors were the plinth and the glazed tiles. The plinth was mostly used for decorating of the main area of the buildings, for example, in naos and galleries. The glazed tiles more often were found in the separated compartments: choirs, apses and in some special parts of galleries. There is no great variety of shapes and dimensions of ceramic tiles of that time. The square and triangle ones prevail. Their side dimension is normally 11-12 sm, the thickness is 1,8 – 2,8 sm. This proportion remains unchanged, unlike plinth size, which during 12 century becomes smaller and smaller. And also some figured tiles were found in Smolensk’ buildings of that time.