The Investigation of the Medieval Russian Bronze Reliquary Cross Pendant Using a Complex of Nondestructive Methods
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TALLOGRAPHIC METHODS IN HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
The Investigation of the Medieval Russian Bronze Reliquary Cross Pendant Using a Complex of Nondestructive Methods E. S. Kovalenkoa, K. M. Poduretsa,*, E. A. Greshnikova, I. Y. Zaytsevab, S. S. Agafonova, V. A. Somenkova†, N. N. Kolobylinaa, A. A. Kaloyana, L. I. Govora, V. A. Kurkina, and Y. B. Yatsishinaa a National
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Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute,” Moscow, 123182 Russia Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117036 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received April 23, 2018; revised January 15, 2019; accepted January 15, 2019
Abstract—The medieval Russian bronze reliquary cross pendant was investigated using a complex of nondestructive methods in order to determine the degree its integrity and identify the material filling its internal cavity. The metal composition is established. It is found that the cross material was subjected to spatially inhomogeneous corrosion and that the cavity is filled with soil. It is shown that application of complementary nondestructive methods provides the most reliable information on historical heritage objects. DOI: 10.1134/S1063774519050110
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A reliquary cross pendant is a small cross-shaped reliquary, aimed at being worn on breast, which consists of two connected valves. Reliquary cross pendants are used to store and wear religious relics. The possible relics inserted in reliquary cross pendants, related to different historical periods, were described in [1]. The object of our study was the bronze reliquary cross pendant (Fig. 1) that was found in a mixed arable land in the ancient settlement Soroguzhino 2 in Suzdal’skoe Opol’e (Vladimir oblast, Yur’ev-Pol’skii district) during the Suzdal archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2015, headed by Academician N.A. Makarov). The sizes of the cross with a heading are 54 × 25 × 5 mm. The cross valves have semicircular branch endings with bead protrusions aside. There are a convex relief Crucifix image in the center of the face valve, which has one loop in the top and one loop in the bottom (Fig. 1a), and a convex relief image of the Mother of God with palms open before the breast in the center of the rear shutter, which has two loops in the top and two loops in the bottom (Fig. 1b, type III.3.1 according to oldthe classification of A.A. Peskova [2]). The valves were cast from an impression of ready products, the figures of saints are presented schematically, and the details are not elaborated. There are 76 findings of crosses of this type in the list of reliquary cross pendants [2]; the finding sites are known for 52 of them. Most of these crosses originate from the † Deceased.
Southern Rus monuments; however, products of this type were also found on the northern Russian territory: in Novgorod (two) in the layers dated back to the periods from the end of the XI century to the beginning of the XII century and from the XII century to the first half of the XIII century, in Tver,
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