Archeology of Distinctiveness: the Material World of Muscovy of the 14th–16th Centuries

The paper sets as its goal to take a closer look at heritage of Muscovite Russia from the archeological perspective, while presenting it as an archeological culture of a kind with the inherent distinctiveness. It considers the origin of Muscovite culture after the Horde invasion and a number of case studies from the fields of architecture, ornament, funerary customs, and crafts. The end of the 14th–early 15th century marks out a chronological threshold, crossing which this “archeological culture” can be deemed self-contained. The concepts are refined with respect to the genesis of a sarcophagus and gravestone slab. The paper assesses a role of the Eastern (Islam), Eastern Christian, and West European impulses in the development of material culture of “Muscovy.”