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Monks and Icon Painters from the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, Moscow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

E I Alexandrovskaya ,
A L Alexandrovskiy ,
J van der Plicht ,
N N Kovalyukh  and
V V Skripkin
E I Alexandrovskaya
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
A L Alexandrovskiy
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
J van der Plicht*
Affiliation:
Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
N N Kovalyukh
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, Ukraine Academy of Science, Kiev, Ukraine
V V Skripkin
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, Ukraine Academy of Science, Kiev, Ukraine
*
Corresponding author. Email: J.van.der.Plicht@rug.nl
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Abstract

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In the Monastery of Our Saviour and St. Andronicus in Moscow, skeletal remains of clerics and of (possibly) famous icon painters were discovered. The bones were radiocarbon dated, and concentrations of trace elements in bone tissues were measured. From tombs 1–4, the 14C dates obtained from human bones (likely monks) and from associated wood date to the 14th–15th centuries AD, as expected. Trace element concentrations indicate signs of fasting. Tomb 5 contained 2 burials; these could belong to the famous icon painters Rublev and Chernyi. Indeed, the bones show high concentrations of lead, zinc, and copper, which is typical for remains of artists and metallurgists. The 14C dates of the 2 skeletons, however, differ by 200 yr, and seem to be too old for Rublev and Chernyi. At this stage, it is not clear if the burials can be assigned to these painters.

Type
How Good Are 14C Ages of Bones? Problems and Methods Applied
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , 2009 , pp. 627 - 635
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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