Vladimir Yu. Koval

Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow (kovaloka@mail.ru)

Key words: Christian antiquities, temple, necropolis, crosses, book culture.

Christian antiquities of the fortified settlement Rostislavl (the remains of the town of the 12th – 16th cc. as a part of Ryazan land) including the square of the wooden temple surrounded by elite necropolis of the 12th – 14th cc. with the remains of stone grave monuments, the objects of private devotion (baptismal and pectoral crosses from a stone, horns, non-ferrous metals and small metal icons-appendices). Ceramic glazed cups used for funeral rites and details of books’ clasps from non-ferrous metals are related to the same category of antiquities. Rostislavl of Pre-Mongol period significantly gave in on the amount and variety of such finds to the capital of Ryazan Province Staraya Ryazan which matches precisely its comparatively low status of that time.