Irina A. Saprykina¹,*, Sergey E. Kichanov²,**, Denis P. Kozlenko²,***, Evgeniy V. Lukin²,****

¹ Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia
² Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia

* E-mail: dolmen200@mail.ru
** E-mail: ekich@nf.jinr.ru
*** E-mail: denk@nf.jinr.ru
**** E-mail: lukin@jinr.ru

Keywords: Old Russian jewelry, the Tver hoard of 2014, neutron tomography and radiography, the manufacturing technique, the Kiev school of jewellery.

A number of objects from the Tver hoard excavated on the territory of the Tver Kremlin in 2014 and dated back to 1238 AD were studied by means of neutron tomography before the start of restoration work. The main objective of this examination was to obtain data on internal structure of the objects and to determine if there are any special coatings such as gilding or niello. The study was performed on the 14th channel of pulsed high-flux reactor IBR‑2 (Pulsed Fast Reactor 2) in Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics (JINR, Dubna). The results allowed precise localizing the areas of niello and gilding on the bracelet surface and revealing details on the manufacturing technique of a radial kolt. It is noted that the bracelet from the Tver hoard of 2014 was manufactured with the same technique as a bracelet from the Tver hoard of 1906, and the kolt from the Tver hoard of 2014 has analogues in the Terekhovo hoard of 1876. Presumably, both the bracelet and the kolt from the Tver hoard of 2014 were manufactured by one of Kiev workshops.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630001631-3