Chronology of anthropomorphic sarcophagi in medieval Russia of the 15th-17th centuries

The finds discovered over the last 25 years in Moscow and Muscovy towns were used as a basis for clarification of the chronology of formal traits typical for stone sarcophagi designed in the shape of a human body (anthropomorphic sarcophagi). The main early characteristic is a preserved rudiment of a high sarcophagus lid dated to the Classical Period, i.e. two lid slopes or their axial rib. The contour of the upper section and the niche for the head recognized so far as an important dating attribute is relevant but only when combined with other characteristics (the upper section of the lid extending into the leg part where it narrows rapidly) and only within the overall stratigraphic context. A number of attributes (a horse-shoe niche for the head, the part of the lid extending to the upper section covered with broken lines) became common starting from the second half of the 16th century; however, their absence in the preceding period has not been proven.