Local variants of medieval Russian woman's burial costume in the Upper Volga region

In the paper by Yu.V. Stepanova the problem of singling out local variants of medieval Russian woman's burial costume is considered. The author analyses the whole corpus of materials from the kurgan cemeteries of the Upper Volga region. Metal costume details are of special significance, when distinguishing different variants of burial costume. Totally three basic local variants of costume have been singled out, as well as several sub-variants that were used in some districts. Moreover, specific features in costume were traced even for the clusters of two or three kurgan cemeteries. Three basic costume variants probably reflect the process of formation of the medieval Russian costume, developed from the Slavic one. They also help to reconstruct the process of settling the territory by the Slavs. The third basic variant of costume used in the East of the discussed region mirrors some characteristic Finno-Ugrian features preserved in the area. In the West certain costume details are related to the Balts' tribes. The sub-variants point to the process of formation of the medieval Russian costume typical of the Upper Volga, and similar to the North Russian costume known ethnographically. In this context the history of some features of the Tver folk costume becomes clearer.