Preliminary results of chemical technological research of gold threads from the Chudov monastery in the Moscow kremlin

This paper publishes preliminary research results of the metal chemical composition and techniques of making gold threads found during excavations of graves dated to the 14th-17th centuries in the Chudov Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin in 2016-2017. The first stage of the research focused on X-ray fluorescence analysis of gold thread metal and their examination by optical and confocal fluorescence microscopy. It was established that all specimens were made from different types of threads. Most likely, the examined threads were made in European centers of gold thread production; it might be possible that threads made at a manufacturing plant in Southern Germany were used in making funerary clothes discovered in the Chudov Monastery. At the next stage of the research several critical issues are to be addressed such as thread making techniques, chemical composition of the metal they are made from; it is also important to understand if this sample of threads has imitations of Byzantine classical specimens made in Italian workshops