Pages: 15-25 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2551525
The article introduces new historical sources into scientific circulation — manuscripts of preparatory materials for articles by the outstanding Russian archaeologist I. E. Zabelin (1825—1908) “On metal production in Russia before the end of the 17th century” and “Historical Review of the vitreous enamel and tile work in Russia”, as well as Zabelin’s unpublished review of I. P. Sakharov’s work. We also used an unpublished handwritten card file of the Master’s Dictionary of Metalwork from the 17th century, from which only a small fraction of the information was used by the scientist in his publications. Referring to archival materials allows us to trace not only the empirical part of Zabelin’s research but also to reveal his contribution to the theory of archaeology, as expressed in his attempt to create a unified classification of the ancient material world, at least metal and ceramic products. This task of compiling was set in archaeology only at the beginning of the 21st century. Zabelin’s materials science research is based on the methods he employed in processing specific archaeological materials, which were very advanced for that era. We can follow the evolution of his approach only by examining his archives. Addressing the scientist’s manuscripts allows us to dispel the historiographical myths that have developed in archaeology, particularly the belief that Zabelin was not proficient in foreign languages and did not have an interest in archaeology. In fact, Zabelin carefully studied ancient materials, revealing the chemical composition, technology, and morphology of ancient artefacts 150 years before the French archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin.
Keywords: medieval production, ancient Russian craft, metalwork, enamel, history of archaeology, I. E. Zabelin
Information about author:
Yulia Kokorina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences. Moscow Polytechnic University. Bolshaya Semyonovskaya St., 38, Moscow, 107023, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2496-3958