Comprehensive Study of Natural Science Methods and Conservation of a Handbag from Krasnogorskiy Burial Ground

He article presents the results of a multidisciplinary study of a unique artifact from burial 8 of the Krasnogorskiy ancient Mari burial ground of the X century – a leather purse/handbag with a metal plate on the cover. Handbags of this type are known in the Carpathian Basin, Eastern European region and even found on some Scandinavian burial grounds. Not only the metal plate has been preserved, but also large fragments of organic materials forming the details of the handbag, which allows us to restore the full appearance of the item. A comprehensive study of the handbag made it possible to make a complete reconstruction. At present, this is the only reconstruction of purses /handbags of the sabretache type from medieval burial grounds, made on the basis of analyses of organic and metal parts of the handbag obtained by specialists of various fields. The conservation of the object was carried out by applying the comprehensive study. A specialized study of the materials used in the manufacturing of the handbag allows to reveal a certain similarity with Hungarian handbags, but does not give reason to consider the handbag from the Krasnogorskiy burial ground as a complete copy of them. This article is the first experience of a comprehensive study of items of this type at the international level (Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History named after V.M. Vasilyev, Institute of Archaeology named after A.H. Khalikov, Pázmány Péter Catholic University). The results of the study are preliminary.