LOVE WRAPPED IN SILK AND GOLD. ANALYSIS AND RECONSTRUCTION OF FABRICS FROM THE DISCOVERED BURIAL IN THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN PALAD-KOMARIVTSI (TRANSCARPATHIAN REGION, UKRAINE)

The paper presents the analysis and results of the reconstruction of a set of women's clothing from a burial discovered in 2017 in a medieval church in Palad–Komarivtsi (Palágykomoróc)(Transcarpathian region, Ukraine). These are the materials of the archaeological expedition of the Uzhhorod National University, which had thoroughly studied the monument. The authors note that artefacts of women's clothing are quite rare in Ukraine, and a decorated set with a sophisticated headdress is almost the only one for the second half of the XVI – early XVII centuries. Therefore, all this serves as a rationale for the study. The identified and described materials made it possible to investigate the set of clothes of a teenage girl, namely, dresses, headdresses and decorative elements characterized by a wide range of used fabrics. This is determined by raw materials (silk, woolen, plant-based), types (smooth and pile) and different colors. Decorative elements in the form of braids, laces, fasteners are made of gold threads and are similar in design and execution techniques to findings in neighboring regions. The cut of the dress and the sophisticated headdress correspond to the late XVI – the first half of the XVII centuries. This is indicated by both visual sources and similar archaeological finds from other monuments. Analogies testify to the fact that such cut and decoration were common among wealthy middle-class women and noblewomen of many cities of Central-Eastern Europe. In addition, a thorough study of the textile remains gave reason to say that the clothes the girl was buried in were used quite often during her life but there are no traces of make-over or stretching (alters that can occur with a change in the owner's physique). Instead, a careful analysis of the fabric (an element of the headdress) has evidence of lifelong use and further increase in length (age changes of the owner). Therefore, the set, integrity and totality of discovered clothing made it possible to clearly and believably reproduce the clothing of a young resident of Uzhhorod region of the early modern period. Its kinship with European fashion trends and the level of craftsmanship required to create all its elements once again emphasizes a single European material space. All this encourages further processing of the materials of the archaeological expedition of the Uzhhorod National University.