Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology (Jun 2011)
On the Investigation of Human Remains, Found in Savvatiev Monastery (Tver Region, Russia)
Abstract
Three skeletons found on the course of restoration works in Znamenskaya Church of the for-mer Savvatiev Monastery (Tver Region, Russia) were studied. They belonged to two mature and one senile man buried in XV century. The senile man, buried in rich limestone sarcopha-gus, stand out by its high stature, strong physicality and old age. He also had a severe trauma of its left leg. The attribution of this skeleton to the Saint Savvaty, Palestine monk and founder of Savvatiev Monastery, who was buried in Znamenskaya Church, is problematic due to the absence of Mediterranean features in his skull and traumas, not known for him in historical records. Two other men, buried by the sarcophagus, do not exceed average physical conditions of contemporaneous men and have a peculiar anomaly of first two cervical vertebrae, which may show their close kinship.
