Vladimir Kolosov
The State Hermitage Museum, Russia
The attribution of architectural fragments, which were found during the archaeological researches of antique monuments of the Northern Black Sea Coast used to be rather difficult. Elements of the destroyed buildings are found in various condition or, worse, in secondary use, having no reliable communication with the architectural context. Comparison with other reliably dated constructions of the classical antiquity is the main direction of the research, in attempts to date and reconstruct the buildings. It, in turn, causes difficulties connected with the limited number of well preserved constructions and not fully developed chronological classification of architectural details.
The goal of the research is to identify the most specific directions of the development of the Doric frieze of triglyphs and metopes. The objects of research are the identification of morphological signs with statistically significant variability, the differentiation of material on the basis of these signs and the interpretation of the revealed groups of objects, on account of the culturally significant external signs, such as the regional and dating characteristics of architectural details. Geometrical morphometrics and factorial analysis are the methodical base of our research. Drawings of Doric monuments of various regions of the classical antiquity served as the material for the research. Chronological framework: 6th century BC — 2nd century AD.
Some morphological characteristics which have strong correlation with place and time of origin have been defined as a result of this research. It has been established that the most significant characteristic is the shape of the glyphs. Based on this, it is possible to trace the main vectors of the frieze elements’ development.