The Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University celebrated three anniversaries in the 2024/2025 academic year: the present year marks the 85th anniversary of the department, the 90th anniversary of the Faculty of History, and the 270th anniversary of Moscow University. Archaeology was sporadically taught at Moscow University as early as the fi rst third of the 19th century, and regular scholarly and teaching activities in the fi eld of archaeology were initiated in 1880 by Professor D.N. Anuchin. The Department of Archaeology was preceded by the Archaeological Section of the Faculty of Social Sciences, which was founded in 1921 by V.A. Gorodtsov. The Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of History was established and headed by A.V. Artsikhovsky, a student of Gorodtsov, in 1939. The work of A.V. Artsikhovsky was subsequently continued by V.L. Yanin, who occupied the position of department head from 1978 until 2016. Following the inaugural graduation of archaeologists in 1940, the department has consistently produced a signifi cant number of specialists in the fi eld. By the summer of 2024, a total of 859 graduates, including both bachelors and masters, had completed their studies from the department. Of these, 346 (40,2% of the total graduates) subsequently defended their candidate dissertations, and 114 (13,2%) defended their doctoral theses. In accordance with the traditions established by eminent scholars who have previously headed the department, as well as other distinguished specialists, the staff of the Department of Archaeology continue to actively engage in scientifi c and pedagogical activities. In recent years, there has been an updating of traditional courses, and the development of a number of new elective special courses. It is noteworthy that the vast majority of departmental personnel (17 out of 18) have engaged in a wide range of research activities encompassing diverse fieldwork, laboratory-based research, and offi ce-based research. In the period spanning 2020 to 2024, the number of articles published by the researchers in leading journals, including those in the top-25, totalled 118. In addition, the researchers have published 122 articles in collected volumes, two personal monographs, and one collective monograph, as well as chapters in collective works. The department has organized seven expeditions (with student and postgraduate internships), which have researched various archaeological sites, ranging from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages, from Veliky Novgorod in the north to the Central Caucasus in the south, and from Smolensk in the west to the Southern Urals in the east.
Anatoly R. Kantorovich (Wed,) studied this question.