Laboratory of Spatial Archaeology

The Spatial Archaeology Laboratory was established in 2025. The department's primary focus is updating data from the "Archaeological Map of Russia" system. In their research, the laboratory's staff emphasizes the use of large databases and the implementation of spatial analysis tools to reconstruct the cultural and historical development of Russia from the prehistoric era to the modern era.

The conceptual foundations of the geoinformation system, which integrates information on archaeological sites across Russia, were laid during the "Archaeological Sites of Russia" project, which the team has been implementing since 2014 and has received two scientific foundation grants: Russian Science Foundation (RSF) No. 14-18-03755 "Geoinformation System 'Archaeological Sites of Russia'" and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) No. 18-09-400053 "Archaeological Map of Russia: The Post-War Twenty Years on the Map." As a result, the research team created a national-scale geographic information system that accumulates information on all archaeological sites explored in Russia between 1944 and 1964 and between 2008 and 2014, as well as field survey sites where archaeological objects were not identified. To date, this system contains approximately 70,000 records of archaeological sites in Russia and over 250,000 records of archaeological pits without signs of historical heritage sites. The system consists of a software module for data collection, the database itself, and a module for visualizing this data on electronic maps.

The staff of the Spatial Archaeology Laboratory continues to expand the system and update the information on archaeological sites. The accumulation of large data sets will provide an evidence base for previously obtained observations and enable new research directions and generalizations. Improving the Archaeological Map of Russia, expanding its capabilities, and further enriching it with information will increase its potential for addressing both general historical issues and practical tasks of heritage preservation, popularization, and inclusion in the modern cultural space.

Since 2021, the "Archaeological Monuments of Russia" system has been open to the public on the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences website at: https://archaeolog.ru/pub/map