Department of Archaeology of Muscovite Rus'

Department of Archaeology of Muscovite Rus'

The Moscow Archaeology Sector was established (as part of the Department of Slavic-Russian Archaeology) in 1987 under the direction of S.Z. Chernov. Currently, the Sector is headed by L.A. Belyaev.

Initially, the Sector's main areas of work were the study of the historical development of the city of Moscow, its districts and suburbs, and the on-site conservation studies of individual monuments (especially in the Kitay-gorod, Zaneglimenye, and Moscow region). Over time, the Sector began to understand its mission much more broadly, encompassing fundamental archaeological research into the entire culture and history of not only Moscow but also Rus' of the Muscovite period (14th–17th centuries), particularly ceramics, architecture, church topography, and applied art.

From the very beginning, particular importance was attached to the study of historical landscapes, the development of rural settlement patterns in the Middle Ages, and the history of the early develop