Department of Preservation of Archaeological Heritage

Although the first new construction archaeological expedition was organized in the USSR as early as 1929, and extensive new construction work was carried out in the flooded zones of reservoirs on the Don and Volga in the mid-1950s, the Sector for New Construction and Contractual Expeditions as an independent division of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was not established until 1972.

From 1984 to 1987, the Sector, together with the Sector for Archaeological Vaults, was part of the Archaeological Service Department, headed by V.V. Sedov. In 1987, the Sector was transformed into the Department of Protective Excavations. Over the years, the Sector, and then the Department, were headed by I.I. Artemenko, Yu.A. Krasnov, S.A. Belyaev, G.E. Afanasyev, and A.S. Smirnov. Today, it is headed by A.V. Engovatova.

Over more than 20 years of work, the department's staff has conducted dozens of expeditions to newly constructed sites across our