Konstantin Merezhkovsky as an Investigator of the Archaeological Monuments of the Crimea (1879–1880)

In the paper, the Crimean routes of professor of Kazan University K.S. Merezhkovsky are systematized, together with the discoveries he made, the locations of the objects of archaeological heritage found by him are specified, and the results of the researcher's two field seasons are summed up. Konstantin Sergeevich Merezhkovsky is traditionally considered to be a discoverer of Stone Age sites in Crimea. However, his activities during two field seasons also involved a number of other monuments related to the Early Iron Age and Middle Ages. After discovering the primeval sites on the territory of France and Germany, K.S. Merezhkovsky, inspired by the discoveries of European scholars, tried to find the Russian counterparts of European antiquities. His choice quite rightly fell on the foothills of the Crimean Mountains and the Mountain Crimea proper which abound in natural cavities quite suitable to serve as abodes for the Stone Age people. K.S. Merezhkovsky's field studies permitted to not only reveal new archaeological monuments, collect a large number of finds and remains of extinct animals, but also ascertain the fact of human populations in epochs more distant than as was presented in biblical history. Also, it is this researcher who has the right to be called the first archaeologist of such important Crimean Middle Age monuments as the Aluston fortress, the “cave towns” of Bakla, Eski-Kermen, the caves of Tysiachegolovaya and Kholodnaya. Eventually, K.S. Merezhkovsky managed to find or for the first time to conduct archaeological studies on 14 significant objects of archaeological heritage, a number of which now are the objects of federal significance.