Research of the Golden Gate by Vasyl Liaskoronsky in the Light of the Documentation of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee of 1926–1927

The purpose of the research is the archeographic publication of business correspondence of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee with state institutions regarding the preparation and conduct of archaeological excavations of the Golden Gate in Kyiv, conducted under the leadership of Vasyl Liaskoronsky in the fall of 1927. The documents are stored in the scientific archive of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, their latest dates: 1926–1927. When preparing documents for publication, the author relied on the methods of edition archeography, special emphasis was placed on general scientific methods of codicographic description and critical analysis of documentary material. Scientific novelty. The body of business documentation of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee, which was previously outside the boundaries of scientific discourse, is introduced into scientific circulation. This information made it possible to significantly clarify the records available in the historiography regarding the phasing of the preparation and implementation of the rescue archaeological excavations of the Golden Gate in the fall of 1927. The analysis of the available correspondence made it possible to establish that the information spread in historiography regarding the excavations in two stages ‒ during September 2‒30 and from October 10 to November 4, which was based on the publication of a short report on the excavations by V. Liaskoronsky (1931), is erroneous. In fact, the time frame for the works covered the periods from September 22 to October 1 and from October 19 to November 2. Thanks to the estimated documentation, the total cost of the works and the number of workers at the facility were determined. The reasons for the difficult conditions in which V. Liaskoronsky had to work during the excavations, which were briefly mentioned in the existing historiography, are detailed. Conclusions. The published documents significantly deepen knowledge about the peculiarities of the rescue archaeological excavations of the Golden Gate, carried out under the leadership of V. Liaskoronsky in the fall of 1927.