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May 15, 2025
Archaeologists from different regions of Russia discuss modern working methods at a conference in Petrozavodsk

The All-Russian conference of archaeologists “Connecting Space and Time” is taking place in Petrozavodsk on May 14-17. About 50 specialists gathered in person at the KarRC RAS to discuss modern methods of spatial analysis in the study of the Late Stone Age of Eurasia and another 20 experts joined online. The conference is dedicated to the memory of outstanding Soviet archaeologists - A.Y. Brusov and G.A. Pankrushev, who made a significant contribution to the development of archaeological science in the country as a whole and Karelia in particular.
The conference "Connecting Space and Time: Spatial Analysis Methods in the Study of the Late Stone Age in Eurasia" opened yesterday at the Karelian Research Centre RAS. It is being held by the It is being held by the Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS jointly with the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History KarRC RAS and a number of other scientific organizations.

The conference is dedicated to the memory of two outstanding Soviet archaeologists - Alexander Yakovlevich Bryusov and Grigory Alexandrovich Pankrushev. This year it is 140 years since the birth of A.Y. Brusov, and 105 years since the birth of his student G.A. Pankrushev. Alexander Brusov made a great contribution to the study of the Stone Age of Eastern Europe. He was the first to combine the scheme of socio-economic development of ancient societies designed by Soviet archaeologists with spatial analysis of archaeological data, and to present the Neolithic as a time of dynamic formation and communication of primitive societies. This marked the beginning of a new stage in the study of the Late Stone Age in the USSR. Grigory Pankrushev discovered hundreds of Stone Age sites in Karelia. In 1970, the Archeology Section of the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History KarRC RAS was established under his leadership.


Head of the Archeology Section, ILLH KarRC RAS Aleksey Tarasov and Professor of the Samara State Socio-Pedagogical University Alexander Vybornov

During the opening session the guests were welcomed by Aleksey Tarasov, Head of the Archeology Section ILLH KarRC RAS, and Alexander Vybornov, Professor of the Samara State Socio-Pedagogical University, who emphasized the contribution of Alexander Bryusov, Grigory Pankrushev and their Karelian followers to the development of archeology and their role in archeological discoveries in different regions of the country.

Greetings on the start of the conference and on the ILLH KarRC RAS anniversaries were extended to the audience by KarRC RAS Director General, Corresponding Academician Olga Bakhmet.

– This year the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History KarRC RAS celebrates its 95th anniversary. Our history is very interesting: the Karelian Research Center is younger than the Institute. The Karelian Research Center appeared right after WWII, in 1946, as the Karelian-Finnish facility of the USSR Academy of Sciences, while the Institute was formed earlier and actually served as its basis and then blended into the Center's diverse research activities. And there is one more anniversary - the 55th anniversary of the Archeology Section of ILLH KarRC RAS, – informed Olga Bakhmet.


KarRC RAS Director General, Corr. Academician Olga Bakhmet

The scientific agenda of the conference is concerned with modern methods of spatial analysis in the study of the Late Stone Age of Eurasia.

"Our knowledge of Late Stone Age archaeology has grown manifold, and the development of technology has provided researchers with new methods of data collection and analysis. We invite the scientific community to revisit this issue and discuss modern methods of planigraphic analysis and their application in archaeology, and to present the latest developments in the use of GIS-technologies for the reconstruction of the history of the Late Neolithic society of Eurasia", – remarked the organizers of the event.


Conference participants

The conference is structured into thematic sessions:


• A. Bryusov, G. Pankrushev: the scientists’ life, academic concepts and their current status;

• Planiographic analysis of the structure of Late Neolithic settlements and camps;

• Settlement systems in the Late Stone Age;

• Ethnological and socio-economic reconstructions and spatial analysis of archaeological data.
The participants’ papers will be published in a volume of proceedings.

Photos: Igor Georgievskii / KarRC RAS

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