Research by A.F. Lihachev and the Initial Stage of Studying the Prehistorical Antiquities of the Kazan Volga Region

Abstract

The author considers the initial stage of studying the early periods of human history in Russia, where the research of primeval antiquities began in the 1860s. The first Kazan citizen to study this subject was a collector, archaeologist and numismatist A. F. Likhachev. As a result of studying publications by West-European archaeologists and his Russian colleagues, he turned his attention to stone implements available in his collection. He gradually proceeded from collecting and studying the acquired items to archaeological surveying, which resulted in the discovery of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements on the outskirts of Kazan. It allowed A. F. Likhachev to present a number of reports at Russian Archaeological Congresses and prepare several scientific papers on this subject. The author concludes that A. F. Likhachev is an outstanding representative of the initial stage of studying the primeval antiquities in the Kazan Volga Region.

Keywords

• archaeology
• history of science
• Russian Archaeological Society
• A. F. Likhachev
• P. I. Lerkh
• archaeological collections
• manuscript heritage
• prehistory
• Stone Age
• Bronze Age
• National Museum of the Tatarstan Republic