A quarter of a century of cooperation and collaborative research (to the 60th birthday of archaeologist Arkady Ivanovich Korolev)

The paper is devoted to the 60^th birthday of Arkadiy Ivanovich Korolev, the dean of the Faculty of History at Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education. It summarizes the results of our collaborative research on the study of monuments from the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age on the territory of the Western Volga region. These studies began in 1996 during excavations of the Volgapino Eneolithic settlement. During the past years we studied more than a dozen monuments during collaborative expeditions. 20 articles and 2 monographs have been published on the materials of these studies. During these studies the map of Eneolithic monuments distribution in the region was clarified, the periodization and chronology of Volosov and Imerca antiquities was developed, the origin of Imerca culture was established, specific features in the development of Eneolithic groups of the Middle Volga population were revealed, the chronological priority in the development of Eneolithic antiquities of the forest-steppe zone was determined, representative collections of various archaeological materials were received. The long-standing communication with A.I. Korolev has been very useful and productive. During our discussions at conferences and in expeditions common approaches to comprehension and interpretation of archaeological material were developed, which contributed to the effective solution of scientific problems.