Necropolises of the Moscow Kremlin: History and Stages of Field Archaeological Research.

The object of this study are the necropolises of the Moscow Kremlin, the subject of the study is the history of their study by field archaeological methods. The purpose of the study is to examine the history of the study of Kremlin necropolises in the context of field archaeological research in the Kremlin and highlight the stages of development of this process. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as methods of field archaeological research, their application and development in Kremlin archaeology and necropolistics – from the fixation of accidental finds and the search for relics to systematic archaeological observations and full-fledged archaeological excavations. Special attention is paid to the history of the discovery of burial complexes unknown according to written sources. As a result of the conducted research, the article examines the history of the study of the Moscow Kremlin in the XIX-XXI centuries by field archaeological methods, in the context of the archaeological study of the Moscow Kremlin, the history of field archaeological research of Kremlin necropolises is highlighted and, based on the analysis of the materials considered, the chronological stages of the development of Kremlin archaeology are highlighted. The scientific novelty of the article is to create a single brief description of the history of the study of the necropolises of the Moscow Kremlin by field methods of archaeology and to develop a periodization of the development of Kremlin archaeology. The main conclusion of the study is the identification of two major periods in the archaeological study of the Moscow Kremlin and the Kremlin necropolises. The criterion for the allocation of periods is the development of field research methods - from the fixation of random finds and observations to systematic excavations. The first period covers more than a century – from the late 1830s to the early 1950s. The author characterizes it as a time of accidental finds and occasional observations of earthworks. The second period begins in the second half of the XX century, when it became possible to conduct systematic observations of earthworks in the Moscow Kremlin, lay architectural and archaeological pits and conduct full-fledged archaeological excavations.

Moscow Kremlin, archaeological research, observations, excavations, pits, nekropolis, cemetery, burial, sarcophagus, tombstone