On April 4, 2014 the first meeting of the series of meetings, dedicated to the popularization of archaeological heritage among young people of Pskov took place in Pskov Municipal Youth Center in the framework of the project «ARCHAEOLOGY, AUTHORITY & COMMUNITY: cooperation to protect archaeological heritage». The series of meetings, according to the organizers from the “Archaeological center of the Pskov region” should consist of not only lectures and discussions, but also one-day guided tours to the sites which contain archaeological monuments. Young Pskov people, who are interested in history, local lore, archaeology took part in the meeting.
The first meeting was called “10 discoveries of Pskov archaeology”. For most people archaeology means searching for treasures and rear artifacts, as well as significant discoveries and sensations. Our goal was to show what archaeology studies in reality, how scientific discoveries are made on the basis of seemingly insignificant traces of the past in the ground and featureless objects.
As an example we chose 10 significant for Pskov archaeology discoveries made in the second half of the XX century – the beginning of the XXI century. Among them are the discoveries of the churches of Dovmont’s town in Pskov Kremlin and of the state archive of Pskov Veche republic, the archaeological excavations in the Ancient Russian necropolis by the old market place, studying the remains of medieval shops of the Old and New market places, the discoveries of the birch bark manuscripts in Pskov and of the 10th century burial grounds, with chamber tombs belonging to Scandinavian cultural tradition and other discoveries.
The new meeting will be conducted in the form of an excursion to the sites of the best known archeological excavations, starting with the site of first archaeological excavations in Pskov, carried out near Mstislavskaya Tower 1914.