Founded in February 1992.
Main lines of research activities:
excavating sites of pre-history, Bronze and early Iron Ages, periods of Antiquity and Middle Ages; studies of history of the Crimea in the periods of Antiquity and Middle Ages; research into Scythian and late Scythian cultures, Greek towns and rural settlements, Roman sites, sites of the period of Great Migration, early Medieval settlements and necropoles of ‘Crimean Gothia’, fortifications-’isars’ of the South coast of the Crimea, sub-mound burials of nomads, Genoa trade stations of the Crimea, antiquities of Golden Horde and Osman Empire; architectural-and-archaeological studies; Christian archaeology; underwater and historical-topography studies; studies of Ancient Greek and Medieval pottery, chronology, sites of lapidary art, bronze workshopping and jewelry; numismatics.
Principal achievements and developments:
archaeological studies of inhabited places of early Paleolithic Epoch in the Central and South-West Crimea; chronology definition, study of technology of flint industry, fauna of early Paleolithic period; explorations of ancient Greek towns: Chersonesus, Kalos-Limen, towns on the territory of Bosporian Kingdom, sanctuaries of Roman time near today’s towns of Sudak and Saki, Kutlak fortress near Sudak; excavations of burials of Scythian nobility on the Ak-Kaya Plateau in the Central Crimea; archaeological study of Neapolis site – the major center of the Crimean Scythia; late Scythian burials of Ust-Alma and other cemeteries of the South-West Crimea, military station at Alma River, cemetery of the epoch of Great Migration on Chatyr-Dag Mountain; architectural-and-archaeological assemblages of the ‘cave’ towns of the Crimea: Bakla, Tepe-Kermen; Byzantine towns: Kherson, Sugdeia, Aluston; investigation of the settlement of the Hazar epoch on the Tepsen Plateau (Koktebel) and Medieval temple of Saint Peter and Paul in Partenit; excavations of Genoa trade stations: Kaffa, Chembalo, Soldaia.
