Archaeological Collections of the Transcarpathian Regional Museum Named after Tivodar Lehoczký as a Source for the Study of Ancient Civilizations оn the Territory of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyzes the archaeological collection of the Transcarpathian Regional Museum named after T. Lehoczký as an important source for the study of the ancient history of present-day Transcarpathia - an integral part of Ukraine. It is established that historiography contains a considerable body of works authored both by direct participants in archaeological excavations and by scholars investigating the development of archaeological research in the region. At the same time, the formation of the museum collection and the processes of its acquisition remain only fragmentarily addressed.

The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the process of assembling the museum’s possessions during the so-called “golden age of archaeology in Transcarpathia” in the 1970s–1980s, when numerous archaeological expeditions actively operated in the region, investigating sites ranging from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. It has been determined that only part of the discovered materials entered the museum collection, while the rest are preserved in other specialized institutions in Ukraine and abroad. Based on an analysis of the registration records (passports) of archaeological sites in Transcarpathia, the provenance of the collections, site locations, authorship of discoveries, and stages of their investigation have been clarified. Particular attention is paid to the identification of specific archaeological collections transferred to the possessions of the Transcarpathian Regional Museum that had not previously been properly attributed in scholarly literature. The introduction into academic circulation of these clarified and systematized data constitutes the scientific novelty of the study.

The sites are systematized according to their chronological existence rather than by the date of their discovery. The research employs methods of synthesis, generalization, and systemic analysis. It is concluded that the most intensive development of archaeological research in the region occurred in the 1970s - 1980s, which stimulated active scholarly publication and significantly enriched the museum’s possessions. At the same time, the last decade has witnessed a decline in academic interest in this field, particularly in the study of museum archaeological collections, which result in the need to intensify further research.