Underwater archaeology

Subject / Relics
The Underwater archaeology. The under water ancient human sites, harbours and ports, hydraulic and fortification structures, ships were found on the Leningrad Oblast territory. In the early 20th century fishermen found an ancient boat loaded with stone projectiles, the first underwater archaeological archeological find, at the Narova River source in Chudskoye Lake. Its separate parts and projectiles were lifted up in winter through an ice-hole. The report about the find was published by V.N. Glazov. In the late 1930th in Leningrad, during the Special Purpose Underwater Works expedition, "Underwater Archaeology" took shape as the individual research direction which was headed by the professor R.A. Orbeli. The underwater explorations for founding the place of "The Ice Battle" of 1242 were carried out on Chud Lake between 1957-1959. The underwater archaeology expedition headed by K.K. Shilik worked in the gulf of Finland in the late 1980s. It determined perspective areas for looking for sunk ships. The sunk ships' remains were studied by lovers and archaeologists in the Narva Bay, in the area of Kronshdadt, in Ladoga Lake. The pilework settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze epoches from 4000 BC to 2000 BC were turned under the water as a result of changing the water level in rivers and lakes. The flood Neolithic site Venkul, located in the Narova River lower stream in 5 km from the river mouth, was studied in 1983. The underwater reseaches were carried out at Valaam Island in Ladoga Lake during 1990-1991. Seven ships of the 19th - early 20th centuries, a floating dock structure, remains of fish-farming constructions which belonged to a monastery were found in 10 metres of deep. Studing of the Vyborg Bay bottom gave especially valuable results. During the Battle of Vyborg on 22 June 1790 about 30 Swedish ships were sunk. Most of them sunk at the Cape Krestovy. The search of sunk ships was started by the Vyborg expedition of the Material Culture History Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IIMK RAN) headed by V.A. Tyulenev in 1990. Later the searches were continued by joint expeditions of archaeologists and scuba divers of Russia, Italia, Sweden, the society "The Memory of the Baltic". On the present days the works are carried out by the expedition of the Material Culture History Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IIMK RAN) headed by P.E. Sorokin. Four ships, including the battleship "Hedviga Elizabeth Sharlotte" and the frigate "Zemira", were found during diving researches. The battleship "Gangut", that sunk in 1897, and a ship loaded with stone blocks were also found on the Vyborg Bay bottom. Ships' parts, equipment, personal things, lifted from the seabed , were presented in exhibitions in the Peter and Paul Fortress and in the Vyborg Museum. Plotkin, Konstantin Moiseyevich
Glazov, Vladimir Nilovich
Orbeli, Ruben Abgarovich
Shilik, Konstantin Konstantinovich
Shopotov, Konstantin Andreyevich
Sorokin, Pyotr Yegorovich
Tyulenev, Vyacheslav Albertovich
Topographical landmarks/Chudskoye Lake
Topographical landmarks/Gulf of Finland, the
Topographical landmarks/Krestovy Mys (Cross Cape)
Topographical landmarks/Ladoga Lake
Topographical landmarks/Narova River, the
Topographical landmarks/Narva, Gulf of , the
Neighbouring Territories/Pskov Oblast, the
Topographical landmarks/Sestra River, the
Topographical landmarks/Sestroretsky Razliv Lake
Topographical landmarks/Valaam Island
Topographical landmarks/Vyborg Bay, the
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"Pamyat Baltiki" ("The Memory of the Baltic Sea"), a society
"Vyborg Castle", the State Museum