People have been fond of searches for ancient objects for a long time, but they devote their lives to excavations - a few. To draw attention to the importance of the profession, the official Day of the Archaeologist was established, the date of which falls on August 15. This holiday was established without reference to discoveries or events.
From the history
Ancient finds have always been of interest to people: already in the Ipatiev Chronicle , the fact of finding glass beads in Ladoga, on the banks of the Volkhov River was recorded. Official excavations were carried out in Pskov in the 15th century - they wanted to find the foundation of the Church of Blasius, which was the oldest in the city.
In the XVII century, burial mounds, ancient settlements, as well as places where the remains of ancient animals were found and documented . On Archaeologist's Day 2013 you can visit such places and imbued with history.
In 1839, the Society of History and Antiquities appeared in Odessa, in 1946 - the Russian Archaeological Society in St. Petersburg. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Museum of Fine Arts opens, the exposition of which included archaeological finds of the ancient era.
Archeology was recognized as a scientific discipline in 1922. Then the big excavations in Moscow and Novgorod the Great begin. Tourists like to visit these cities on Archaeologist's Day. Researchers from Moscow's bowels confirmed that it was Prince Yuri Dolgoruky who founded the capital. And in Veliky Novgorod they found the first birch bark certificate, which contained information about the life and traditions of our ancestors.
Now in many places in Russia, archaeological excavations are carried out. Researchers are trying to judge the life of ancient people by found objects , since many official records of those years were purposefully destroyed during the wars and the change of state leaders.
How did the Day of the archaeologist
The advent of the holiday is associated with several legends. One of them says that subsoil researchers wanted to relax and invited the expedition leader to solemnly celebrate the birthday of the horse of the great commander Alexander of Macedon - Bucephalus, which just happened on August 15. The leader agreed, and the celebration began. Since that time, the tradition began to celebrate this date annually, but already as the Day of the archaeologist.
The second version suggests that the celebration is associated with the birthday of the archaeologist-tripolyologist T.S. Passek. The expedition under her leadership became a “forge of personnel”, so the participants chose a symbolic date. And then the tradition spread to all cities of the country.
The holiday is also celebrated in Belarus, in 2008 the Day of the archaeologist in Ukraine was approved. On the solemn date, meetings, conferences, seminars on the exchange of experience, initiations in archaeologists are held. Some people like to visit museums with ancient exhibits and learn new historical facts on this day.
We still don’t know much from the past, and some finds set riddles for mankind or completely contradict generally recognized facts. Maybe our ancestors were smarter than us? Someday, experts will find the answer to this question. Archeology will help them in this.