«Police» archaeology (on the Siberian material second half of the XIX - early XX centuries)

This article highlights the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire in conserving the archaeological heritage of Siberia and its participation in implementing instructions of the Imperial Archaeological Commission; as well as forming a system for protecting archaeological sites in the latter half of the 1800s and early 1900s. The functions of the Ministry in aforementioned period did not consist only in those of supervision. Police officials have contributed to replenishing museum funds and preserved multiple archaeological collections for future study. They have also conducted significant work in identifying archaeological sites. The data obtained in the process of describing archaeological sites (many of them have still not been scientifically studied) can be used as an important source for compiling archaeological maps of separate regions and identifying archaeological sites.