Askold Ivantchik

Archaeological excavations of the expedition conducted by the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology at the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, HSE University, were held in the city of Agrigento, on Sicily. The Second Archaeological School, which was based on that expedition, took place from the 4^th to the 25^th of September, 2021.

This year’s field season is over, and despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, archaeologists from the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology at the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies (IOCS) were able to undertake their scheduled expeditions to Italy, Turkey, and Abkhazia. The Centre is the only Russian institution that conducts regular archaeological research in the Mediterranean region—the heart of ancient civilization, where neither Soviet nor Russian classical archaeologists have ever worked before.

On the 5th of December 2020 took place the International online seminar “Bosporus and the Northern Colchis. Greek colonies in a non‑Greek surrounding: dynamics of interaction of differently organized societies”, which was attended by participants from Russia, Georgia and Romania. The project was carried out under the direction of A.I. Ivantchik with financial support from the Russian Science Foundation.

On December 4, 2019, at the invitation of Dr. Walter Kuntner, Askold Ivantchik, head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, gave a lecture “Burials of Scythian Kings: Herodotus and Archaeology” at the University of Innsbruck (Austria).

From 22 to 29 November, Paris hosted the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the International Union of Academies (Union académique international, UAI–IUA)—the most prestigious international organization in the humanities and social sciences. The head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik, elected two years ago Vice‑President of the International Union of Academies, took an active part in its preparation and holding.

From November 18 till December 2, 2019, Kazan Federal University hosted the scientific and educational festival “Alexander‑Fest” dedicated to the 215th anniversary of the University. Head of the Center of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik gave an opening lecture for the students of the Higher School of Historical Sciences and World Cultural Heritage of Kazan Federal University.

International conference “Ancient Heritage of Kuban” took place on November 5–7, 2019 at the Phanagoria Museum‑Reserve (Sennoi of the Krasnodar region). The conference was attended by researchers from Russia, Germany and France. The head of the Center of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik gave a talk on “Problems of Teaching Classical Archaeology: To What and How to Train Archaeologists-Classicists”.

On October 15, 2019, at the invitation of Professor Nathan Badoud, the head of the Centre for Classical and Oriental Archaeology Askold Ivantchik gave a lecture on “Faussaires et marchands d’antiquités au sud de l’Empire russe (fin du XIXe et début du XXe s.)” at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

On October 7–9, 2019, Frankfurt University hosted the international conference “An den Ufern des Bugs. Fünf Jahre deutsch‑ukrainische Ausgrabungen in Olbia Pontike” dedicated to the five‑year anniversary of German‑Ukrainian excavations in Olbia. The head of the Centre for Classical and Oriental Archaeology Askold Ivantchik gave a paper on “Neue Forschungen zur Epigraphik Olbias”.

The IVth International Congress on the Archaeology of Eurasian Steppes “Nomadic Empires of Eurasia in the light of archaeological and interdisciplinary research” took place in Ulan‑Ude on September 16–21, 2019. The head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik gave a paper at the opening session of the Congress on the subject “The King and Royal Power in the Scythian Ideas. Numismatics data”.

The conference “Archaeology of classical Bosporus and Pontus” dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Dmitry Borisovich Shelov was held in Rostov‑on‑Don, on October 28 — November 1, 2019. Head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology Askold Ivantchik, Associate Professor Valentina Mordvintseva and students of the program “Classical and Oriental Archaeology” Alexey Devayev, Vladimir Lysenko and Pavel Nikulin presented there their lectures. The conference was very representative and brought together about a hundred experts on the archaeology of ancient Black Sea area from a dozen countries. It was held in a warm atmosphere thanks to the staff of the Tanais Archaeological Museum‑Reserve, the Southern Federal University and the Azov Museum of Local Lore, where meetings of scientific sections took place.

Askold Ivantchik, vice‑president of the International Union of Academies, participated in the meeting of the Union's standing committee (bureau) on June 7–10, 2019. It was held this time in the Tunisian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Académie tunisienne des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts Beït al‑Hikma) at the invitation of its President Prof. Abdelmadjid Charfi.

In 2019, HSE will begin accepting students to its new Master's programme in Classical and Oriental Archaeology for the first time. Prior to admission, however, prospective students had the opportunity to participate in an archaeological school in Sicily, where they discovered rare bronze phialae dating back to the 6th century BC during the excavations.

From the 1st to the 12th of May, 2019 an Archaeological School took place in the city of Agrigento on the Sicily, Italy. It was organized by the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE (Prof. Dr.hab. Askold Ivantchik, Prof. Dr. Valentina Mordvintseva, Yuri Svoyski, Engineer). The School was conducted in the frame of an international archaeological expedition (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, France and HSE, Russia, with the participation of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA).

From the 12th of January until the 17th of February Liubov Eliseeva, a staff member at the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, was working with the database of epigraphic documents at King’s Digital Lab and Department of Classics (King’s College London) with the participation of Institute of Classical Studies.

On November the 21st, a presentation of a new collective monograph “Crimean Scythia in a system of cultural relations between East and West (3rd century BC – 7th century AD)” prepared under the editorship of Askold Ivantchik and Valentina Mordvintseva (Master’s Programme ‘Classical and Oriental Archaeology’ at IOCS HSE) took place at the Department of Comparative Studies of Ancient Civilizations of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

From the 20th to the 24th of August, 2018, took place the International Conference “Advances in Ancient Black Sea Studies: Scholarly Traditions & Preservation of Cultural Heritage” organized by the Institute of Archaeology in Jasi and the Museum of National History and Archaeology of Constance (Romania).