The archaeological excavation in Valuyki in 1909
This paper is devoted to the little-known fact of the archaeological excavation of S.F. Platonov in Valuyki, Voronezh province in August 1909. It specifies the number of contentious issues of the scientist's staying in that provincial town. This well-known fact in S. F. Platonov's life has attracted researchers' attention quite recently. The absence of documentary evidence has brought only to guesswork and assumptions on quite a number of questions. Voronezh researchers' concern in the issue is natural; however, scarce data resources did not allow them to answer a number of controversial points. When and where did S. F. Platonov come from to this provincial town? Where did the Platonovs stay? What was the purpose of his visit? How were archeological excavations conducted? The identified in the archive written sources, first of all, epistolary ones, the inventory of relics of antiquity, photos, etc. to the full extent enable us to answer these and other questions. Also it deals with the work of the reputable archeologist A.A. Spitsyn, which is based on the materials collected by S.F. Platonov. This work is not taken into account in the list of works of A.A. Spitsyn, and is not mentioned in the historiography.