THE STUDY AND PRESERVATION OF PREHISTORICAL AND MEDIEVAL (“PRE-MONASTIC”) MONUMENTS OF THE SOLOVKY ARCHIPELAGO
The article devoted to the history of discovering and results of field study of the prehistorical and medieval monuments of the Solovetsky Islands in 20-21th centuries. 65 archaeological sites dated the Mesolithic epoch - the Iron Ages (from 5844-5548 cal BC till 1431-1660 cal AD) and scores of stones constructions were found to this year. The main part of the excavations was made by the Solovetsky Archaeological expedition in 1984-2017. On the bases of sources (more than 2200 м² excavated cultural layer, 35000 prehistorical and the Midle Ages artifacts, 40 dates of C 14 etc.) the author draw the conclusions about the developing of the Solovetsky Islands by the ancient hunters and fishermen from the Western and Southern coast of the White Sea. I consider that the stone labyrinths were built on Solovky in different times beginning with the middle of the first millennium AD till 19th century. The people of “Chud”, “Korelyanin” and “Saami” came to Solovky in 11-13th centuries. There are some problems that are not resolved today: the dates of some archaeological sites, cultural roots and using of the ancient labyrinths, correlation of the cites and labyrinths etc. The activities of Solovetsky museum-reserve in preservation and popularization of the archaeological monuments is also reviewed in the article.