The Catacomb Culture in the Territory of the Crimea (The History of Studying and Research)
The article is devoted to the history of study of the Catacomb culture on the territory of the Crimean peninsula, which is considered in the context of the general problems of the Catacomb culture-historical community of the Middle-Bronze epoch. Our conception of this community of cultures is based on the information on the burial monuments; the settlements have not been studied enough yet. That is why the history of studying the cultures is closely connected with the research antiquities from burial mounds. There are three periods in the historiography of the Catacomb culture. The first period (the end of the 19 <sup>th</sup> century - the 50s of the 20 <sup>th</sup> century) is partitioning of the Catacomb culture as the one belonging to the Bronze-Age cultures. The period is characterized by episodic excavations of burials and the beginning of exploration; as the result of it settlements of the Catacomb culture were discovered. N. I. Veselovskiy, Yu. A. Kulakovskiy, N. L. Ernst, P. N. Shultz, Yu. G. Kolosov, A. A. Schepinskiy and others took part in its research work. The first experience of systematization of the Catacomb culture is reflected in the works of A. A. Spitzin, T. B. Popova, P. N. Shultz. The second period (the 60s - 80s of the 20 <sup>th</sup> century) is marked by quantitative accumulation of materials related to the Catacomb culture (due to extensive reclamation construction and new building projects). This period is characterized by the intense research of the burials on the territory of the steppe and foothill zone of the peninsula; the research of the settlements of the Bronze Age went on. New materials of the burial monuments are introduced into scientific circulation. The research works of O. G. Shaposhnikov, A. A. Schepinskiy, E. N. Cherepanova, A. L. Nechitaylo are devoted to the issues of the periodization. The third period (the 90s of the 20 <sup>th</sup> century - the beginning of the 21 <sup>st</sup> century) is characterized by reduction of the volume of field-work; principal attention is devoted to systematization and analysis of the Catacomb culture. The certain works develop the idea of the Catacomb culture on the peninsula, touching upon some chronology questions, cultural contacts, ideological concepts of the catacomb population (V. N. Korpusova, S. N. Lyashko, A. E. Kisliy, V. A. Kolotukhin, T. A. Kopiyeva). A summarize treatise by G. N. Toschev “The Bronze Age in the Crimea” was published. As the result of the long history of researching catacomb monuments on the peninsula substantial factual material has been stored; on the basis of which the periodization schemes of the culture development have been worked out; problems of dating are scrutinized. The concepts of history-cultural development in the of Middle Bronze epoch were examined in works by P. N. Shultz, A. A. Schepinskiy, G. N. Toschev. The range of still unsolved problems requiring further research of the Catacomb culture is determined.