ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH OF THE KAMCHATKA PENINSULA (THE XIX - EARLY XXI CENTURIES)
In spite of the achievements of archaeological science in the last years in Russia and the world, the Stone Age of Kamchatka is little known to the great number of Russian and foreign researchers. The article objective is to generalize information about archaeological research of Kamchatka since the mid XIX to early XXI centuries, to estimate the degree of regional archaeological studies, to reveal the research primary concerns, to offer the way of solving them using a problem-chronologic technique. Analysis of the archaeological research of Kamchatka allowed us to separate three stages. The first acquainting stage (1850-1940s): collection and accumulation of the first materials, attempts of their comprehension. It was supposed that Kamchatka was populated in the Neolith; the most ancient population settled in Kamchatka were Itelmens. The second stage (second half of the XX century) is related to activity of scientific institutions: further materials accumulation, using natural-science methods to date archaeological objects, the first periodizations of the Stone Age in Kamchatka. The Late Pleistocene archaeological sites of Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic Tar’in culture were discovered. The third stage is characterized by the widening information base (the XXI century). Studying the Ushki sites was renewed, based on it the Stone Age general periodization was adjusted, which should be a base for subsequent chronologic charts. The paper shows the further research prospects, including the assessment of the most important scenarios of natural events and their relationship with the process of the Stone Age human development in the Kamchatka Peninsula.