Archaeological study of monasteries of Russian Lapland and Karelia

The article provides a brief overview of the results of archaeological research on the estates of fifteen monasteries that existed in the 14th-20th centuries in the territory of Russian Lapland and Karelia (Murmansk region and the Republic of Karelia). The history of monastery studies is divided into two stages. The first stage is the 1980s-1990s when the archaeologists from the Institute for the History of Material Culture and the Kazan Research Center (RAS) carried out preliminary surveys with an intention to localize the estates of the monasteries, determine the location of specific buildings, and clarify characteristics of the occupation layer. The second stage is related to the activities conducted by the expedition of the National Museum of the Republic of Karelia in the 2000s to examine and research monasteries in southern and central Karelia and the Murmansk region. One of the important tasks was to find out the time of the foundation of most of the monasteries in the region. The best studied monument by archaeologists is the Solovetsky Monastery. The factors complicating the work are determined. The occupation layer of the 16th-18th centuries where construction or general labor works were performed in the 19th-20th centuries has been poorly preserved, making it difficult to search cultural deposits of the earlier stages in the history of the monasteries and interesting historical features. Because of a small scale of excavations, there are no sufficient data to derive solid conclusions on the material culture of monastic communities. Monastic necropolises have not been found on all estates. Information about the small monasteries of the region that existed for a short time is fragmentary. In general, the study of monasteries in the region is in line with the development of the monastic archeology of Russia.