Methodological seminar “Searching and determining boundaries of archaeological heritage sites: role of science, new technological opportunities, regulatory-legal aspects”

Purpose. The seminar was held to review current technical capabilities, regulatory and legal aspects of searching for and determining the boundaries of archaeological heritage sites. These issues were discussed in the context of classical methods and approaches. Actual methods of collecting and processing such information were debated, including those currently offered by natural sciences. Results. The participants of the seminar considered a range of methodological issues related to the use of natural science methods to identify and define the boundaries of cultural heritage sites. They also widened their ideas about the actual technical means at the disposal of natural sciences. A detailed consideration of implementing the proposed technical tools and methods in the practice of archaeological research has allowed us to formulate the direction of future forums. Conclusion. Such a close collaboration of archaeologists, specialists in the natural sciences and representatives of executive authorities allows us to work out well-defined definitions of the phenomena studied and to find a common ground on the way to preserve the cultural heritage. Conducting such seminars provides an opportunity to look at the same issues from the perspective of different specialists, such as an archaeologist, geophysicist, an inspector for the supervision of objects of cultural heritage, etc. With the current social conditions, which imply lobbying the interests of certain economic structures in the federal legislative bodies, it is necessary to consolidate the archaeological community. Events of such importance are a platform for accelerating these processes.