Educational and scientific results of implementing the first phase of research on fundamental issues in archaeology and ethnography of Northern and Eastern Asia at Novosibirsk State University in 2014 (in the frameworks of Russian science foundation)

Purpose. Novosibirsk State University being a classical university, an important role in teaching and research here is played by humanities disciplines, including archaeology and ethnography. Among other laboratories, a Humanities Research Laboratory has been working at the University since 1988. It became a base for creating a specialized scientific and educational center in 1998. Due to its high level of fundamental scientific research in the field of archaeology and ethnography, the Laboratory has been rewarded and financially supported by a number of programs and research funds. Among them is the newly formed Russian Science Foundation. As a part of competition announced by the fund in 2014, the Laboratory obtained a large grant for fundamental research on archaeology and ethnography of Northern and Eastern Asia in 2014-2016. The present publication is aimed at analyzing the work carried out under the grant as the first phase of its implementation, in 2014, which is important for planning our activities in future. Results. Thanks to the grant funding, we managed to make scientific and academic affairs at the University attractive for a team of renowned scientists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It also helped to provide additional funding for archaeological and ethnographic field research and students field practice, pay the fees and expenses for our employees and students of the Humanities Department participating in scientific conferences (including international ones), purchase or create sets of instruments for scientific research as well as training and so on. All of these led to an increase in the level and quality of the educational process. The fundamental scientific component also proves to be very significant. The current research results are presented in two monographs, dozens of scientific articles (including those in journals from the Scopus database), reports at scientific conferences of the highest level, and so on. They are backed by numerous scientific discoveries such as archaeological sites of various epochs studied through excavations, newly discovered objects of burial and fortification character, new ethnographic sources, important analytical results and theoretical conclusions, etc.) Along with this, some defects or individual weaknesses have been faced, which will be addressed in future work. Conclusion. The results obtained in the course of this project have become a significant contribution to solving the problems that Novosibirsk State University meets while improving the level and quality of the educational process. Further development of fundamental scientific research in the field of archaeology and ethnography has also been supported.