Ideological and political influence on the methods of East Asian archaeology in the second half of 19 century: works of N.M. Przhevalsky and M.V. Pevtsov

The article considers the ideological and political influence on the development of East Asian archaeology during the Big Game epoch - event with participation of Russian, British and Chinese Empires. The study rests upon the field reports of N.M. Przhevalsky and M. V. Pevtsov: they noticed the archaeological sites, determined their types and analyzed the research approaches. They educed such types of sites as caches, settlements, burials, temple complexes. Research approach was being formed in accordance with the tasks of expedition: mapping, in the case of the war with China - in the first place, and intelligence support - in the second place. Researchers considered the most of archaeological objects as the topographic landmarks, accompanied by the story told by local inhabitants. Sometimes these stories included the important intelligence data. When the question under consideration was highlighted in more or less obvious aspect, the story told about the ulterior political and ideological factors, which explained the situation in general. It is possible to briefly mark here only the most topical nuances of Russian-Chinese relations in the second half of the XIX century, but even this brief review shows that East Asian archaeology, as a research area, appeared where it was not implied. The reason of its origin was such ideological tends of that time as evolutionism, racism and social Darwinism, justifying the colonial politics of Russian Empire.