Tiraspol, 30 September. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A group of the Prut-Dniester expedition of the Institute of History and Material Culture and the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Science (RAS) is finishing its work in Pridnestrovie.
According to the head of the group, research fellow of St Petersburg's Institute of Material Culture Alexander Ocherednoy, the aim of the expedition is to study the monuments of the Middle Paleolithic in the Prut-Dniester interfluve. According to Vesti PMR, the expedition is closely cooperating with the Centre for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage of the Academy of Science of Moldova, archaeological lab employees of PSU and Rybnitsa's tourist club Clio.
A project for the exploration of new Middle Paleplithic monuments and monitoring of old ones is carried out with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and is scheduled for three years. The third stage of the project will end in 2017.
During the expedition the scientists explored 15 quarries and mineral deposits where they discovered valuable fauna findings as well as silicon artefacts made by ancient people — Neanderthals. They also explored and studied open-cast buried soil and sedimentation conditions.
The main object of the research is the site of primitive man near the village of Vyhvatintsy — a key monument of the Middle Paleolithic. The archaeologists noted the high degree of cultural layer preservation — the site is well preserved and requires further research. It is necessary to create conditions to protect the sites of Palaeolithic monuments against «black archaeologists». Digging and construction works are prohibited in such places. The analysis of the accomplished work and its results will form the basis of fundamental scientific works in the field of archaeology of the Russian Academy of Science.
All the findings discovered during the expedition will be kept in the archaeological lab in Tiraspol. In 2017 RAS archaeologists will resume the expedition in Pridnestovie.
