First Expedition of the Imperial Archeological Commission to the Zacaspian Area in the Structure of Their Scientific Activities

The Imperial Archaeological Commission (IAC) had a leading role in the state system of organizing and coordinating archaeological research throughout the Russian Empire during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but its own research into Central Asia proved to be comparatively limited. The expedition of orientalist Professor Valentin Zhukovsky in 1890 may be considered the Commission’s main contribution to the study of the Transcaspian region. The results of the work were soon published in a monograph “Ruins of Old Merv”, which has not lost its scientific value to this day. In 1896, Valentin Zhukovsky again went to the Trans-Caspian region by order of the IAC, but he did not submit a comprehensive report and did not prepare a publication in the IAC edition. However, a collection of valuable photographs from that trip was preserved. Subsequently, the scientist fully focused on work at the University, and the small number of staff, organizational difficulties and lack of funds to conduct expeditions in such a remote region did not allow the IAC to continue active research there

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