University archaeology of interwar Lviv through the prism of site protection legislation in 1928

Field archeological activity of Lviv University during the interwar period is considered through the site protection legislation of the Second Commonwealth. There were two archaeological chairs at the university during the period under study – one of prehistory and one of classical archaeology. In fact, the Chair of the prehistory served as site protection institution. All reports of archaeological finds were sent at the same time to the conservator Zbigniew Hornung and to the heads of the chair. So, archaeologists of the University, depending on their scientific interests, visited these sites. The most active field research was conducted by T. Sulimirski and M. Smishko, and some field activity was also carried out by K. Żurowski, H. Cehak and others. During the period of 1928–1939 a huge number of sites were discovered and explored in the western part of Ukraine. Among them Mali Gribovychi and Kulchytsi in Lviv region, Stopchativ, Trach, Komariv and Bukivna in Stanislaviv region are worth to mention. Most of them are burial sites. First of all, they were reflected in addition to publications in the documents of “Office of Conservation of Lviv Voivodeship”. These are permissions, brief information reports and short notes about finds from different locations.At the same time, documents which confirmed conducting of field studies by the Chair of the Classical Archeology were preserved. Taking into account that the main area of interest of the Chair was ancient civilizations, its employees carried out much less archaeological studies on our territory. However, almost every year E. Bulanda, K. Majewski and I. Startchuk obtained permission for excavation or surveys. The joint work of both Chairs deserves special attention. For example, in summer of 1937, surveys were carried out on the territory of Borshchiv powiat (district) with the participation of young archaeologists M. Smishko, I. Starchuk and other employees of the Chair. The expedition was quite successful and its results have been published in Lviv journals, in particular in “Eos”.Key words: reform of 1928, site protection legislation, Chair of the Prehistory, Chair of the Classical Archeology, permission on field researches, burial sites.