Friedrich Miller (also spelled Muller and Mu ̈ller) (1705–83). Despite the
fact that their publications focused on other subjects—Xora and history
respectively—they also included data about ancient inscriptions and buildings
(Yemelyanova 2002). Finds were also made by private individuals. For
example, Baron Alexander Stroganov (1733–1811), a member of the richest
noble family in Russia, having acquired a taste for antiquity in Italy and
France, was able to appreciate the signiWcance of silver and other richWnds
of Sassanian art found on his family lands in the 1770s and thereafter, and
saved the hoards from being melted down (Hunter-Stiebel 2000). The
discoveries in Siberia were also publicized in the journal that the academy
brought out in Latin from 1728,Commentarii Peterburgskoi akademii nauk
(Commentaries of St Petersburg Academy of Sciences), an annual collection of
scientiWc papers which enjoyed wide popularity with the public.
Russia’s expansion south, and notably the occupation of Crimea, broa-
dened the area from which archaeological objects arrived at the centres of
Russian power. The earliest discoveries were made by members of the army.
Thus, in 1763 a certain General Melgunov opened a burial at Lithoy, which
was described in the academy papers, as were many of the other ensuingWnds.
Another general by the name of Vandervelde dug a burial at Taman, and
several more were excavated by General Gageblov near Kerch. General Such-
telen dug in the ancient city of Olbia (Norman 1997: 77). Some of these
excavations were undertaken by French e ́migre ́s who had been forced to
abandon France after the revolution and had become members of the Russian
army. 2 Among them was Paul Dubrux, who worked in the Russian army from
1797 to 1800, later becoming the Commissioner of Health in the Crimea.
From 1816 he began to excavate on his own account, receiving a small subsidy
from Count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev (1754–1826). 3 He also sent some
Wnds to Empress Maria Fedorovna (Norman 1997: 77). Despite the opening
of local museums (all now in the territory of present-day Ukraine) in
Odessa (1825), Kerch (1826), and, in 1835, of an archaeological museum in
the university of what was the ancient Kievan Rus, Kyyiv, it was ordered
that theWnestWnds should be sent to the Hermitage. Once in St Petersburg
the antiquities seem to have been located in the Tsarist collections, for
only in the 1850s would antiquities be put on public display (Norman 1997:
77). It may be worth indicating here that the distinction between the
2 Other examples of e ́migre ́s elsewhere are provided by Singh (2004: 19–21).
3 This was not Rumyantsev’s only service to science. His interest in history led him toWnance
a collection of books on the history of Russia and Slav nations. In 1813 he granted 25,000
roubles to the Academy of Sciences for publishing the Russian chronicles. Also, in the last years
of his life (1812–26) he dedicated himself to funding archaeographic and archaeological
exploration speciWcally of Slav-related materials.
Russian Empire and French North Africa 253