On the 80th Anniversary of Oleksandr Avagyan: How an Archaeologist Uncovered the Secrets of Ancient Caves

Oleksandr Beniaminovych Avagyan is a prominent Ukrainian archaeologist, speleologist, musician, and poet, born on November 12, 1944, in Kyiv. He dedicated his life to the study of cave structures in Ukraine, becoming a co-founder of Ukrainian speleoarchaeology.

After graduating from Kyiv Pedagogical Institute, Oleksandr worked in various scientific institutions, including the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences and the Ukrainian Scientific Restoration Project Institute, where he continued his research.

The scholar is known as the author of the first scientific systematization of ancient Ukrainian cave structures. Among his achievements are archaeological studies of the Lavra and Zvyrynets caves, which contributed significantly to the understanding of the history of cave architecture development in Ukraine.

Ukrainian science is grateful to Oleksandr Avagyan for his significant contribution to the study of the cultural heritage of our country, which continues to live on in his scientific research and discoveries to this day.