Kerensk and Lomov Frontier Lines: history and prospects of study

The history of studying the Kerensk and Lomov frontier lines has more than two and a half centuries, but it has not yet become the subject of a special historiographical analysis. Interest about the earthworks of the frontier line was formed at the end of the XVIII century, when information about them appeared on the pages of travelers' and writers' works. Since the second half of the XIX century, local historians began to collect archival documents about the Penza Governorate frontier lines. The difficulty of their identification was connected with the fact that a significant part of the documents was lost in the fires in the archives of the Prikaz of the Kazan Court. Studies of local historians were aimed at clarifying the location of earthen ramparts, establishing the time of appearance of defensive fortifications. In addition to documents they relied on the data of local legends and tales. The greatest contribution to the study was made by F.F. Chekalin, V.R. Khokhryakov, P.N. Chermensky, A.L. Khvoshchev. In the second half of the XX century V.I. Lebedev started systematic studies of the frontier lines. In addition to studying archival data, he organizes field surveys. As a result, the fortifications of Kerensk and Lomov lines were localized on the area, the exact dates of their construction were established, and the composition of the service people was determined. The results of the studies were summarized in V.I. Lebedev's monograph. Recently, archaeologists have started to study the defensive structures of the frontier line. Especially promising are the studies by lidar imaging method. It allows to get 3d images of objects. Political, social and economic aspects of the functioning of the frontier lines, conducted within the study of the Russian frontier issues, are becoming more often in sight of specialists.