Perception of archaeological heritage and its legal regulation in Lithuania 1940-1944

Straipsnyje analizuojami archeologinių vertybių apsaugą ir apskaitą reglamentuojantys dokumentai Lietuvoje 1940- 1942 m., t. y. 1940 m. priimtas Lietuvos Kultūros paminklų apsaugos įstatymas bei 3 jį papildantys dokumentai ir 1942 m. patvirtintos Kultūros paminklų inventorizacijos taisyklės. Archeologiniais paminklais iki Antrojo pasaulinio karo pabaigos buvo laikytos proistorės gyvenvietės, šventvietės, laidojimo paminklai, senieji keliai ir radiniai. Šiais dokumentais buvo įstatymiškai reglamentuota archeologinio paveldo apskaita.The paper presents an analysis of the first documents regulating the protection and a ccounting of archaeological values. Based on the legal documents, the author shows what was perceived as archaeological heritage in the years of the Second World War and how the formation of the accounting of cultural monuments, including archaeological ones, was affected by the changing geopolitical situation. The analysis of the legal documents and the memoirs of the archaeologists active at that time allows to shed some light on the period that so far has enjoyed little interest in the history of the science of archeology. On the basis of the analysis, the author argues that, irrespective of insignificant breakthrough in the area of the cultural monument accountancy, archaeological monuments were inventoried, protected, and studied in accordance with the possibilities of that time. The destroyed or damaged archaeological monuments received more attention from the cultural monument accountants. The belonging of archaeological finds to the state and museums as the places of accounting became legally regulated