The book is devoted to the initial period (XVIII - the first third of the XX century) of the study of ancient monuments of Southern Siberia, when the main problems of scientific search acquired real features. The work analyzes the activities of archaeologists in the study of this region from the first scientific expeditions to the development of a scientifically reliable cultural and historical classification of monuments, made by S.A. Teploukhovs. The main attention of the author is paid to the evolution of the general style of scientific thinking, the history of ideas, theories, hypotheses, which determined the general direction of scientific research not only of the analyzed period, but also of the 30-70s. XX century The monograph is designed for archaeologists.