Stempkovskii, I. A.

Little is known about Ivan Alekseevich before he was appointed adjutant to the Duc de Richelieu, the Frenchman in Russian service as the Governor of New Russia, 1805-1814. When the Duc returned to Paris in 1814 with the victorious Russian army, he stayed on as the Foreign Minister of the restored Bourbon dynasty. Stempkovskii found himself now attached to M. S. Vorontsov, who would become the new Governor-General. Stempkovskii developed a keen interest in archeology, and when in 1828 Vorontsov appointed him mayor of Kerch, the former Greek Panticapaeum, he expanded excavations and built an archeological museum to take full advantage of the wealth of digs in the area. He himself published on the Bosporan Kingdom, and after his premature death, was buried on Mt. Mithridat. He worked closely with Paul Du Brux, and together they opened the Kul-Oba kurgan in 1830.