Digital portrait of participants in online "treasure hunter" communities of the Republic of Bashkortostan: socio-demographic, network, and geographical analysis

The subject of the research is the subscribers of "treasure hunting" online communities in the Republic of Bashkortostan on the social network "VKontakte." The focus is on their socio-demographic portrait: gender-age structure, education, occupation, marital status, place of residence, and other markers of digital self-identification. The analysis includes both the survey data from accounts and their engagement in practices related to instrumental searching, including the use of metal detectors, participation in discussions about digging locations and finds. Special attention is given to identifying the spatial correlation between the concentration of subscribers by municipalities in the region and recorded cases of cultural layer violations at archaeological heritage sites in the Republic of Bashkortostan, allowing for a comparison of digital activity with actual cases of illegal excavations in the territory of the republic. The study relies on a comprehensive digital methodology that combines netnography, network analysis, and GIS approaches. The empirical base is formed based on parsing VKontakte communities and processed using Excel, SPSS Statistics, Gephi, and Inkscape. Data handling was carried out in compliance with ethical standards and complete anonymization. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the first application of digital methods at the regional level (Republic of Bashkortostan) to reconstruct the socio-demographic portrait of participants in "treasure hunting" online communities. A typical participant of such resources is a man (88.7%) aged 30–59, often with a higher education in economics, management, or in technical or military-legal fields, indicating the formation of a horizontal subcultural ecosystem. The geography of subscribers (Ufa and major cities) does not coincide with the localization of unauthorized excavations, which are concentrated in border areas with the Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions. A predominance of Orthodox identity has been identified against the background of the Muslim majority in the region, possibly due to differences in the sacred perception of archaeological sites. The results are useful for specialized cultural heritage protection organizations, law enforcement agencies, and scientific organizations in developing preventive and educational measures and engaging "treasure hunters" in legal archaeological activities.