This article evaluates the results of the governmental audit of cultural heritage aimed at revealing archaeological sites in Krasnoyarsk. The study concerns legislative initiatives taken to protect archaeological sites and revise the practice of their preventive survey. All protected sites in the city were cataloged. The number of sites revealed over the decade after the governmental audit had been implemented was compared with that over the preceding 140 years of archaeological studies in Krasnoyarsk. In the recent decade, 39 sites were discovered, most of them (84 %) owing to the governmental audit. The list has been supplemented by a number of unique sites highly relevant for the city’s prehistory. These fall into three categories: Paleolithic, Neolithic to Middle Ages, and Modern Age. Archaeological surveys preceding the construction works changed our views of the location and nature of sites within each category. Findings suggest that recently adopted legal measures are the most efficient tool of the preservation and future study of archaeological sites over the entire history of archaeology in Krasnoyarsk. Under the newly reformed procedures, their effect on the archaeological knowledge received by the government and the public must be assessed.