Gryaznov Mikhail Petrovich
13 March [ 28 February] 1902, Beryozov, Tobolsk Governorate — 18 August 1984, Leningrad
Biography, education, career:
Mikhail Gryaznov comes from the family of a school supervisor. In 1919-1922 Gryaznov studied at the Department of Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Tomsk State University. In 1922-1925 he studies at the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Petrograd State University. In 1924-1933 he was an assistant curator of the Department of Ethnography at the State Russian Museum, working at the same time as a researcher at the State Academy of the History of Material Culture. On 29 November 1933 he was arrested with regard to the case of the Russian National Party and sentenced to three years of exile. He served his sentence in Vyatka. In 1937-1939 he was a senior researcher and Head of the Section of Siberia and Kazakhstan of the Department of the History of Primitive Culture, State Hermitage. In 1939-1941 he was a senior researcher at the Institute of the History of Material Culture, USSR AS. He spent the period of 1941-1945 in evacuation in Sverdlovsk, where he was in charge of the State Hermitage collections. In 1945-1948 he worked as a senior researcher at the State Hermitage and the Institute of the History of Material Culture. In 1949-1953 and 1968-1984 he was a senior researcher and in 1953-1968 – Head of the Department of Central Asia and the Caucasus. In 1974-1984 he was Head of the Leningrad Section of the Department of Field Research of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In January 1945 M. Gryaznov defended his Candidate’s Dissertation, titled Burial of the Bronze Age in West Kazakhstan. In June 1945 he defended his Doctoral Dissertation based on his hand-written monograph. Gryaznov was an experienced and prolific field researcher. In 1987 there were established M.P. Gryaznov Readings, held by Omsk State University since.
Areas of expertise: History and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia, the Extreme North, and the Far East; History and ethnography of nomadic peoples; History and ethnography of the peoples of Central Asia; archaeology, anthropology and ethnography of South Siberia and Kazakhstan; nomadism as a period in Eurasian history
Major scientific achievements:
M. Gryaznov is the author of the hypothesis on the Asian origin of Scythian culture.
Major publications:
• Древние изваяния Минусинских степей (совместно с Е.Р. Шнейдером) // МЭ. Л., 1929. Т. 4. Вып. 2. С. 63-96; [Ancient Statues of the steppes of the Minusinsk Basin (co-authored with E.R. Shneider) // ME. Leningrad, 1929. Vol. 4, Iss.2. Pp. 63-96];
• Первый Пазырыкский курган. Л., 1950; [The First Paryzyk Burial Mound. Leningrad, 1950];
• Некоторые вопросы истории сложения и развития ранних кочевых обществ Казахстана и Южной Сибири // КСИЭ. 1955. Вып. 24. С. 19-29; [On the History of the Origin and Development of Early Nomadic Societies of Kazakhstan and South Siberia // KSIE (Abstracts of Papers and Reports on Field Research of the Institute of Ethnography). 1955. Iss. 24. Pp. 19-29];
• Этапы развития скотоводческих племен Казахстана и Южной Сибири в эпоху бронзы // КСИЭ. 1957. Вып. 26. С. 21-28; [Stages of Development of Pastoralist Tribes of Kazakhstan and South Siberia in the Bronze Age // KSIE (Abstracts of Papers and Reports on Field Research of the Institute of Ethnography). 1957. Iss. 26. Pp. 21-28];
• Древнее искусство Алтая. Л., 1958; [Ancient Art of Altai. Leningrad, 1958];
• Связи кочевников Южной Сибири со Средней Азией и Ближним Востоком в I тысячелетии до н.э. // Материалы второго совещания археологов и этнографов Средней Азии. М.; Л., 1959. С. 136-142; [Ties of the South Siberian Nomads with Central Asia and the Near East in the 1st Millenium BC // Materials of the 2nd Meeting of the Archaeologists and Ethnographers of Central Asia. Moscow; Leningrad, 1959. Pp. 136-142];
• Аржан — царский курган раннескифского времени. Л., 1980; [Arzhan – An Early Scythian King Burial Mound. Leningrad, 1980];
• Начальная фаза развития скифо-сибирских культур // Археология Южной Сибири. Кеме¬рово, 1983. С. 3-18; [The Primordial Stage of Development of Scythian-Siberian Cultures // Arkheologiya Yuzhnoi Sibiri (Archaeology of South Siberia). Kemerovo, 1983. Pp. 3-18];
• Афанасьевская культура на Енисее. СПб., 1999. [The Afanasievo Culture on the Yenisei. Saint-Petersburg, 1999].
About M. Gryaznov:
• Аванесова Н.А., Кызласов Л.Р. Памяти М.П. Грязнова // СА. 1985. № 4. С. 277-283; [Avanesova, N.A., Kyzlasov, L.R., In Memoriam of M.P. Gryaznov // Sovetskaya Arkheologiya (Soviet Archaeology). 1985. № 4. Pp. 277-283];
• Васильков Я.В., Сорокина М.Ю. С. 130-132; [Vassilkov, Y.V., Sorokina, M.Y. Pp. 130-132];
• Матющенко В.И., Швыдкая Н.П. М.П. Грязнов: истоки научной школы // История археологических исследований Сибири. Омск, 1999. С. 77-90; [Matyushchenko, V.I., Shvydkaya, N.P. Gryaznov: The Origin of the Scientific School // A History of Archaeological Research of Siberia. Omsk, 1999. Pp. 77-90]
• Решетов А.М. М.П. Грязнов как антрополог и этнограф // Степи Евразии в древности и средневековье: К 100-летию со дня рождения М.П. Грязнова. СПб., 2002. С. 69-71. [Reshetov, A.M. M.P. Gryaznov as an Anthropologist and Ethnographer // Eurasian Steppes in Ancient and Medieval Times: On the Occasion of M.P. Gryaznov’s 100th Anniversary. Saint-Petersburg, 2002. Pp. 69-71].