Birthday anniversary of Artemiy Artsikhovsky, eminent archaeologist and historian

13 (26) December 1902, in St. Petersburg was born Artemiy V. Artsikhovsky, future Soviet archaeologist and historian, member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Artemiy spent his childhood and youth in Novocherkassk, where his father, a famous botanist and plant physiologist Vladimir M. Artsikhovsky headed the Higher Women Natural-Science Courses and the Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. After graduating from high school in 1920, Artsikhovsky began his studies at a local college, but two years later he decided to modify the area of his scientific interests. In 1922 Artemiy joined the Archaeology Department of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Moscow University, where he was engaged in excavation of suburban mounds under the guidance of the famous archaeologist V. A. Gorodtsov.

Having graduated from the University in 1925, Artsikhovsky joined a post-graduate course at the Research Institute of Archaeology and Art History of the Russian Association of Research Institutes of Social Sciences (RANION). From 1927 Artemiy had been teaching at the Moscow University, working at the same time at tge State Historical Museum. In 1929 he defended his thesis "Vyatichi’s Mounds": using the methods of mathematical statistics, he compiled an extended material on Russian antiquities of the 11th – 14th centuries. Soon Artsikhovsky chose a new significant topic for his research, which he supported up to the end of life - Archaeology of Velikiy Novgorod. Having started jointly with B. A. Rybakov from studying the Novgorod area, in the early 1930s Artemiy transferred excavations into the city setting up a permanent expedition for the study of the Russian Middle Ages. Excavations were soon widespread, and within a decade under the leadership of Artsikhovsky several historical districts of the city such as Yaroslav's Court and Slavensky district had been investigated.

In 1931 Artemiy became a scientist of the Archeology Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences; in 1937 he became a professor of the Moscow State University, and from 1939 until his death he was the permanent head of the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of History. In 1940 Artsikhovsky defended his doctoral dissertation "Old Russian miniatures as a historical source," an important work on the history of numismatics, heraldry, and other special historical disciplines.

The most important event in the scientific life of the scientist was the discovery of the first Novgorod writing on birch bark 26 July 1951 at the Nerevsky excavation. The study of the found birch bark writings opened a new page in the history of the study of the Russian language, expanded scientists' ideas about the life of medieval man. Birch bark writings significantly changed the traditional believes about a degree of literacy in the Old Russia. For several years Artsikhovsky, his colleagues and students had written several fundamental works on these most important historical sources.

In 1952-1957 Artemiy served as Dean of the History Faculty at the Moscow State University. The lecture course and the textbook of the same name, "Fundamentals of Archaeology" elaborated by Artsikhovsky is still prominent in the history of Soviet historical science. In 1957, Artsikhovsky was the unchallenged editor in chief of “The Soviet Archeology", and in 1960 he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Researches and teaching of Artsikhovsky had been marked by many awards, including two orders "Badge of Honor" and two State Prizes of the USSR.

Artemiy Artsikhovsky died February 17, 1978 in Moscow at the age of 75.

Lit.: Артемий Владимирович Арциховский. Библиографический указатель. М., 1973; Арциховский А. В. Курганы вятичей. М., 1930; Он же. Введение в археологию. М., 1940; Он же. Основы археологии. М., 1954; Он же (в соавт. с М. Н. Тихомировым). Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1951 г.). М., 1953; Он же. Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1952 г.). М., 1954; Он же (в соавт. с В. И. Борковским). Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1953-1954 гг.). М., 1958; Он же (в соавт. с В. И. Борковским). Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1956-1957 гг.). М., 1963; Он же. Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1958-1961 гг.). М., 1963; Он же (в соавт. с В. Л. Яниным). Новгородские грамоты на бересте (из раскопок 1962-1976 гг.). М., 1978.