TO THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF A. A. BOBRINSKY
Author: V. I. Molodin, Yu. B. Tsetlin, N. P. Salugina, I. N. Vasilyeva, E. V. Volkova, I. A. Gay, L. N. Mylnikova

One of the most important archaeological sources is ceramics. The study of ancient pottery has always been given the closest attention, but the real breakthrough in its comprehensive research in our country is associated with the name of the outstanding Russian researcher of the history of ancient pottery A. A. Bobrinsky.

Alexander Afanasyevich was born on August 4, 1930 in Moscow in the family of an electric lamp factory worker and a weaver at the Krasnaya Rabotnitsa factory. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War, at the age of 12, he worked in a bookbinding workshop, and later at the Kalibr factory, and at the same time studied at the evening department of the instrument-making technical school.

In 1952, A. A. Bobrinsky entered the History Department of the V. I. Lenin Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. Since 1953, he took part in archaeological excavations under the direction of V. V. Sedov. During this period, A. A. Bobrinsky showed an interest in studying ancient ceramics, which later became the main business of his life. In 1959, Alexander Afanasievich entered postgraduate school, where his scientific supervisor was A.V. Artsikhovsky, and in 1962 he successfully defended his PhD thesis on " Pottery circles of Eastern Europe of the IX-XIII centuries." In the same year, he was hired at the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where in 1963, by the decision of the director of the Institute, B. A. Bybakov, the group "History of Ceramics" was created, the main task of which was to develop new methods for studying ceramics as a historical source.

During the existence of the laboratory, a unique source base has been accumulated: ethnographic data on pottery in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East; reference collections of experimental samples reflecting the main aspects of ceramic production technology; comparative collections of ancient ceramics from Eurasia, Africa and America. However, perhaps the most important thing is the methodological development of a holistic system for studying ceramics, performed by A. A. Bobrinsky and actively used by his numerous colleagues and followers.

Deeply realizing the importance of ethnographic data for the needs of archeology, A. A. Bobrinsky undertook an unprecedented work on a mass questionnaire survey of the population of the European part of the USSR about domestic pottery production. More than 3 thousand letters were received, which formed a huge fund of ethnographic data on rural pottery in the first half and middle of the XX century. In 1968, Alexander Afanasievich created a comprehensive group for the study of pottery, which worked until 1981. As a result of all this, a huge ethnographic material was collected from about 1000 centers of rural pottery production in European Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In 1978, A. A. Bobrinsky published the monograph "Pottery of Eastern Europe: Sources and Methods of Study", which was awarded the VDNKh medal, and a year later he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences for it. This work immediately became a classic. In his review, Academician B. A. Rybakov emphasized that it opened a new direction of scientific research not only in Russian, but also in world archaeology. In 1991, A. A. Bobrinsky's book "Potteries and Furnaces of Eastern Europe"was published.

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In 1999, he published a large article "Pottery technology as an object of historical and cultural study", which included new methodological developments made after 1978. A. A. Bobrinsky's articles cover almost all aspects of the history of ancient pottery. He developed new theories of the origin of pottery and the potter's wheel, a method for studying the technology of making and forming pottery, an original method for reconstructing the gender and age of potters based on nail prints on ceramics, and much more. One of the most important achievements of A. A. Bobrinsky is the development of a new methodological approach to the study of pottery, which is called historical and cultural. All this has no analogues in the world archaeological literature. Alexander Afanasyevich's books and articles are reference materials for archaeologists actively studying ceramics in the Far East, Siberia, the Volga region, and other regions of Russia and Europe.

A. A. Bobrinsky pays great attention to training young specialists, working with interns, and conducting scientific consultations. His students work in different cities of Russia and the CIS. As a result, a large scientific school of Russian specialists in the study of ancient ceramics was formed, which continues the work of its teacher.

Currently, Alexander Afanasievich is actively working on further development of a unified system for studying cultural traditions in various areas of the history of ancient pottery. We wish him creative success and good health.

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