Faces of the Irkutsk School of Archaeology: Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov

Mikhail Gerasimov, a well-known Soviet anthropologist, the creator of a unique method of plastic reconstruction of the face from the skull, was born on September 15, 1907 in St. Petersburg. In 1912, the Gerasimov family moved to Irkutsk, where his father received the post of doctor of the Irkutsk resettlement center. Irkutsk, as the capital of the vast Siberian region from the Yenisei to the Pacific Ocean, had a multifaceted socio-cultural life. In 1851, a department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society was organized in Irkutsk as the first scientific organization to study all aspects of the nature, history, and peoples of Siberia. In 1918 Irkutsk University was opened, which became the main center of scientific and educational activities. With Irkutsk are connected the discoveries of the first Paleolithic site, the first Neolithic burial ground, the first multilayered site in Russia. At Irkutsk University, Berngard Petri created the multidisciplinary Irkutsk School of Archaeology (Paleoethnology). Mikhail Gerasimov was formed as a researcher in the system of this school, where he received archaeological, anthropological, geological, and paleontological training. He made the first face reconstructions from the skull in 1927 and 1929. The archaeological activity of Mikhail Gerasimov relates to Irkutsk, where he was engaged in research of Stone Age campsites and burials. It distinguishes two periods: pre-war (1919–1937) and post-war (1956–1960). He studied burials in Irkutsk and its vicinity, as well as at the mouth of the Selenga River, participated in excavations of the Paleolithic site Verkholenskaya Gora, discovered the Paleolithic site Pereselenchenskii Punkt in Irkutsk, the multilayered site Ust-Belaya, and a number of Stone Age campsites in Khabarovsk. His biggest achievement was the discovery and excavation of the Malta Paleolithic site with unique dwelling complexes and bone sculptures. The socio-political situation in the country forced Mikhail Gerasimov in 1937 to engage in physical anthropology to develop and implement the method of reconstruction of the face from the skull. Archaeology has faded into the background. Mikhail Gerasimov was able to return to Irkutsk for the excavations of Malta, Ust-Belaya, Fofanovo burial ground in 1956–1960. In the process of these works, under his influence, a team of young archaeologists was formed at the Irkutsk State University, which made up a new generation of the Irkutsk School of Archaeology.