Factors and the background of the study of rock art monuments of the Middle Yenisei (1940s-1990s)

This article discusses the major historical and socio-cultural factors and the background of the study of the monuments of rock art of the Middle Yenisei in the 1940s-1990s. On the basis of the activities of the Moscow, Leningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo and Khakass researchers, the author identified the following factors that influenced the study of rock art sites of the region. These include: new construction works, development of local centers and personal interests to researchers. New construction works primarily concern the construction of an important industrial facility, the Krasnoyarsk Hydro Power Plant. The work led to a large-scale, emergency study and introduction into the scientific circulation of archaeological sites. Under the influence of this factor, the Kamensky unit of the Krasnoyarsk archaeological expedition of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Archaeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences was formed; it worked in the flood zone of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir from 1963 to 1970 with interruptions. Ya.A. Sher, a known Russian scholar, supervised the work of the unit. The second factor is the development of local centers for the study of rock art, which led to a surge in research activities in the region. Even during the wartime conditions, difficult not only for domestic science, but also for the state as a whole, the interest in the antiquities of the Yenisei did not abate. In 1939, V.P. Levashova, an employee of the Krasnoyarsk regional museum, developed a plan of archaeological research in the territory of the southern part of Krasnoyarsk Krai for up to five years. In 1955, R.V. Nikolaev organized an expedition whose tasks included: exploration works and account of monuments located in the flood zone of the future Krasnoyarsk reservoir. The Khakassia archaeological expedition of Moscow State University headed by L.R. Kyzlasov made a great contribution to the study of rock art. Since the 1970s, the petroglyphic unit of the South Siberian archaeological expedition under the leadership of B.N. Pyatkina began operations; it did the most significant works on the introduction in the scientific use of not only monuments, but also copying techniques. Another factor, interrelated with the previous, is the personal interest of the researcher. This factor is connected with the development of the local lore movement of the 1930s-1990s. V.A. Zyryanov, a prominent ethnographer, studied rock art sites and burial mounds in the 1940s. A special place in the history of the study of the monuments of rock art belongs to the activities of N.V. Leontiev, an archaeologist of the Minusinsk Museum of Local Lore, who explored most of the monuments of the region. Thanks to him, a significant archaeological material of the Middle Yenisei was collected. Thus, in the chronological period under study, researchers of the Middle Yenisei rock art were influenced by three factors: new construction works, development of local centers and personal interests of researchers.

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