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Kuz’min Ya. My Works with Yu. V. Knorozov and the Importance of His Studies in 1979–1990 for Archaeology of the Kurile Islands

Yaroslav Kuz’min
V. S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-4512-2269
E-mail: kuzmin@fulbrightmail.org

 

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ABSTRACT. The article presents memories of the author’s work on the Iturup Island (in 1988 and 1990) together with Yu. V. Knorozov, the prominent Soviet/Russian specialist in ancient writing systems and ethnic semiotics. A brief review of archaeological sites and rock images found and studied by him on the Iturup Island in 1979–1990 is given. One of the main tasks was the search for the traces left by Ainu and more ancient populations of the Kuriles, mainly rock images and carvings. Before works by Yu. V. Knorozov in 1979–1990, archaeological investigation in the southern Kurile Islands were conducted sporadically, without clear program. Yu. V. Knorozov found, analyzed and interpreted signs and symbols carved on the boulders and other rock surfaces of the Iturup Island. He also collected large amount of samples for radiocarbon dating, and this allowed to generate for the first time the chronological framework for ancient cultural complexes of the southern Kuriles. Yu. V. Knorozov found and preliminarily studied the Yankito 2, the oldest archaeological site in the entire Kuriles. The importance of the Yu. V. Knorozov’s contribution to the investigation of the distant past of the southern Kuril Islands and the spiritual world of their inhabitants in antiquity is emphasized.

 

KEYWORDS: Yu. V. Knorozov, Kurile Islands, archaeology, rock images, chronology

 

FOR CITATION: Kuz’min Ya. My Works with Yu. V. Knorozov and the Importance of His Studies in 1979–1990 for Archaeology of the Kurile Islands. Kunstkamera. 2023. 2(20): 96–109. (In Russian). doi 10.31250/2618-8619-2023-2(20)-96-109  

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2023-2(20)-96-109
УДК 902.02+902.66+397(571.645)

 

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