MEMORY of MY TEACHER – ALEXEY P. OKLADNIKOV

Abstract

In February 2020 was exactly 40 years as I first crossed the threshold of the Institute of History, Philology and Philosophy of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, now independent Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Then I met an outstanding scientist, legend of archaeology, ethnography and history of the peoples of Siberia, North, Central and East Asia, Hero of Socialist Labor, Alexey P. Okladnikov (1908–1981) (fig. 1). A little over a year we contacted, albeit occasionally. However, it was enough for him to leave a bright mark in my life and memory for a long time. Crazy time is flying rapidly, and it has been 39 years since my teacher left forever, went on an eternal expedition. I remember everything about him, everything to the smallest detail, as if we had parted ways recently. Alexey P. Okladnikov is impossible to forget, first of all, as a person, as a scientist. How it all started and it was... I will try to make a small excursion and restore the events of the past.