Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia
Balakhonova Ekaterina Isaevna, PhD; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1104-6966; balakhonova@gmail.com.
Introduction. The article is devoted to the biography and scientific activity of the prominent anthropologist of the first half of the 20th century – Nikolay Alexandrovich Sinelnikov (1885 – 1941). Не was the apprentice of D.N. Anuchin and one of the first employees of the Moscow State University Anthropology Department. He made a notable contribution not only to the development of science, but also to the transformation of the Anthropology Museum from an institution accessible only to scientists and students into a museum opened to public and engaged in popular-science activity. Meanwhile, the scientific and scientific-social activities of N.A. Sinelnikov has never been considered comprehensively in the literature. Materials and methods. The article is based on archival documents of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of MSU, the manuscript of P.I. Zenkevich «To the 80th anniversary of the birth of N.A. Sinelnikov» from the personal archive of the author, scientific articles by N.A. Sinelnikov and literature data. Results and discussion. The scientific interests of N.A. Sinelnikov were distributed between anthropometry, anthropogenesis, and at that time new research methods. Together with V.V. Bunak and A.I. Yarkho, he took part in the creation of a unified technique for anthropometric research, already in the first edition of which his recommendations for anthropological photographing were published. N.A. Sinelnikov’s comparative study of the bone microstructure in anthropoids and modern humans had a great influence on the systematic position clarifying of Homo pithecanthropus. Later he carried out a comparative anatomical study of the bones of a neanderthal child from the grotto Teshik-Tash. At the turn of the 20s and 30s of the XX century, N.A. Sinelnikov became one of the initiators of the Anthropology Museum development as an open institution of scientific and educational orientation and was appointed its acting director. The documents from the archives of the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University confirming and clarifying the position of the Museum of Anthropology in the structure of Moscow University and the Science Sector of the RSFSR People’s Commissariat for Education are presented. In 1931 N.A. Sinelnikov together with V.V. Bunak, A.A. Deshin, M.F. Nesturkh and Ya.Ya. Roginsky created the first in the USSR exposition on the topic “The origin of man”.
historical anthropology; history of the MSU; Anthropology museum; anthropometry; anthropogenesis; personalities; N.A. Sinelnikov
DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2020.4.129-137
Цит.: Balakhonova E.I. Sinelnikov Nikolay Alexandrovich (1885–1941) .On the 135th anniversary of the birth // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2020; 4/2020; с. 129-137
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