Every three years, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences awards the S. F. Oldenburg Prize to one of the leading researchers of Asia - in the field of archeology, philology, linguistics, history of religious and philosophical teachings, art and other Oriental sciences. In 2006 the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences decided to award the S. F. Oldenburg Prize to B. A. Litvinsky for a series of works on the history and archeology of Central Asia: "Eastern Turkestan in Ancient and Early Middle Ages "(vol. I-IV)," Hellenistic temple of Oxus in Bactria "(vol.I - II),"Ajina-Tepa Buddhist Monastery".

Boris Anatolyevich Litvinsky is a major, well-known and internationally recognized scientist, an outstanding researcher of Central and Central Asia, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Republic of Tajikistan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, foreign member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Linchi (Italy), corresponding member. German Archaeological Institute, corresponding member. Member of the Editorial Board and editorial boards of the journals "Vestnik drevnoi Istorii", " Vostok (Oriens)", " From Scythia to Siberia "(Leiden), Bulletin of the Institute of Asia (USA), the multi-volume Encyclopedia Iranica (USA), the popular science series Militaria Antiqua, created by the publishing house Petersburg Oriental Studies, winner of the prize of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres. Roman Girshman for achievements in the field of Iranian studies, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor.

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Boris Anatolyevich Litvinsky was born on April 17, 1923 in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). He graduated from the Central Asian State University (SAGU) with a degree in the Department of Archaeology of Central Asia. In 1944-1945 he participated in the battles of the Great Patriotic War on the 1st Belorussian Front as a platoon commander of submachine gunners. B. A. Litvinsky was awarded the Order of the Red Star, two Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree and many medals.

In 1950, he defended his PhD thesis, lectured at the Moscow State University and took part in archaeological expeditions as a team leader. B. A. Litvinsky worked in archaeological expeditions for 45 years (1945-1991). This required a huge investment of strength and health, as these works took place in the Karakum desert in the driest places of Tajikistan, in the high mountains of the" Roof of the World " - Pamir, where his expedition explored monuments at an altitude of up to four thousand m. He also descended into the caves of medieval mines to a depth of 200 m, into ancient water pipelines (kyarizy) to a depth of 80 m, lived in tents for months, led a difficult and dangerous life as a field archaeologist.

B. A. Litvinsky also carried out archaeological work in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, partly in Afghanistan, and most of all in Tajikistan. The chronological range of B. A. Litvinsky's works is from the Bronze Age to the advanced Middle Ages.

Especially fruitful in terms of archaeological research for Boris Anatolyevich were the 1960s and 1980s, when he led long-term excavations of Saka burial grounds in the Eastern Pamirs (1958-1961), the Ajina Tepa Buddhist monastery in the Vakhsh Valley (1960-1975).

From 1975 to 1990, B. A. Litvinsky led the excavations of the Takhti-Sangin settlement on the right bank of the Amu Darya River and the famous Oxa Temple located at the confluence of the Vakhsh River with the Panj River.

In 1951, B. A. Litvinsky moved to Dushanbe, where he organized the first archaeological institution-the archeology sector at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR. Managing this sector, he worked in Dushanbe for 20 years (until 1971), and then continued to work in Moscow, simultaneously leading expeditions to Southern Tajikistan for the next 20 years.

B. A. Litvinsky is not only a brilliant archaeologist-the founder of the archaeological school, which is commonly called "Tajikistan", he publishes and researches the results of his excavations in the context of the history and culture of the Mediterranean, the Near East, India and China. But first of all, he is an Oriental historian who studies historical, historical, cultural and ethnogenetic processes in Central Asia on the basis of written sources, linguistic, ethnographic, paleoantro-pological, archaeological and numismatic materials, and one of the largest researchers of the oldest period of the history of Central Asia.

B. A. Litvinsky is the author of 500 scientific publications (including 32 books, 10 of which are published in foreign languages) and the executive editor of 105 monographs and collections.

Critics especially emphasize the fundamental nature of B. A. Litvinsky's works and his scientific erudition. The greatest expert on Oriental archaeology, French academic R. Hirschman, notes: "The author is not only fully aware of the scientific literature in Russian, but almost nothing from Western European literature escapes his field of vision. This body of careful research of sources is of great value to a wide range of readers" [Ghirshman R. Artibus Asiae. Vol. 35/4, New York, 1973, p. 375].

In addition to his scientific works, B. A. Litvinsky took part in the preparation of textbooks. In 1958, he wrote for a textbook on the history of Tajikistan for secondary schools

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chapters and sections on antiquity and the Middle Ages. For almost 35 years, this textbook has been reprinted annually in Russian, Tajik,and Uzbek. Many generations of Tajiks and Uzbeks first learned their history from this book. B. A. Litvinsky participated in writing other textbooks for secondary schools and universities.

The scientist attaches great importance to the training of young personnel. Many of his students have become candidates and doctors of sciences, professors and continue to study the history of Central Asia. B. A. Litvinsky's scientific and pedagogical activity is covered in the article by B. I. Iskandarov and V. A. Ranov "B. A. Litvinsky's contribution to the study of the ancient past of Central Asia" in the collection " The Past of Central Asia "(Dushanbe, 1987. pp. 4-24), in the books: "Boris Anatolyevich Litvinsky" (Dushanbe, 1983, 1996, 2nd ed.), Kh. Kholdzhuraev, O. Karimov. "An outstanding archaeologist and connoisseur of Central Asia. Dedicated to the 80th anniversary of B. A. Litvinsky". Худжанд: "Нури маърифат", 2003.

In 1971, B. A. Litvinsky was invited to work at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Moving to Moscow marked a new stage in the scientist's scientific activity, connected with entering the all-Union and international arena. He worked as the head of the Antiquities Sector of the Soviet Oriental Department, then as the head of the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East. Currently, he works as a Chief Researcher at the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

B. A. Litvinsky rallied a galaxy of talented scientists around him. He was the initiator and head of a permanent theoretical scientific seminar on historical-cultural and historical-ethnogenetic problems based on the sector.

B. A. Litvinsky successfully combined his organizational activities with the study of art and archeology monuments in museums in England, France, Germany, Italy, Afghanistan, Japan, etc. He has lectured at the Universities of Harvard, New York, California (Los Angeles and Berkeley), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (England), the Sorbonne, the University of Strasbourg, the Guimet Museum (France), the Universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin (Germany), the University of Rome, the University of Naples, and the Italian Institute for Africa and Asia etc.

Reviewers of B. A. Litvinsky's books do not hide their admiration for the unique material and encyclopedic approach of their author. Especially brilliant are the reviews of the book "The Buddhist Monastery of Ajina Tepa "(1971 - in Russian; 2004-in English), " The Hellenistic Temple of Oxus in Bactria "(Vol. I. 2000; Vol. P. 2001), which emphasize the scientist's contribution to world science. his idea that not only Western civilization is based on the ancient one, but also in the origins of Central Asian civilization there are also ancient roots.

It is particularly noted that B. A. Litvinsky's books for Central Asian archaeologists replaced libraries that were inaccessible to them, and his works published in European languages introduced foreign scientists to the works of domestic researchers.

B. A. Litvinsky's works are widely known and highly appreciated in foreign science. Thus, three reviews in the American Archaeological Journal were devoted to the Temple of Ochs, and one of the reviewers was the outstanding orientalist R. N. Fry. East and West magazine also published other reviews.

B. A. Litvinsky's works cover the initial stages of ethno-cultural development of the population of Central Asia in the Bronze Age, as well as important aspects of studying the Aryan problem. In a series of works, he addresses the subsequent stage of ethno-cultural development both in general and in certain regions of Central Asia.

He devoted a lot of time and effort to the history of Central Asian nomadic tribes and peoples of antiquity and the early Middle Ages. A special focus is the study of the typology and history of Central Asian cities of antiquity (especially Takhti-Sangin and Saksan-Ahura) and the Middle Ages (Khulbuk, Kafir-Kala, etc.), as well as ancient and medieval architecture.

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The history of religions, especially Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism, occupies an important place in B. A. Litvinsky's scientific work. His work "Outline History of Buddhism in Central Asia" (Moscow, 1968) was reprinted in India, and then in Sri Lanka-it was the first essay on the history of Central Asian Buddhism in the world science.

B. A. Litvinsky was particularly involved in the history of mining in Central Asia - he wrote the first essays in Russian science on the history of tin mining in Central Asia and oil in South Turkmenistan, a series of studies on the technique of medieval mining in Central Asia B. A. Litvinsky created a number of generalizing works on the history of Tajikistan and Central Asia as a whole, in particular, the third volume of" History of Civilizations of Central Asia". P., 1996. (B. A. Litvinsky was not only the responsible editor, but also the author of a significant part of this work, published by UNESCO in English). The large book "La civilization de l'Asie Centrale antique"is also generalizing. Traduit du russe par L. Vaysse. Rahden/Westf. (Archaologie in Iran und Turan, Bd. 3. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Eurasien Abteilung (Mission archeologique francaise en Asie Centrale). 215 p., ill. Bibliogr. p. 186-215, as well as a volume of the multi-volume " History of the Tajik people. Vol. 1. The oldest and oldest history". Dushanbe. 1998. In these and other works, B. A. Litvinsky recreated a complete picture of civilizational and ethnic processes in Central Asia.

The works of B. A. Litvinsky occupy an important place in modern military archaeology. As part of his research, he successfully combined the best traditions of Russian orientalism with the achievements of classical Western science.

Despite his age, Boris Anatolyevich works hard and fruitfully. In honor of its 75th anniversary, the scientific community held an international conference, the materials of which were published in a special collection (Ancient Civilizations of Eurasia. History and culture. Proceedings of the international scientific conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the full member of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor B. A. Litvinsky. Moscow, October 14-16, 1998. Moscow, Publishing Company "Vostochnaya Literatura" RAS, 2001).

In honor of the 80th anniversary of B. A. Litvinsky and his wife, friend and associate of the greatest numismatist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Elena Abramovna Davidovich, an international scientific conference was held and a collection of materials was published (Central Asia. Sources, history, and culture. Proceedings of the international scientific conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Doctor of Historical Sciences E. A. Davidovich and full member of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences B. A. Litvinsky. Moscow, April 3-5, 2003. Vostochnaya Literatura Publishing Company of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2005). In addition to scientific reports, the collection contains a bibliography of published works by E. A. Davidovich and B. A. Litvinsky.

President of the Republic of Tajikistan E. S. Rakhmonov highly appreciated B. A. Litvinsky's contribution to the publication of the "History of the Tajik People". The works of the scientist, based on a huge amount of archaeological materials, written sources and scientific literature, will retain their value for many years. E. S. Rakhmonov noted that the outstanding archaeological sites-Ajina-Tepa, Takhti-Sangin and many others related to B. A. Litvinsky's scientific research, are forever inscribed in the best pages of Central Asian archeology, and that many exhibits in the Museum of Antiquity of Tajikistan were obtained during the expedition excavations led by B. A. Litvinsky.

Students, friends, colleagues, employees of the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East and the editorial board of the magazine "Vostok (Oriens)" congratulate B. A. Litvinsky on being awarded the S. F. Oldenburg Prize and wish him good health and further creative success.

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