On December 5, 2013, Elena Abramovna Davidovich, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Department of Written Monuments of the Peoples of the East at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an outstanding specialist in the history, archeology, source studies and numismatics of Central Asia of the Middle Ages and Modern times, passed away.
E. A. Davidovich was born on December 24, 1922 in Krasnoyarsk. In 1945. she graduated from the History Department of the Central Asian State University (SAGU, Tashkent) in the Department of Archaeology of Central Asia; since 1950-Candidate of Historical Sciences (dissertation topic: "On the circulation of money in the Sheibanid state". Since 1965-Doctor of Historical Sciences (dissertation topic: "Numismatic data on the socio-economic and political history of Central Asia of the X-XVIII centuries").
E. A. Davidovich's scientific activity began with teaching at the History Department of the Moscow State University (1946-1952). Then, for more than 20 years (1951-1972), she worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR, where, together with her husband and colleague B. A. Litvinsky, she took an active part in defining and organizing scientific directions of the archeology and numismatics sector. For a number of years, she led archaeological teams that made important discoveries in the history and culture of the Tajik people. Under her leadership, one of the most valuable collections of hoards of Oriental coins in Central Asia was collected, which later made it possible to organize a numismatic office at the institute. In 1966-1971, in parallel with her research work, she again taught - this time at the History Department of the Tajik State University. Elena Abramovna's long-term teaching career was fully appreciated in 1969 when she was awarded the academic title of professor.
page 213
From 1972 to 1988, E. A. Davidovich worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow) as the head of the historical sources sector of the Department of Written Monuments of the Peoples of the East, organized by her, and from 1988 to the last days as the chief researcher. Elena Abramovna-organizer and permanent director of the "Barthold Readings" of the All-Union Conference of historians of the Muslim East (1973-1993). She was the initiator and permanent executive editor of the series "Oriental Historical Source Studies and Special Historical Disciplines" (hereinafter - VIISID), deputy executive editor of the series "Epigraphy of the East", responsible and scientific editor of more than 30 collections and monographs; foreign corresponding member of the American Numismatic Society since 1989, member of the editorial board yearbook " Written monuments of the East. Historical and Philological Studies" and one of the leading international Oriental studies journals "Central Asian Journal" (Wiesbaden), a member of the UNESCO international project "History of Civilizations of Central Asia" (Paris).
Pen E. A. Davidovich belongs to nine monographs: "History of Central Asian Coinage in the 17th-18th centuries. (Gold and silver coins of the Janids)" (Dushanbe, 1964; the author prepared the 2nd, ispr. and additional ed.); " Monetary economy of Central Asia in the XIII century "(Moscow, 1972); "History of money circulation in medieval Central Asia (Copper coins of the XV - first quarter of the XVI century in Transoxiana) "(Moscow, 1983); "Corpus of gold and silver coins of the Sheibanids of the XVI century" (Moscow, 1992); and several others, as well as over 210 scientific articles and publications on various issues of the history of material culture Elena Abramovna's works cover a wide range of problems of source studies and textual studies, economic and social history, archeology, numismatics, epigraphy, diplomacy, metrology, and the history of material culture in Central Asia. They are rich not only in new materials, but also in innovative concepts and ideas, as well as in-depth analysis. All this has brought E. A. Davidovich fame both among scientists in the republics of the former Soviet Union and in Oriental circles around the world. There are cases when foreign numismatists specially studied Russian in order to read the original publications of Elena Abramovna. Her works are distinguished by boldness in setting problems, depth and complexity of scientific research, accuracy and capacity of formulations, fundamental conclusions drawn on the basis of an analysis of a huge volume and unprecedented complexity of factual material. She developed and introduced into scientific use a number of fundamentally new methods for studying numismatic monuments and written sources.
For many years, the main object of E. A. Davidovich's research as a source specialist was coins and hoards of coins mainly from the territory of Central Asia of the Muslim era (VIII-XVIII centuries). As a result of her scientific efforts, researchers now have access to an extensive fund of numismatic sources that were not previously used, in particular, the material covered by the unique editions of two cases of Muslim coins of the XVI-XVIII centuries and a set of hoards of coins found on the territory of Tajikistan. Along with recording a huge amount of material, Elena Abramovna developed and proposed new methods of source analysis, identified new forms of publication of a coin source based on its preliminary classification.
Elena Abramovna's attention as a researcher has always been drawn to Eastern (Arabic, Persian, and Turkic) handwritten sources. In the course of a scrupulous analysis of texts, she discovered many errors of medieval authors and scribes that were not noticed by publishers and researchers, introduced and justified numerous conjectures - original and interesting in their unexpected interpretation.
A significant place in the scientific works of E. A. Davidovich is occupied by a complex of issues of economic history of the XV-XVIII centuries. (for example, on the size of land rent, on the genesis and specifics of the development of a special form of feudal land ownership-milka, or mulka). But the main economic problem, which in the works of Elena Abramovna is preferred over all others, is always a deep study of the history of money circulation in Central Asia of the VIII - XVIII centuries. This was essentially "virgin land", and not only in Russian Oriental studies: both in Soviet and traditional foreign science, commodity-money relations were long underestimated and even ignored as a full-fledged historical factor.
For the first time in the works of E. A. Davidovich, the position was clearly formulated on the need for a comprehensive source study approach to the study of this problem with the versatile use of a mass coin source, which is often the leading, and sometimes the only source on the history of a particular period. It has long been no secret that the narrative-
page 214
The sources that traditionally dominate historical source studies sometimes either do not contain the necessary source material at all, or they are so distorted that their uncritical use hinders the reconstruction of an objective historical picture. In this regard, the method developed by Elena Abramovna to maximize the extraction of indirect and hidden information from coins was extremely fruitful, which opened up huge opportunities for studying the medieval and modern history of Central Asia.
Drawing on a complex of coin, documentary and other handwritten sources, Elena Abramovna discovered and comprehensively investigated such factors as money circulation crises, numerous monetary reforms, state policy regarding the organization of money circulation, and ways to extract income from coinage. It identifies common features and local variants of monetary policy and monetary circulation, periods of upswings, maximum development and downturns in money trade throughout the medieval history of Central Asia. In turn, the material monuments of monetary circulation allowed the author to make generalizing judgments about the state, development and local variants of the formation of commodity-money relations in general. This direction in the work of E. A. Davidovich is the most fruitful and productive: four monographs and a large series of articles have been published.
In her research, Elena Abramovna also turned to political history, and also on the basis of or with the active involvement of numismatic data. Traditionally, it is known that coin inscriptions (legends) are an excellent source for clarifying and detailing many issues of political history. In the first half of the 19th century, academician H. M. Fren successfully used numismatic data to study the political history of the East. This direction also made a useful contribution to science in subsequent periods. Elena Abramovna continued a long tradition: the numismatic material used by her is extremely important for describing the events of political history in the Samanid, Karakhanid, Anushteginid, and Sheibanid states.
The use of coins as a source for studying social history has completely changed the ideas of historians, often based on analogies that actually erase the most important local nuances. This applies, in particular, to the institute of feudal service awards, the assessment of the level of development of which in Central Asia in the IX-X centuries and its comparison with the XI-XII centuries is a new word said by E. A. Davidovich using the method of comparative analysis of the content and form of coin inscriptions developed by her.
Another area of Elena Abramovna's research is metrology. It cannot be studied "specifically", since there are practically no corresponding written sources with compact data for Central Asia. Each metric unit requires independent research as new materials are discovered. The gradual accumulation of information from sources resulted in several works by Elena Abramovna on individual weights and other units of measurement and in the only practical guide on metrology in Central Asia today.
Ye. A. Davidovich is mainly responsible for the creation of the Historical Source Studies sector in the Department of SPNV, which she headed for 16 years. It is thanks to her that the sector has developed and actively operates a highly professional and internally cohesive creative team - a genuine source study school of the highest scientific level. Under her scientific guidance, numerous doctors and candidates of sciences, specialists in various fields of historical source studies, grew up. Dozens of her students successfully work in various scientific institutions of Russia, near and far abroad, representing the flower of the scientific intelligentsia of their countries.
Elena Abramovna's scientific and organizational activities, as well as her equally well - known spouse, the archaeologist and historian Boris Anatolyevich Litvinsky, were repeatedly mentioned in the articles and notes of colleagues and students here and abroad. The list of publications devoted to them alone (both together and separately) has at least 70 titles.
Elena Abramovna's scientific and organizational activities were duly recognized by state and public organizations: in April 1998, by decree of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, she was awarded the honorary title "Arbobi ilm va tehnikai To ikiston" ("Honorary Worker of Science and Technology of Tajikistan"), and on October 1, 2005, she was elected a full member of the People's Academy of Science, Culture and arts of Central Asia.
Colleagues, friends, numerous students - both official and those who consider themselves such due to acquaintance with the rich scientific heritage of E. A. Davidovich-will forever preserve a respectful, kind and grateful memory of her.
V. N. NASTICH
page 215
RECENT SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF E. L. DAVIDOVICH (supplement to the published bibliographic lists)*
I. Monographs
Silver coins of Muhammad Shaybanikhan. 907-916 gg. kh. (1501-1510 gg.). Moscow, 2006. 108 p., 220 fig. in the text (co-authors-A. E. Zhiravov and V. N. Kleshchinov).
II. Articles, reviews, and publications of numismatic monuments
The Monetary Reform of Muhammad Shibani Khan in 913-914/1507-08 // Studies on Central Asian History in honor of Yuri Bregel / Ed. by Devin DeWeese. Indiana University. Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. Bloomington, Indiana, 2001. P. 129-185.
Monetary Systems and Prices. Part 1: Northern Parts of Central Asia: Monetary Policy and Currency Circulation under the Shaybanid and the Janid (Ashtarkhanid) Dynasties // History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V: Development in Contrast: From the Sixteenth to the Mid-nineteenth Century. P.: UNESCO Publishing, 2002. P. 427-444.
Monetary reform 913/1507 914/1509 Muhammad Shaybani Khan (experience in integrated source studies) // Eastern Historical source studies and special historical disciplines. Issue 6. Moscow, 2004. p. 5 59.
A case of gold and silver Sheibanid coins. XVI century. Addenda 2 / / Eastern historical source studies and special historical disciplines. Issue 6. Moscow, 2004, pp. 196-205 (co-author: V. N. Kleshchinov).
Method for determining the weight standard of coins based on their average weight // Teoriya i metody issledovaniya vostochnoy epigrafiki [Theory and methods of research in Eastern Epigraphy]. Moscow, 2006, pp. 44-72.
[zhongya de qianbi he huobi zhidu] (The Money and Currency System of Central Asia) // [xinjiang shifan daxue xuebao (zhexuc shehui kexue ban)] = Journal of Xinjiang Normal University (Social Sciences), June 2007. Vol. 28. No. 2. P. 11-19 (на кит. яз.)
On attribution of silver coins named after Yar Muhammad / / Numismatics and epigraphy. Issue XVIII. Moscow, 2011, pp. 244-264.
* Works published in 2001-2013 are taken into account. Lists of publications of previous years: Kurpalidis G. M. List of the main works of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor E. A. Davidovich (To the 60th anniversary of his birth) / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1983. No. 3. pp. 207-210; Gulyamova E. Nauchnye raboty doktora istoricheskikh nauk, professora E. A. Davidovich [Scientific works of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor E. A. Davidovich]. [Collection in honor of the 60th anniversary of E. A. Davidovich and B. A. Litvinsky]. Dushanbe, 1987. p. 25-32; List of scientific papers E. L. Davidovich, 1983-1992 / / Eastern historical source studies and special historical disciplines. Issue 3. Dedicated to Elena Abramovna Davidovich, Moscow, 1995, pp. 320-322; Bibliography of printed works by Elena A. Davidovich / / Central Asia: sources, history, 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) / Ed. by E. V. Antonov, T. K. Mkrtychsv. Moscow, 2005. pp. 20-32; Full list scientific works of E. A. Davidovich are available on the Internet: http://info.charm.ru/authors/Davidovich-ru.pdf>.
page 216
New publications: |
Popular with readers: |
News from other countries: |
![]() |
Editorial Contacts |
About · News · For Advertisers |
![]() 2020-2025, BIBLIO.UZ is a part of Libmonster, international library network (open map) Keeping the heritage of Uzbekistan |