Kiselev, Sergei

Born July 4 (17), 1905, in Mytishchi, in what is now Moscow Oblast; died Nov. 8, 1962, in Moscow. Soviet archaeologist and historian. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953). Specialist in Bronze Age archaeology and the ancient and medieval history of the peoples of Southern Siberia and Mongolia. Member of the CPSU (1949).

Kiselev graduated from Moscow University in 1926. In 1930 he became a senior research worker at the State Academy of the History of Material Culture (now the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). Beginning in 1939, he was a professor at Moscow University. From 1949 to 1962 he was also editor in chief of the Journal of Ancient History.

Beginning in 1927, Kiselev conducted archaeological research in the Altai Mountains, Khakasia, Tuva, and central Kazakhstan, the results of which were summarized in The Ancient History of Southern Siberia (1949), a work that was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1950. In 1948–49 he directed a Soviet-Mongolian expedition involved in the excavation of the ancient cities of Khara-Balgas and Karakorum. From 1957 to 1961 he investigated the Konduiskii palace and the city of Khirkhira in Transbaikalia. His studies confirmed the existence of ancient Mongolian cities (see the collection Ancient Mongolian Cities, 1965). Kiselev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Badge of Honor.