Levin, Maksim
Levin, Maksim Grigor’evich
Born Oct. 16 (29), 1904, in Slonim, Byelorussian SSR; died Apr. 18, 1963, in Moscow. Soviet anthropologist, ethnographer, and archaeologist. Doctor of historical sciences (1958). Professor (1960). Deputy director of the Institute of Ethngraphy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1944–63).
Levin conducted field studies in Tuva (1926, 1952), the northern Baikal region (1927), the Altai (1929), the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk (1930–31), the Amur region and Sakhalin (1947), and Chukotka (1957–61). His principal works were on the anthropology and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia, Middle Asia, and Japan; general problems arising in the study of races; comparative anatomy; and many other problems linked by the common idea of the study of the evolution of man in connection with the history of primitive society. Levin worked out the doctrine of historical-ethnographic regions and economic-cultural types. He was awarded two orders and various medals.