Efimenko, Petr Petrovich

Born Nov. 9 (21), 1884, in Kharkov; died Apr. 15, 1969, in Leningrad. Soviet archaeologist. Specialist on the Paleolithic. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1945). Son of A. la. Efimenko and P. S. Efimenko.

P. P. Efimenko conducted archaeological work on the Oskol and Donets rivers (1900-02) and participated in the excavations of the Mezin site (1909). From 1923 to 1936 he headed the archaeological expedition that discovered and investigated many Paleolithic sites on the Don. He elaborated a new methodology of investigating Paleolithic settlements. He and his students created a periodization of Paleolithic sites in the European part of the USSR. His book Primitive Society (3rd ed., 1953; 1st ed., 1934, under the title Pretribal Society) is of particular importance: it is the comprehensive work on the Paleolithic. He also investigated later remains—burial grounds dating from the third to the eighth centuries and early Slavic sites of fortified towns. Efimenko was awarded the Order of Lenin.