On December 6, Professor Evgeny Alfredovich Schmidt, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, celebrates his 90th anniversary. All Smolensk residents interested in the history of their native land are aware of the significant contribution this world-renowned archaeologist has made to the study of Smolensk’s past. On the eve of his anniversary, Evgeny Alfredovich gave an interview to “Smolenskaya Gazeta.”
In Science, There Are No Royal Roads
– Evgeny Alfredovich, you are one of the few Smolensk scholars with a global reputation. Why did you choose archaeology?
– My fascination with archaeology began in childhood. I grew up in the city of Bezhitsa (now part of the Bryansk region). At that time, it was the Western region, which included Smolensk, Kaluga, Bryansk, and part of Tver provinces. Our school had two wonderful teachers, Nikolai Lelyanov and Ignaty Blagodatsky. They led archaeological clubs at the House of Artistic Education for Children. The city outskirts. A working-class environment. I was like everyone else. But for some reason, Nikolai Iosifovich Lelyanov noticed me and invited me to the club. He was an amateur archaeologist, conducted excavations, and published several scientific works. However, in 1937, he was shot. Thanks to Lelyanov, I participated in an academic expedition led by the chief archaeologist of Belarus, Konstantin Polikarpovich, in the Zhiryatinsky district, near the village of Yeliseevichi, where excavations of the cultural layer of the Stone Age were conducted. I did what was problematic for the other expedition participants. Next to the excavation site stood a huge willow tree. I regularly climbed to its top to take photographs of the excavation.
In the summer, I walked alone along the Desna River with little bags where I collected my finds. Thus, I managed to gather quite large collections from the Stone and Iron Ages from the ancient coastal settlements destroyed by the river.
All the collections gathered during my teenage years were handed over by the young archaeologist to the Smolensk Museum. Some of his finds are still in the museum’s storage.
When Evgeny Schmidt was in the 10th grade, his father was shot for statements discrediting the Soviet government. He complained about how hard it was to live and how he had nothing to feed his children. The hunger was terrible. As a child, Evgeny Schmidt saw how the bodies of people who died of starvation were unloaded onto the platform. The children of civil servants were issued 200 grams of bread on ration cards. To avoid starving, Evgeny Alfredovich’s parents took all the family jewelry to the trade-sin. They survived in the hungry 1930s on the currency sent by their grandmother from the Baltics.
You could only study archaeology in Moscow or Leningrad, but not to mention living in the capital – there was not even enough money for transportation. Therefore, Evgeny Alfredovich enrolled in the Smolensk Pedagogical Institute. The war interrupted his studies. The future archaeologist had to finish his education at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. Upon returning to Smolensk in 1945, he began working at the local history institute. Its director was the writer Vasily Shurygin. He was a brave and honest man who could afford to speak the truth to the leaders of the regional committee. Thus, at one of the party meetings, where the consolidation of collective farms was discussed, he openly criticized the decision of the Central Committee of the Party. He was not repressed or shot, but he was immediately retired, stripped of all positions.
Evgeny Alfredovich began to engage professionally in archaeology in 1949 when an archaeological expedition from Moscow State University arrived in Smolensk. From 1962, he became a lecturer at the pedagogical institute, where he rose from assistant to professor.
Continuing the Excavations of Tenisheva
– You are considered the most authoritative specialist in the history and archaeology of the Upper Dnieper and Podvins. How did you manage to uncover the traces of ancient cultures?
– I am not the first researcher of the Upper Dnieper. Before me, there was Alexander Lyavdanski (who was also shot as an enemy of the people). He continued the excavations in Gnezdovo, initiated by Princess Maria Tenisheva, accumulated a vast amount of material, and published several studies. I had a foundation, and I understood where the prospects lay, where dark spots remained, and where everything was more or less clear. Since there were no archaeologists in post-war Smolensk who were engaged in excavations, I continued the work of my predecessors. First of all, I was interested in what was in Smolensk in the early Iron Age, what was before our era. Almost nothing was known about the economy, agriculture, and way of life of the tribes living in Smolensk at that time. It was necessary to gather materials. I excavated settlements in Novye Bateki, Demidovka, Bliznaki, Samsonki, and other localities. For 11 years, I was a participant in the Slavic expedition of the Academy of Sciences. I accumulated a vast box of materials, based on which I not only defended my candidate’s dissertation but also wrote the book “Upper Dnieper Before the Formation of the Ancient Russian State. Dnieper-Dvina Culture.” To some extent, this gave me a name. I participated in all-union archaeological conferences, presented reports. I was repeatedly included in Soviet delegations to international congresses on Slavic archaeology. In addition, I participated in all conferences dedicated to the study of Scandinavian countries and Finland.
The Mysteries of Smolensk Land
– What find or discovery do you consider the most significant?
– It is not a single item. I was the first to discover the necropolises of the population of the IV-VII centuries AD. Until that moment, they were completely unknown. I have repeatedly participated in the rescue of the cultural heritage of Smolensk land. On the territory where the Dorogobuzh GRES is now located, before construction work began, I excavated several dozen burial mounds, preserving their appearance and contents for future generations. This took more than two years. The collected material was unique. Silver and bronze ornaments, as well as other finds, allowed for the reconstruction of the clothing of people of that time. In the village of Shapiryovo, I managed to discover the remains of an ancient pagan shrine. The sanctuary was located among swamps: with the advent of Christianity, idolatry was actively eradicated, but it retained its adherents. The open-air temple, surrounded by a fence, represented a round platform, in the center of which was an image of a pagan deity, at the foot of which, on stones, sacrificial animals were burned.
I studied all archaeological monuments in the construction zone of the nuclear power plant in the Roslavl district. This required more than four years.
In the Dorogobuzh district, together with students, I discovered several settlements of the XV-XIII centuries BC for the first time in Smolensk. There I found a bronze Celt – a type of axe. A unique find!
I have found treasures several times. At the hillfort in the village of Demidovka, the earth concealed silver earrings and a silver buckle of Hunnic style. Such were worn by the leaders of the ancient nomadic troops. At the hillfort in the village of Bliznyaki, a treasure from the VI century was hidden.
In Novye Bateki, a craftsman lived in the XIV century. Under his house, he hid all his wealth – more than 80 Prague silver groschen (at that time, there was no currency in circulation), a bronze cross-encolpion with relics, a lamp, tools (chisels, gouges, sickles). All these finds are valuable as evidence of special events because things are not simply buried in the ground.
But the main thing is not the treasures and jewels. The most important thing is that I managed to recreate the picture of the past of Smolensk land.
The Mystery of the Krivichs
– How have your archaeological studies changed the understanding of the history of Smolensk?
– The first question that interested scholars was when agricultural production began in the Smolensk region. The first traces of ancient farmers from the III-IV millennia BC were discovered in the village of Turinshchina. This is the so-called culture of spherical amphorae. On their clay pots, there are imprints of grain, and in their burial sites – bones of domestic animals. These people were the first semi-sedentary population of Smolensk land.
I made a significant contribution to the study of the culture of the Krivichs. There are many specialists on this tribal union, but I have a special concept based on archaeological data. It does not coincide with commonly accepted views. In the VIII-X centuries, unlike the X-XIII centuries, the Krivichs had completely different material and spiritual cultures. It suggests the assumption that these were different peoples. I began to search for whom the Krivichs were close to at different stages of their development. It turned out that the culture of the VIII-X centuries is identical to the culture of the eastern Baltic tribes (Latgalians, Semigallians, and ancient Lithuanians). Thus, the Krivichs were not initially Slavs and only after several hundred years, having entered the ancient Russian state, assimilated with neighboring Slavic tribes. But the linguistic features revealed their non-Slavic roots, and Nestor the Chronicler in the “Tale of Bygone Years” never referred to them as Slavs.
Most researchers of ancient Russian culture do not accept this point of view, considering it unpatriotic. And this is a mistake. Studies of the genetic fund of the rural population of the Moscow region have shown that a significant part of modern Russians have not Slavic, but Finno-Ugric roots. Therefore, there is no sense in being embarrassed by the non-Slavic origins of the ancestors of modern Smolensk residents.
About the Merchant House, Happiness, and Saved Churches
– Is your life limited only to scientific activities? Do you engage in public activities?
– I am a teacher and have dedicated my entire life to higher education. For my pedagogical activities, I was awarded the K.D. Ushinsky medal. It feels awkward to praise myself, but in the 60s-80s, I had the highest rating among students in the history department. I understood perfectly well that most students were little interested in the subjects I taught (the history of the ancient world, archaeology). In general, they did not care how ancient Chinese lived. And I never aimed for students to memorize everything verbatim. I always sought to make them enjoy history, to spark their interest in it. And then they would read something themselves and learn.
During Soviet times, there was a society for the protection of historical and cultural monuments. I was the chairman of its district branch and participated in the rescue of some architectural monuments. Once, local authorities decided that there were too many ruined churches in the city – to dismantle them and use the rubble and bricks for new construction. I opposed this. Yes, the churches are collapsing. We do not have the money to restore them. We are not responsible for this. But we will be guilty if we demolish them. As a result of my protest, only two churches were dismantled. The rest were left alone.
There was one monument that I could not save, despite all efforts. I mean the merchant house that stood near the stairs leading to the Assumption Cathedral. Its architectural appearance was unique; there was nothing similar in Smolensk. The two-story house was spared by the war. And although people lived in it, it was in a neglected state, with amenities outside. An American tourist group, visiting the cathedral, decided to see how Soviet people lived. Unfortunately, among the foreign tourists was a journalist who, upon returning home, vividly described the lack of culture and neglect in which the residents of Smolensk languished. The Russian embassy read his article and reported it to Moscow. From there, a signal was sent to the regional committee – to eliminate the unfortunate little house. The first secretary of the regional committee ordered the house to be demolished and the residents to be resettled. The proposal to create a souvenir shop in it did not have the desired effect, and the unique merchant mansion was razed to the ground.
– When in your life did you feel the happiest?
– The discovery of the pagan necropolis. It was an unforgettable event! I was in a very elevated mood. I was very satisfied when I defended my doctoral dissertation not in some backwater university, but at the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences among archaeological bosses. It was a real defense, with a fight, with debates; I shattered the arguments of my opponents on all counts. At that time, I was supported by Academician Boris Ryabakov, a nationwide authority in the field of ancient Russian history and archaeology.
From life events, nothing ever particularly pleased me, except for receiving a communal apartment after 11 years of waiting. Then the need to rent accommodation and spend considerable money on it disappeared. Together with my wife and two children, I found a family corner. As for awards, honorary certificates, and titles, they did not play a significant role in my life. Not that I was completely indifferent to them, but they did not bring me joy.
Leonid KAYANIDI Published in “SG” on December 4, 2010, No. 142 (717)
Source: http://merjamaa.ucoz.ru/