Michail Michailowitsch Gerasimow

Mikhail Gerasimov on a Russian commemorative coin (2007)

Mikhail Michailowitsch Gerassimow ( English Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov ; Russian Михаи́л Миха́йлович Гера́симов ; born September 15, 1907 in Saint Petersburg ; † July 21, 1970 in Moscow ) was a Soviet archaeologist , anthropologist and sculptor .

In 1928 he discovered the Paleolithic site of Malta ( Irkutsk Oblast ) in Russia. Under his direction, a Upper Paleolithic settlement was excavated there.

He was the first to develop the technique of creating forensic facial reconstruction based on findings from anthropology , archeology , paleontology and forensics . He studied the skulls and meticulously reconstructed the faces of more than 200 people, including Rudaki ( Abu Abdullah Djafar ; 858 to approx. 941), Yaroslav the Wise († 1054), Nestor of Kiev (1050–1113), Timur ( Timur ibn Taraghai Barlas ; 1336–1405), Shāh Ruch (1377–1447), Ivan IV ( “the terrible” ; 1530–1584), Fyodor I (Russia) (1557–1598) and Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).

Facial reconstructions (selection)

The Paleolithic site of Malta. Excavations of 1956-1958. In Henry N. Michael (Ed.): The Archeology and Geomorphology of Northern Asia. Selected Works (= Anthropology of the North. 5, ISSN 0066-4715 ). University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1964, pp. 3-32, (from Russian sources).
with Helga Menzel-Tettenborn (preface and German adaptation): I was looking for faces. Skulls get their faces back. Science in new ways. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1968.

Commons : Forensic facial reconstruction (Russian school) - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Gerasimow, Mikhail Mikhailovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gerasimov, Mikhail Mikhaylovich (English); Гера́симов, Михаи́л Миха́йлович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Soviet archaeologist, anthropologist and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	September 15, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH	July 21, 1970
Place of death	Moscow