G.M. Burov - a discoverer and initiator of the mesolithic studies in the European North-East

Grigory M. Burov (22.09.1933 - 24.02.2013), a graduate of the Kiev University, arrived in Syktyvkar in 1957. He worked in the Komi Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR until 1968. Subsequently, he worked in Ulyanovsk and Simferopol. However, the period of his work in the Komi Region turned out to be the most productive .G.M. Burov is a discoverer of numerous sites of the Mesolithic, Early Metal and Early Iron Age of the previously unexplored Vychegda territory. G.M. Burov analyzed and published materials from Komi all the subsequent years of his life. The Vis 1 (Mesolithic) and Vis 2 (mid I millennium A.D.) peatbogs discovered by G.M. Burov in the vicinities of the Sindor village have gained worldwide fame. The exemplary paleogeographic studies were carried out in the Sindor microregion. The leading geobotanist and peat specialist S.N. Tyuremnov and other scientists compiled pollen diagrams, described profiles of peatlands, restored the historical courses of the Vis and Simva Rivers. They also obtained a series of direct radiocarbon datings of wooden artifacts. A unique collection of items made of wood, bark, and grass was obtained at the Vis 1 peatbog. It included fishing tools - fragments of nets and a fishing spear; hunting tools - bows, arrows, a spear; means of transportation - skis, sledge runners, a paddle; household items including a box of birch bark, mats of wood shakes. Many items are decorated with carved geometric ornaments. The sculptural head of an elk on one of the skis is particularly noteworthy. G.M. Burov was the first of the researchers who justified the cultural differentiation of the Mesolithic sites of the European North-East. He identified two cultural types: the Kama-Pechora type dating back to the VIII-VII millennium B.C., and the Vis type (the second half of the VII-VI millennium B.C.). The Middle Vychegda Mesolithic culture identified by him belongs to the Kama-Pechora type.