Pioneers of pacific archaeology

First half and the middle of the XXth century is a period of special importance for the history of the archaeological investigations in the Pacific basin and particularly in the regions of island Southeast Asia and Indochina. It is connected with the discovery and study of a number of significant archaeological complexes dated by the Paleolithic-Neolithic-Paleometal time, with the publication of a series of generalizing monographs, and with the origin of the local archaeological schools and research institutions. A huge role in this process belongs to the representatives of North American (H.O. Beyer, R. Fox), and European (T. and B. Harrisson, H. van Heekeren, M. Colani, E. Saurin) archaeology. The article focuses on their research career, introducing the features of «colonial» and «tropical» archaeology in the region to Russian readers.