Boris B. Piotrovsky (1908-1990) was a Russian academician and archaeologist. The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an academy. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

Piotrovsky specialized in the history and archaeology of the Caucasus region. He is best-known as a key figure in the study of the Urartu civilization of the southern Caucasus. His 1938 excavations uncovered the Urartian fortress of Teishebaini. Evidence found there has been key in understanding the Urartu civilization. The Caucasus , a region boardering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... Urartu map Urartu map Urartu map Urartu was an ancient kingdom in eastern Anatolia, centred in the mountainous region around Lake Van (present-day Turkey), which existed from about 1000 BC, or earlier, until 585 BC, and which, at its apogee, stretched from northern Mesopotamia through the southern Caucasus, involving...

This was not his only contribution, however. Piotrovsky worked elsewhere in the Caucasus, especially on the Scythian culture. He also spent 26 years as Director of the Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage holds an annual conference in his honor. Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... The Hermitage Museum (Эрмитаж) in St. ...

External links

• The Art and Culture of the Peoples of the Caucasus: 1100 B.C.-19th century - from the Hermitage website. One section explains the importance of Teishbaini.
• Conference announcement for the conference in Piotrovsky's honor. Gives some biographical information.