Elena Efimovna Kuzmina (russian: Еле́на Ефи́мовна Кузьмина́; 13 April 193117 October 2013) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

archaeologist. She was the chief research officer of the Russian Institute for Cultural Researches. She led 25 archaeological expeditions and participated in over a hundred, mostly in the Eurasian steppe region. She received her

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

degree in archaeology in 1964 at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, and her

Doktor nauk Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...

degree in 1988. She was a full professor of archaeology from 1988 to 2013. She was the head scholar of the Russian Institute for Cultural Research. She was also an academician, member of the

Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union, following a dec ...

(1988), Corresponding Fellow of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

(1982), member of the Italian '' Società Iranologica Europea'' (1996), and of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists. In 2009, she won Iran's World Prize for book of the year for her book ''The Origins of the Indo-Iranians''.(8 February 2009)
A Classic Example of the Culture-historical Book
Iran Book News Agency

Publications

Kuzmina published more than 300 articles and 15 books on the archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes, the origins and migrations of

Indo-Iranians Indo-Iranian peoples, also known as Indo-Iranic peoples by scholars, and sometimes as Arya or Aryans from their self-designation, were a group of Indo-European peoples who brought the Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European ...

, their mythology and arts, and essays in museum policies. Some of her notable works are: *"Откуда пришли индоарии" (''Whence Came the Indo-Aryans'') (Moscow, 1994) *"Мифология и искусство скифов и бактрийцев" (''Mythology and Art of the Scythians and Bactrians'') (Moscow, 2002) *''The Origin of the Indo-Iranians'' (Elena E. Kuz'mina, edited by

J. P. Mallory James Patrick Mallory (born October 25, 1945) is an American archaeologist and Indo-Europeanist. Mallory is an emeritus professor at Queen's University, Belfast; a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and the former editor of the ''Journal of Ind ...

; Brill, 2007) *''The Prehistory of the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

'' (edited by Victor H. Mair; Philadelphia, 2008)The prehistory of the Silk Road
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The Origin of the Indo-Iranians

''The Origin of the Indo-Iranians'', which is an updated and expanded version of ''Whence came the Indo-Iranians?'', has been called her "

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

" and "the most exhaustive examination to date of Proto-Indo-Iranians," decisively adding her voice to the debate on the origins of

and, more generally, that of the Indo-Europeans. The thesis presented in the book is that a number of genetically related tribes consolidated around the steppes representing the

Andronovo horizon The Andronovo culture (russian: Андроновская культура, translit=Andronovskaya kul'tura) is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1450 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo ...

and that, for various reasons, the tribes speaking

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

emerged as the dominant ones among them. Kuzmina presents her case based on extensive archaeological evidence. The book is expected to form a foundation for studying

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...

, providing a spatial and temporal background for the fragmentary literary evidence, as well as for studying the late

Harappan civilization Harappa (; Urdu/ pnb, ) is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a mode ...

and the pre-Vedic religion.

Publications

The Origin of the Indo-Iranians

References

Further reading