Bernhard Eduardovich Petri

Bernhard Eduardovich Petri (Russian: Бернгард Эдуардович Петри; 17 September 1884 – 25 November 1937) was a Russian anthropologist and archaeologist. Petri graduated from the Saint Petersburg Imperial University in 1910. He joined the Kunstkamera and focused on the Buryats of Lake Baikal. Petri went on three expeditions to document the Buryat material culture and perform archaeological surveys in the 1910s. Discovered iron artifacts were used to propose the Kurumchi blacksmiths as the first Iron Age society of Baikalia. Petri joined the Irkutsk State University staff in 1918 and soon afterwards became a professor. He taught about the ancient history of the Siberian Indigenous until Soviet authorities closed the university in 1930. Petri documented the cultures of several reindeer herding societies across the East Siberian taiga for Institute of the Peoples of the North throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1937 Petri was executed by the NKVD during the Great Purge.

Bernhard Petri
Born
Bernhard Eduardovich Petri

17 September 1884
Bern, Switzerland
Died25 November 1937
Irkutsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian, Soviet
Alma materSaint Petersburg Imperial University
Known forEthnographic research about indigenous peoples from the East Siberian taiga. Proposing the Kurumchi as the first Iron Age archaeological culture from Baikalia.
Spouse(s)Lyubov Illaionovna née Kokhanovich (died 1937)
ChildrenOleg (1916-1984)
Scientific career
FieldsAnthropology, Archaeology, Ethnology
InstitutionsKunstkamera, Irkutsk State University, Institute of the Peoples of the North
Doctoral advisorVasily Radlov
Notable studentsGeorgy Debets, Mikhail Gerasimov, Gavriil Ksenofontov, Alexey Okladnikov
InfluencesLev Sternberg

Early life

The Swedish Lutheran figure Olaus Petri was a paternal ancestor whose descendants later relocated to Livonia in contemporary Cēsis, Latvia. Bernhard was born in Bern while his father Edward Petri was an assistant professor of Geography and Anthropology at the city university. Imperial Russian authorities had sentenced Edward to internal exile for vague association with the revolutionary Land and Liberty but he escaped to Switzerland. In 1887 he returned to St. Petersburg, received a pardon, and became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Imperial University.[1]

Bernhard's childhood was spent in the Kingdom of Italy. When he became twelve Petri was enrolled at the Karl May School of Saint Petersburg in 1899. In the same year Edward died leaving his family in a perilous financial position. Evgenia joined the Kunstkamera to secure an income to support her two sons. She eventually became the head of the Australia and Oceania Department. Petri attended the St. Petersburg University where Lev Sternberg became his primary academic influence. He developed keen interest in anthropology, archeology, and ethnography as he felt the disciplines could combined reconstruct the ancient material and spiritual cultures of contemporary societies. In 1910 he graduated from the university.[1]

Academic career

Inital work

Petri joined the Kunstkamera alongside his mother where his area of interest became the Buryats of Baikalia. The Russian Committee for the Study of Central and East Asia funded three expeditions to the region by Petri during the 1910s. In 1912 the first trip began with Petri being directed to document the social and material culture of the Buryats along with their religious beliefs. He was also instructed to seek out and discover ancient artifacts, so he initiated archaeological digs in the Murin River valley. He interviewed members of the Alar, Balagan, Kudin, and Verkholensk Buryat groups. During the expedition Petri developed an interest in the Buryat initiation rites for their shamans.[2][3] In the following year he returned and expanded upon the Murin excavation sites.[4] In 1916 Petri explored the cave systems of Olkhon Island.[5]

Irkutsk

The eruption of the Russian Civil War caused many to leave the Siberian frontlines. Some Russian academics from Kazan, Omsk, Perm, and Tomsk departed for Irkutsk. In spring 1918 Petri and his wife Lyubov also relocated to the city. Despite the ongoing conflict the White government Minister of Education Vasily V. Sapozhnikov opened the Irkutsk State University in November 1918. Initially Petri served as a lecturer and soon became the professor in charge of the Department of Primitive History. He taught students about the ancient history of various Indigenous peoples of Siberia. In 1919 he established a university ethnographic paper dedicated to presenting independent student fieldwork. Many future academics presented their findings in the paper, including Pavel P. Khoroshikh, Vasily I. Podgorbunsky, and most notably Alexey Okladnikov.[6]

At the Irkutsk city museum he became acquainted with the elderly Mikhail P. Ovchinnikov. They shared their archaeological findings and conclusions about ancient history of Eastern Siberia. Petri reported that a frequent topic discussed was the origins of the Sakha people. These conversations were "jokingly dubbed" the "Yakut problem" as the two scholars speculated on the Sakha ethnogenesis.[7] The Red Army captured Irkutsk in March 1920. Two years later the city museum was reopened with Petri serving as the head of the ethnology department.

Kurumchi culture
Main article: Kurumchi culture

In the 1920s Petri published his interpretation of the artifacts found in Baikalia during the previous decade. He concluded that a hitherto unknown society produced the archaeological remains. Iron items were discovered in their settlements which led to Petri calling them the "Kurumchi blacksmiths".[8][9][10] In autumn 1923 Petri led an expedition to Lake Khövsgöl.[11] They used a steamboat to reconnoiter locations worth investigating. Locally produced watercraft made from Larix sibirica were then used to reach the sites to perform archaeological surveys.[12] In sand dunes Petri discovered ceramic remains which he considered from the Kurumchi culture.[13]

Institute of the Peoples of the North
See also: Institute of the Peoples of the North

Petri performed intelligence gathering expeditions for Institute of the Peoples of the North for much of his professional career. He idealized the cultures he studied and struggled to see positive changes in their societies from Russian influences. To understand the societies of Siberia Petri proposed dividing the vast region into "squares" defined by geographic and cultural characteristics analyzed through a framework of economic and statisitcs. This methodology has been critiqued for ignoring mutual cultural influences.[14]

In 1925 he spent time with the Tofalar and noted that their hunting grounds were divided by patrilineal affiliation. In 1926 he spent around six months with the Okina Soyots in the first properly organized effort to describe their society. During 1928 and 1929 he studied the Tuturo-Ocheul Evenks of the Upper Lena. He argued against their relocation to the Lower Tunguska but Soviet authorities ignored his criticisms and underwent the forced movement. In 1930 an expedition among the Vitim-Olekma Evenks was organized but the results have since been lost.[15]

Later life

Little is known about the final years of Petri's life.[16] He led archaeological surveys of Angara throughout the 1930s. In 1930 Irkutsk State University was closed by Soviet authorities. In a situation mirroring the Russian Civil War intellectuals departed from Irkutsk for Kazan, Leningrad, Moscow, and Voronezh. During the Great Purge NKVD agents secured a confession from a German residing in Irkutsk that Petri was a spy. In May 1937 he was charged with conspiring with a "German-Japanese fascist... right-wing Trotskyite organization in eastern Siberia" into provoking a revolt in the Buryat ASSR against the Soviet Union. Petri was subsequently executed at 11:25PM on 25 November 1937.[17][18]

Legacy

Petri taught students that went on to pursue careers in anthropology, archaeology, economics, and geography. They collectively studied such topics as settlement patterns of various Siberian ethnicities, the reconstruction of ancient social systems, and the ethnogenesis of certain societies. The most influential academic disciples of Petri were Georgy Debets, Mikhail M. Gerasimov, and Alexey Okladnikov. Petri was rehabilitated in 1959.[17]

References
  1. Sirina 1999, pp. 58–61.
  2. Sirina 1999, pp. 61–64.
  3. Petri & Mikhailov 1913, p. 108.
  4. Petri 1914.
  5. Petri 1916.
  6. Sirina 1999, p. 64-66.
  7. Petri 1922b.
  8. Petri 1922a.
  9. Petri 1923a.
  10. Petri 1928a, pp. 57–59.
  11. Sirina 1999, p. 63.
  12. Petri 1926a, pp. 3–5.
  13. Petri 1926a, pp. 12–13.
  14. Sirina 1999, pp. 70–71.
  15. Sirina 1999, pp. 71–73.
  16. Sirina 1999, pp. 75–76.
  17. Sirina 1999, pp. 77–78.
  18. Kolesnik, Pushkina & Svinin 2012, pp. 48–49.

Bibliography

Published works
  • Petri, Bernhard E.; Mikhailov, Vasily A. (1913). "Отчет о командировке Б. Э. Петри и В. А. Михайлова" [Report on the trip of B. E. Petri and V. A. Mikhailov] (PDF). Известия Русского Комитета для изучения Средней и Восточной Азии в историческом, археологическом, лингвистическом и этнографическом отношениях (in Russian). Printing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. 2 (2): 92–110. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1914). "Вторая поездка в Предбайкалье" [The second trip to Cisbaikalia] (PDF). Известия Русского Комитета для изучения Средней и Восточной Азии в историческом, археологическом, лингвистическом и этнографическом отношениях (in Russian). Printing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. 2 (3): 89–107. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1916). "Отчет о командировке на Байкал в 1916 г." [Report on a trip to Baikal in 1916]. Report of Imperial Academy of Sciences (in Russian). Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University: 138–144.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1922a). Далекое прошлое Бурятского края [The distant past of the Buryat region] (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1922b). "М. П. Овчинни ков, как археолог" [M. P. Ovchinnikov as an archaeologist]. Сибирские огни (in Russian). 4.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1922c). "К вопросу об изучении шаманства (по поводу приезда шамана Степанова в Иркутск)" [To the question of the study of shamanism (in connection with the arrival of the shaman Stepanov in Irkutsk)]. The Power of Labor (in Russian). Irkutsk (299).
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1923a). "Доисторические кузнецы в Прибайкалье. К вопросу о доисторическом прошлом якутов" [Prehistoric blacksmiths in the Baikal region. On the prehistoric past of the Yakuts]. Известия Института народного образования (in Russian). Chita. 1: 62–64.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1923b). "Школа шаманов у северных бурят" [School of shamans among the Northern Buryats]. Collection of works of Professors and Teachers (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University (5): 404–423.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1924a). "Территориальное родство у северных бурят" [Territorial kinship among the northern Buryats]. Proceedings of the Biological and Geographical Research Institute at the Irkutsk State University (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University. 1 (2).
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1924b). "Элементы родовой связи у северных бурят" [Elements of family ties among northern Buryats]. Siberian living antiquity (in Russian). Irkutsk (2): 98–126.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1924c). "Брачные нормы у северных бурят" [Marriage norms among northern Buryats]. Collection of works of Professors and Teachers (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University (4): 3–32.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1925). "Внутриродовые отношения у северных бурят" [Intra-clan relations among northern Buryats]. Proceedings of the Biological and Geographical Research Institute at the Irkutsk State University (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University. 11 (3).
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1926a). Древности озера Косогола (Монголия) [Antiquities of Lake Khövsgöl (Mongolia)] (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1926b). "Степени посвящения монголо-бурятских шаманов" [Degrees of initation of the Mongol-Buryat shamans]. Proceedings of the Biological and Geographical Research Institute at the Irkutsk State University (in Russian). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University. 2 (4): 39–75.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1926c). Программа для составления подворных описей и бюджетов применительно к малым народностям тайги [A program for compiling household inventories and budgets in relation to small peoples of the taiga.] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1927a). Этнография и современность [Ethnography and modernity] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1927b). Карагасский суглан [Karagas loam] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1927c). "Охотугодья и расселение карагас" [Hunting grounds and resettlement of the Karagas]. Collection of works of Professors and Teachers. Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University (13).
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928a). "VI. Железный период" [VI. Iron Period]. Далекое прошлое Прибайкалья: научно-популярный очерк (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Irkutsk: Irkutsk State University. pp. 55–70. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928b). "Задачи дальнейшего исследования туземцев Сибири и метод обследования целых народностей" [The tasks of further research of the natives of Siberia and the method of examining entire nationalities]. Proceedings of the First Siberian Local Lore Research Congress (in Russian). Novosibirsk. 5.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928c). Далекое прошлое Прибайкалья. Научно-популярный очерк [The distant past of the Baikal region. Popular science essay.] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928d). Старая вера бурятского народа. Научно-популярный очерк [The old faith of the Buryat people. Popular science essay.] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928e). Бюджет карагасского хозяйства [The budget of the Karagas economy.] (in Russian). Irkutsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1928f). Проект культбазы у малых народов Сибири [The project of a cult base among the small peoples of Siberia] (in Russian). Tomsk.
  • Petri, Bernhard E. (1930). Охота и оленеводство у тутурских тунгусов в связи с организа-цией охотхозяйства [Охота и оленеводство у тутурских тунгусов в связи с организа-цией охотхозяйства] (in Russian). Irkutsk.

Additional materials
  • Sirina, Anna A. (1999). "Забытые страницы сибирской этнографии: Б.Э. Петри" [Forgotten pages of Siberian ethnography: B. E. Petri]. In Tumarkin, Daniil D. (ed.). Репрессированные этнографы [Repressed ethnographers] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Vostočnaja literatura. pp. 57–80. ISBN 5020180580. OCLC 613893817. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  • Kolesnik, Lyudmila; Pushkina, Tatyana L.; Svinin, Vladimir V. (2012). "ВСОРГО и музейное дело в Иркутске" [VSORGO and museum work in Irkutsk]. История (in Russian). Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lo. 2 (3–2): 44–56.
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