Leonid Potapov (ethnographer)

Leonid Pavlovich Potapov (Леони́д Па́влович Пота́пов; 6 July 1905 – 9 October 2000) was a Soviet and Russian ethnographer specializing in the study of peoples of southern Siberia.

Early life and education
Leonid Potapov was born in the Altai city of Barnaul. From his early years Potapov showed interest to ethnography of his native land, traveling to study the culture of Altaians with a known Altaist Andrey Anokhin. He visited Alatai in 1925 to gather ethnographic material on behalf of the Russian Geographical Society. He graduated from the geographical department of the Leningrad State University with a major in ethnography in 1928. Here he had studied with Lev Sternberg, Vladimir Bogoraz, Dmitry Zelenin, and Sergei Rudenko. Alexander Samoylovich, and Sergey Malov tutored him in Türkic languages.

Career
Following his graduation Potapov was appointed a head of scientific department in an Uzbek research institute, leading ethnographic expeditions to various areas of Uzbekistan.

Doctor of Historical sciences, professor, "Tuvan ASSR Honored Worker of Science", an outstanding researcher of history and culture of Altaians, Shors, Khakas, Tuvans and other peoples of southern Siberia. He continued to collect material, publishing his first major text Essays on Shoria history in 1931 and continued with his post graduate work at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. He accepted Marxism–Leninism and its application to ethnography. After completing his postgraduate study, Potapov headed the Siberia and ethnography department of the State Ethnographical Museum of the USSR peoples in the Kunstkamera and conducted research work at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union's History of Material Culture Institute.

In 1939, Potapov gained a PhD in Historical Sciences, presenting the monograph Relicts of primitive-communal system of Altai peoples. By that time Potapov had published about 30 works, including a number of monographs. At the beginning of the World War II Potapov worked on the evacuation of museum valuables, moving with the museum collection to Novosibirsk in 1942. In 1946 he published Altaians and was appointed professor. he then headed the Khakass ethnographic expedition, spending the next 11 years with various expeditions to Altai, Shoria, Khakassia and Tuva. He broadened his research materials on shamanism incorporating non-soviet sources. Potapov focussed on pre-Islam beliefs of peoples of Central Asia, ethnogenesis, ethnographic materials, archival, written and archeological sources.

In 1948 Potapov published "Essays on history of Altaians" (Novosibirsk, 1948), which was awarded with Stalin Prize. He contributed to Essays on the USSR history, History of the USSR, the five-volume History of Siberia and published Brief Esasay on culture and a life of Altaians (Gorno-Altaisk, 1948), Brief Essays on history and ethnography of Khakases (17th–19th centuries) (Abakan, 1952), Origin and formation of Khakass nation (Abakan, 1957), Ethnic Composition and Origin of Altaians (Leningrad, 1969), Essays on native life of Tuvinians (Moscow, 1969).

From 1957 to 1966 the Tuva Archeological Ethnographical Expedition worked on studies of ethnogenesis and history of Tuvinians. working with A.D. Grach, S.I. Weinstein and V.P. Diakonova, he edited the three-volume Works of Tuva complex archeological ethnographical expedition. Participants wrote a collective monograph "History of Tuva" (Vol. 1). In 1956 Potapov wrote chapters on 'Altaians', 'Khakases', 'Tuvinians' and 'Shors' for the Peoples of Siberia in Nations of the world series, published also in English by the University of Chicago. Potapov participated in the 23rd and 25th congresses of Orientalists, and in the 6th and 7th congresses of anthropologists and ethnographers (Paris, 1960).

Potapov created a scientific school studying the peoples of Siberia, especially the Altai-Sayan region, and prepared 48 PhD in sciences. A special scientific contribution was his work Altai shamanism (1991) with a rich collection of material brought from uncountable field research materials. Potapov joined the names of Nicholas Poppe (1970), Vera Tsintsius (1972), Andrei Kononov (1976), Nikolai Baskakov (1980), Aleksandr Shcherbak (1992) who were awarded "PIAK Gold medal" for Altaic studies.