Anna Melyukova


Anna Ivanovna Melyukova was a Russian archaeologist. She was Professor of Archaeology and Head of the Department of Scythology at Moscow State University, and a pioneer in the field of Scythian archaeology.

Biography

Anna Ivanovna Melyukova was born on December 14, 1921, the daughter of a sculptor and ornamentalist. She received an interest in art through her family. Melyukova entered the MSU Faculty of History in 1939, from which she graduated with distinction in 1945 with a dissertation on the funerary constructions of Scythian royal mounds.
Under the direction of the distinguished scholar Boris Grakov, Melyukova received her PhD from the MSU Faculty of History in 1950, defending her thesis on the military equipment of the Scythians. Her thesis would subsequently become a reference work for all researchers on the weapons and military affairs of the peoples of the early Iron Age. Becoming a Professor of Archaeology at Moscow State University, she worked closely with Boris Grakov in researching and publishing material on the Scythians, and upon the death of Grakov she succeeded him as Head of the Department of Scythology at Moscow State University.
Melyukova died on March 7, 2004.

Selected bibliography