Vasilii Lavrentevich Viatkin

Born Aug. 18 (30), 1869, in Semirechenskaia Oblast; died June 26, 1932, in Samarkand. Soviet archaeologist.

Viatkin founded (1896) and directed the Samarkand Museum. At intervals between 1905 and 1931 he carried out excavations at Afrasiab (the main results of which were published in the work Afrasiab—Ancient Site of Old Samarkand, 1926). Viatkin established the location of Ulugbek’s Observatory (15th century) and conducted excavations there (1908-09 and 1914); he devoted much attention to the study and preservation of Samarkand’s architectural monuments (Ancient Monuments of Samarkand, 1927; The Architecture of Ancient Samarkand, 1929). Viatkin was also a well-known collector and publisher of and commentator on medieval Oriental manuscripts.