On August 14, 2006, Vladimir Dmitrievich Kubarev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Chief Researcher of the IAEg SB RAS, turned 60.

He was born in the remote village of Borovlyanka, Altai Krai, in a peasant family. Vladimir Dmitrievich belongs to that rare class of people-nuggets who, without special education, sooner or later "find" themselves, completely devote themselves to their favorite business and achieve great success in it. In 1963, as a 17-year-old boy, after graduating from school ahead of schedule, he first enters the Altai Mountains as an employee of the Bertek high-altitude weather station. Then there was work on the picturesque Ak-Kem, where from the window of the weather station every morning you could see Belukha-the highest and most beautiful mountain in Altai. Here Vladimir Dmitrievich got acquainted with numerous ancient monuments and "fell ill" with them for the rest of his life.

In Altai, the first meeting took place with Academician A. P. Okladnikov, who could not help but notice in the inquisitive young man intelligence, talent and a huge interest in archeology. Soon (in 1970) V. D. Kubarev joined the Institute of History, Philosophy and Philology of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences headed by A. P. Okladnikov as a laboratory assistant, and since 1973 he has been working independently as the head of the East Altai detachment of the North Asian Archaeological Expedition, which he still manages.

V. D. Kubarev is one of those rare researchers who do not care much about their formal status. Until 1989, he did not have a higher education diploma. In absentia, he graduated from the pedagogical Institute and then graduate school. In 1998, not without friendly pressure from his scientific supervisor and Director of the IAEg SB RAS, Academician A. P. Derevyanko V. D. Kubarev presented his PhD thesis on the topic "Ancient Nomads of the Eastern Altai". However, the Defense Council, taking into account the volume and quality of the scientific work done, considered it possible to award the applicant the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences, bypassing the candidate's degree.

After that, Vladimir Dmitrievich not only did not rest on his laurels, but with renewed energy continued his research in the rather difficult conditions of the Altai Mountains (in Russia and Mongolia). The range of his interests is very wide. V. D. Kubarev conducts excavations with filigree methodicality. Photos of its excavations and all the field, graphic and textual documentation simply ask for the pages of field archeology textbooks.

The results of V. D. Kubarev's scientific activity are reflected in 17 books and more than 300 articles widely cited in Russian and foreign literature. It is no exaggeration to say that a significant part of V. D. Kubarev's work is of great interest to specialists. He unearthed about 300 burials of the Pazyryk culture, and for the first time published a set of deer stones and medieval statues of Altai Turks. Sensational discoveries were made by him during the study of Hunnic ceramic furnaces in the Yustyd River valley and during excavations of ancient Turkic burial and memorial structures in the Altai and Mongolia. They discovered and explored outstanding monuments of ancient art: previously

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unknown in Siberia stone slabs with polychrome paintings in the Karakol burial ground. His book "Ancient Paintings of Karakol", published 18 years ago, has become a bibliographic rarity. Karakol. undoubtedly, it is a monument of world significance; some Karakol paintings are included in the anthology of world rock art monuments published by E. Anati in 1997.

V. D. Kubarev also made a significant contribution to the study of rock art. Already his first consolidated work included approx. 200 locations of Altai petroglyphs. One of his most striking creative successes was the discovery and research of petroglyphs in the Kalbak-Tash tract. The result of many years of V. D. Kubarev's work on Kalbak-Tash was a fundamental publication in the well-known series " Code of Petroglyphs of Central Asia "(Paris, 1996).

Currently, the object of scientific research of V. D. Kubarev are petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai. On this subject, he organized an international expedition as part of e. Yakobson (USA) and D. Tseveendorzha (Mongolia). Based on the results of research conducted over the last ten years, V. D. Kubarev and his foreign co-authors have published more than 100 works (some of the articles were published in archaeological journals in the USA, France, Germany, Japan, and Korea). In 2001, a two-volume monograph was published in the series "Code of Petroglyphs of Central Asia". It is dedicated to the ancient rock carvings discovered by the Russian-Mongolian-American expedition in the Bayan-Ulegei aimag of Mongolia. An expanded, fully Russian-language version of this fundamental work was published in 2005.

V. D. Kubarev was elected a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, a corresponding member of the Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations in Ulaanbaatar, and a member of the Siberian Association of Researchers of Primitive Art in Kemerovo. In 2002, V. D. Kubarev was awarded the title of Professor of the Institute of Archeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences for his contribution to the study of rock images of Mongolia. For many years, Professor V. D. Kubarev has been supervising graduate studies at the Faculty of Humanities of NSU.

The talented photographer V. D. Kubarev created several popular science expositions based on the results of field work. One of them, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of archaeological research in the Altai and dedicated to the anniversary of the Institute of Ethnography and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was exhibited in various institutions of Novosibirsk and Gorno-Altaisk. In 2005, his personal photo exhibition (more than 100 works)was organized in the N. K. Roerich Museum (Novosibirsk); works were exhibited in the Republican Museum named after N. K. Roerich. Anokhin Museum in Gorno-Altaisk and the State Museum of the History of Literature, Art and Culture of Altai in Barnaul. The hero of the day takes an active part in the preparation of international exhibitions held by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the USA, Australia, South Korea, Japan and other countries. Many scientific publications, booklets and guidebooks are also illustrated with slides and photographs by V. D. Kubarev. The permanent exhibition of color photographs of Vladimir Dmitrievich has been decorating the foyer and conference hall of the Institute for many years. Another passion of the hero of the day is alpine skiing, which he became interested in long before this sport became fashionable in our country.

Vladimir Dmitrievich celebrates his anniversary in the prime of his scientific work. It is symbolic that his birthday almost coincides with our holiday-the Day of the archaeologist. The celebration of the hero of the day did not take place, because on this day, as always, he worked in the Altai.

Dear Vladimir Dmitrievich, my friends and colleagues cordially congratulate you on your anniversary, wish you good health, new discoveries, family joys and successful descents on the ski slopes.

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