Viktor Sarigiannidis

Victor Sarigiannidis or Sarigiannidis (1929-2013) was a Russian archaeologist of Pontic Greek descent. He was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His parents, Ioannis and Athena Sarigiannidis, were Greeks of Pontic origin who were relocated to Uzbekistan from Yalta. He studied at Tashkent State University, graduating in 1952, and earned his master's degree in Near and Middle Eastern Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1961. In 1975, he was awarded a doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences (dissertation topic: "Afghanistan in the Bronze and Iron Ages") and worked at its Institute of Archaeology until the end of his life. He gained international recognition for his excavation work in Turkmenistan and especially in Afghanistan, where he discovered the ancient necropolis and treasure of Tillya Tepe. He passed away in Moscow at the age of 84 on December 22, 2013