Karpov Yury Yuryevich <i>(1956-2015)</i>
This Obituary is dedicated to the memory of the prominent Russian ethnographer, an expert on the Caucasus, Doctor of Historical Sciences Yury Yuryevich Karpov (1956-2015). Yu.Yu. Karpov graduated from the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology, History Faculty of Leningrad State University. In 1984 he defended his thesis on “‘Free’ societies of the North Caucasus in 18 - first half of 19<sup>th</sup> century (to the question of the role of patriarchal-patrimonial and communal institutes in the course of early class relations formation)”. In 1999 he defended his doctoral thesis on “Male unions in the sociocultural tradition of the Caucasian highlanders of 19-20 centuries”. Yu.Yu. Karpov is the author of over 200 papers, including four monographs (one of them co-authored). At the center of his scholarly interests were traditional social institutions and their transformation under modern conditions. Since 1984 and until the end of his days Yu.Yu. Karpov worked at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera). He was one of the leaders in sociocultural studies in the Caucasian Ethnography.