Yerzakovich Lev (8.12.1936 – 18.9.1993 гг.)

Yerzakovich Lev was born in 1936 in the city of Alma-Ata. In 1959, after graduating from KazSU, he was hired at the IHAE. At the Institute, Lev Borisovich determined his scientific specialization in medieval archaeology of Kazakhstan and in 1962 he entered the postgraduate course of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archaeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Under the guidance of Professor Alexander Belenitsky, in 1966 he successfully defended his Candidate's thesis on the topic "Settled culture of Southern Kazakhstan of the 12th—18th centuries". He worked as a Junior, then as a Senior Researcher at the Department of Archaeology of the Ch. Valikhanov Institute of Archaeology. At the beginning of his career, L. Yerzakovich participated for a number of years in the work of the Penjikent detachment of the North Tajik Archaeological Expedition (1963-1970), the Astrakhan archaeological expedition of the Leningrad Department of the Institute of Archaeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1966, 1968).
Lev Borisovich led the work of the Semirechye (1966-1968), Otrar archaeological expeditions, and then the SKCAE (1969-1986), where he began as the head of the detachment, since 1987, he was a deputy head of the SKCAE, and since 1990, he headed the Kazakhstan Novostroechnaya expedition.
The main objects of his work were medieval monuments of settled culture in the south of Kazakhstan, and, first of all, Otrartobe. L. Yerzakovich made a great contribution to the formation of a new scientific direction - archaeology of the late Middle Ages. He was one of those scientists thanks to whom the settlement of Otrartobe and the archaeological work carried out on it were recognized by the scientific community as a reference among the objects of study of late medieval settlements of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
His scientific interests were connected with the study of medieval urbanization of Kazakhstan and Central Asia; urban topography and architecture, planning and interior of the dwelling; crafts, trade and money circulation. Over the years of field work, he has accumulated a huge, in many ways unique material, on the systematization and theoretical understanding of which he worked. All this was to be reflected in new publications. Lev Borisovich worked on his doctoral dissertation: "Medieval Otrar".
L. Yerzakovich wrote and published more than 70 scientific papers, monographs and articles on the problems of archaeology of Kazakhstan in the Middle Ages. Lev Borisovich has repeatedly made reports at All-Union and international meetings and conferences on the problems of archaeology and Oriental studies. His works are known both in the republic and abroad, they are distinguished by boldness in posing scientific problems, scrupulous analysis of the material, clarity of conclusions and provisions, which he carefully rechecked and was not afraid to question.
Lev Yerzakovich died in 1993.
 

Ерзакович Л.Б. Древние города Казахстана. - Алма-Ата, 1971 (в соавторстве).
Ерзакович Л.Б. Древний Отрар. - Алма-Ата, 1972 (в соавторстве).
Ерзакович Л.Б. Позднесредневековый Отрар. - Алма-Ата, 1981 (в соавторстве).
Ерзакович Л.Б. Отрар XIII-XV вв. - Алма-Ата, 1987 (в соавторстве).
Ерзакович Л.Б. Керамика средневекового Отрара. Альбом. - Алма-Ата, 1991 (в соавторстве).
Ерзакович Л.Б. Жилище Отрара и некоторые этнокультурные и хозяйственные процессы на Юге Казахстана в XIII-XVIII вв. // Средневековая городская культура Казахстана и Средней
Азии. - Алма-Ата, 1983. - С. 81-93.
Ерзакович Л.Б. Раскопки в восточной части Отрара (к вопросу о стратиграфии и хронологии поздних слоев) // Археологические исследования древнего и средневекового Казахстана. - Алма-Ата, 1980. - С. 96-106.