The institute was established in the
Soviet Union by the amalgamation of the
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE) and the
Institute for the Study of Ethnic Groups of the USSR (IPIN) in autumn 1933. Its first director was
Nikolay Matorin. On 23 December 1933 he was dismissed by the Presidium of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR and replaced by
Ivan Meshchaninov on 1 January 1934. On 25 January 1935, the IAE was transformed into the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. Meshchaninov remained director until this organisation was in turn dissolved in 1937. On 11 February 1937, the institute was restructured with sections being replaced by several departments or cabinets: • Europe and the Caucasus, headed by
Dmitrii Zelenin •
Siberia and Western Central Asia, headed by Y. P. Koshkin; •
East and
South Asia, headed by
Nikolay Kyuner; •
Africa,
America, Australia and Oceania, headed by
Isaak Vinnikov; •
Archaeology, headed by P. P. Efimenko; •
Folklore, headed by
Mark Azadovsky; • History of Religion, headed by
Yury Frantsev. The Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography was set up as separate part of the institute under the directorship of Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge. It consisted of various departments: • Europe, Caucasus and Western Central Asia, headed by
Nikolai Kislyakov; • Siberia, headed by V. N. Chernetsov; • India, Indonesia, and the Far East, headed by Nikolay Kyuner; • The Early Stage of the Primeval Society, Australia and Oceania, headed by Isaak Vinnikov; • North, Central and South America, headed by S. A. Sternberg; • Africa, headed by
Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge; • Archaeology, headed by S. N. Zamyatnin; • Physical Anthropology, headed by B. N. Vishnevskii. On August 5, 1937, the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography was renamed the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography. ==Activities of the IAE==