Anthropological Institute

Anthropological Institute 

(full name, Anuchin Anthropological Institute of the Lomonosov Moscow State University), scientific research institution which works on the fundamental problems of anthropology. It was founded by D. N. Anuchin in 1922 on the basis of the museum and subdepartment of anthropology. Prominent among the problems which the institute deals with are the study of the human constitution and its physical development, the dynamics of the morphological and physiological characteristics of the growing organism, and the influence on it of various biological and social factors. Research is conducted on theoretical questions of the formation of man in the light of dialectical materialist methodology—in particular, the stages in the evolution of hominids and the correlation of biological and social factors at different stages in the formation of man as a species. The anthropological makeup of the ancient and contemporary population of the USSR, the factors in race formation, the age dynamics of racial attributes, and questions of serology, dermatoglyphics, and others are studied at the institute. The Anthropological Institute does work in applied anthropology; in particular, it develops dimensional norms of the human body for different needs of industry. The results of research are published in the collection Voprosy antropologii (Questions of Anthropology) and other publications. The institute includes as one of its divisions the museum, founded in 1879, which has numerous osteological, primate, archaeological, and ethnographic collections.

M. I. URYSON