Boris Fyodorovich Porshnev (; , in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

– 26 November 1972, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a Soviet historian known for his works on popular revolts in

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and a doctor of philosophical and historical sciences, working on

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

, and

neurolinguistics Neurolinguistics is the study of Nervous system, neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. As an interdisciplinary field, neurolinguistics draws methods and theories from fie ...

as relating to the origins of man.

Cryptozoology

Porshnev took interest in

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

and has been described with Marie-Jeanne Koffman as the "revered parents of Russian monster-hunting." Porshnev led several Soviet expeditions to the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

and north-western

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

to search for the Mongolian " Almas" (wild man).Loxton, Daniel; Prothero, Donald (2013). ''Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids''. Columbia University Press. pp. 103-104. He was driven by a Marxist ideology to find the "wild man" to confirm

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

and evolutionary human origins. He believed that the almas were a relict population of the Neanderthals who had survived the Ice Age of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

epoch. His expeditions were unsuccessful and his career went into decline. In the late 1960s, Porshnev's idea that relict Neanderthals could explain Asian or Russian bigfoot sightings became known as the "Porshnev theory". The idea influenced cryptozoologists

Bernard Heuvelmans Bernard Heuvelmans (10 October 1916 – 22 August 2001) was a Demographics of Belgium, Belgian-France, French scientist, explorer, researcher, and writer probably best known, along with Scottish-American biologist Ivan T. Sanderson, as a foun ...

and Ivan T. Sanderson. Porshnev co-authored a book in French with Heuvelmans which argued that Neanderthals still exist. It has not been translated into English. Porshnev was given permission by the Soviet Academy of Sciences to establish a Commission to study the question of relict hominids. Although it was later dissolved, in 1963 he produced a book summarising the evidence the commission had obtained and his views on Neanderthal survival which was circulated in a limited number of copies. A copy of the book was obtained by the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) and translated; it was published in 2021 with maps, illustrations, notes and an index.Porshnev, Boris (2021) ''The Soviet Sasquatch''. CFZ Press.

Selected publications

* ''Les soulèvements populaires en France de 1623 à 1648'', S.E.V.P.E.N.,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 1963; reprinted as ''Les soulèvements populaires en France au XVIIe siècle'',

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, second wife of Camille Flammarion * Sylvie Flammarion (1836-1919), French feminist and paci ...

, Paris, 1972. * ''Les buts et les revendications des paysans lors de la révolte bretonne de 1675'', in '' Les Bonnets Rouges'', Union Générale d'Éditions (collection 10/18), Paris, 1975. * in collaboration with

: ''L'homme de Néanderthal est toujours vivant'', 1974. The original edition of LES SOULEVEMENTS POPULAIRES ... appeared in Russian as NARODNIE VOSSTANYA VO FRANTSII PERED FRONDOI,1623-1648 (Moscow, 1948).

References

External links

By the Centenary of Boris Fedorovich Porshnev

Leninist theory of revolution and social psychology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porshnev, Boris 1905 births 1972 deaths Cryptozoologists Historians of France Materialists Russian prehistorians Russian anti-capitalists Soviet Marxist historians Writers from Saint Petersburg Soviet academics Russian Marxist historians

Cryptozoology

Selected publications

See also

References

Further reading

External links