November 23] 1898 – July 31, 1972)[1] was a Soviet and Russian historian and archeologist, who came to be recognized as the founding father of modern Khazar studies.

He moved to Saint Petersburg when he was nine years old to pursue secondary education, including studying painting under Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and art history under Nikolai Sychov, as well as archaeology.

[citation needed] In 1939, he was appointed Director of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union's Institute of the History of Material Culture in accordance with the wishes of the institute's staff, after they rebelled against Artamonov's predecessor, Joseph Orbeli, who had sacked many of its leading members - an about-face by the authorities which was unprecedented during Stalin's rule.

Under his leadership the Institute launched a number of periodicals, including Sovetskaya arkheologiya, Brief Reports of the IHMC and Materials and Research on the Archaeology of the USSR, and also established a branch in Moscow.

Thirteen years later, he was ousted from office due to resisting interference from Communist Party officials in his running of the Museum, especially regarding his refusal to remove paintings by the French Impressionists - described by the government as "bourgeois decadents" - from display.