Dear readers and authors!

The editorial staff of the journal congratulates our readers and authors a Happy New Year!  We wish you health, well-being, and new creative ideas!

The final issue of the current year opens with a set of articles first reported at the All-Russian Scientific Symposium Vita Brevis, Ars Longa dedicated to the memory of Professor Yakov A. Sher, Doctor of Historical Sciences, a unique specialist in the field of prehistoric art. L. Yu. Kitova, D. Yu. Hook, and A. V. Fribus describe Professor Sher’s profound contribution to Russian archaeology. Other publications trace rock art from the dawn of history to the Middle Ages. A. L. Zaika introduces previously unknown petroglyphs from the archeological sites of the Kan River in the Eastern Sayan highlands. A. L. Zaika also cooperated with I. V. Siryukin to catalogue shamanic attributes in the anthropomorphic petroglyphs of the Middle Yenisei from the Tashtyk culture period to the modern era. The list of shamanic attributes includes such zoo- or ornithomorphic elements as ribboned coats, robes, and fur coats, feathered hats, three-clawed wands, etc. O. S. Sovetova, L. N. Ermoolenko, and S. A. Zintchenko describe a variety of cross-legged human images in the rock art of the Minusinsk Basin. Their analogies in the art of the early Iron Age and the early Middle Ages are not borrowings but a result of similar environments and techniques du corps.

Section two features a wide variety of issues of religious, political, and intellectual history. E. E. Ablova describes memorial plaques as a means of perpetuating historical memory in Russia in the XIX – early XX centuries. The author compared installation protocols, functions, standardization, and social attitudes to show the general and specific features of this memorial practice. E. S. Genina and V. A. Ovchinnikov report the contemporary scientific approaches to the historical studies of the anti-cosmopolitan campaign in the USSR. N. A. Miazin focuses on the activities of Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement after the collapse of the USSR. Their popularity in the 1991–2020 could be explained by active missionary work, integration with other movements, and social activities in the sphere of rehabilitation of alcohol and drug addicts. N. V. Tikhomirov analyzes reports made by students of the All-Union Communist Agricultural University made during their summer practices on collective farms in the mid-1930s. The analysis reveals the socio-cultural mentality of collective farmers in the European part of Russia. The reports registered a negative attitude toward new farming technologies, machinery, and the Soviet system of agricultural management.

Russian History of Science and Technology includes articles united by the theory of modernization. E. V. Bodrova and V. V. Kalinov explain the failure of the Soviet government to set up a domestic line of competitive computing equipment. This lag in the field of computing technology was caused by poor technical documentation, element base, and mathematical support, as well as by insufficient funding, production area, and construction rate. I. S. Solovenko, A. A. Rozhkov, K. A. Pinzhin, and A. P. Zholbin trace the early digitali­zation path followed by Russian fuel and energy enterprises. Coal mining enterprises and energy complexes started with sporadic automation, informatization, and computerization in the post-Soviet era to move to a comprehensive digital transformation, thus strengthening Russia’s energy security.

The section of Siberia in the XX Century brings together articles on the history of the Tomsk Province, Kuzbass, and Altai Region. N. N. Ablazhey describes the passport campaign conducted by the Soviet government in 1933. Its rapid pace in the closed industrial cities of Kuzbass was associated with the general rapid industrial develop­ment in the region. However, the new system of administrative registration fueled bureaucratic and repressive practices: with a total of 214,000 passported citizens, 27,000 people left the cities, and 4,189 people were deported. A. V. Kurenkov studied the earliest party organizations in the Tomsk Province to find out that the constant lack of qualified party workers was a serious problem. D. S. Morozov describes the responses of the population of the Kemerovo Region to the death of Joseph Stalin. The method of content analysis revealed such patterns as "shared loss", "personal grief", "Stalin as father figure", etc. A. V. Rykov introduces the "letters to the authorities" written by rural population during the administrative-territorial reform in the Altai Region in 1962–1966. Villagers always failed in their attempts to persuade the authorities to restore the administratively abolished settlements. Transferring such a settlement to the subordination of a neighboring region was a more successful strategy in the dialogue with governmental institutions as it could improve the local logistics and management.

The final section entitled General History and International Relations includes two articles. O. Yu. Semenov and D. A. Belashchenko analyze Germany’s policy in relation to Afghanistan in the UN Security Council in 1995–1996: Germany sought to support its special envoy Norbert Hall, who was the head of the UNSMA mission in Afghanistan. D. A. Surowen summarizes rare Japanese sources on the religious and political reforms conducted by Emperor Mimaki (Sudzin, 324–331), as a result of which the high priestesses of the Miwa Shrine and the Yamato patron god were replaced by male priests.

We hope that you will find this New Year’s issue insightful and valuable. The SibScript is always glad to welcome new authors to publish manuscripts on archeology, national and world history, and international relations.