The article is dedicated to the memory of Victor Nikolaevich Shitov (October 1, 1947-October 31, 2013), who had been the intellectual leader of the archaeologists of the Republic of Mordovia for many years. The basic stages of his scientific biography are elucidated. The first independent studies conducted by V.N. Shitov were associated with the Shoksha burial ground referring to the Ryazan-Oka culture. Since then, the ancient Mordovian culture of the 1st millennium AD had been playing the dominant role in his studies. In 1976, V.N. Shitov became a research fellow of the sector of Archeology and Ethnography, the Mordovian Research Institute of language, literature, history and economics. The last period of his scientific activity was connected with the preparation and organizational work on the multi-volume edition “The archaeology of the Mordovian land.”