The obituary is dedicated to the renowned archaeologist Ravil Gabdrakhmanovich Fakhrutdinov (March 14, 1937–March 10, 2014). He was a specialist in medieval archaeology and history, with a wide scale of scientific interests ranging from the Volga Bulgaria, the Bulgar Ulus of the Golden Horde and the Kazan khanate to the cultures of Central Asia. He was particularly interested in problems related to the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. He left a number of exhaustive works on the medieval history of Tatarstan. R.G. Fakhrutdinov was also a remarkable science popularizer: editor of the «Tatar Archaeology» historical and archaeological journal, the author of a number of textbooks and teaching guides, a series of popular scientific essays, and a member of the Union of Writers of Tatarstan.