About the book: 2010 / The author, a famous professor of archeology from St. Petersburg, talks about his confrontation with the Soviet judicial investigative system and about his “journey” to prison and camp in the early 1980s. But by revealing violations of civil rights, the author acts not just as a victim of a totalitarian repressive machine. He approached the topic like a scientist on a difficult scientific expedition, ready to explore an inaccessible environment. In the criminal world, he found many analogies with primitive society and became interested in the reasons for such similarities. This led him to some interesting thoughts about human nature, the evils of our penal system and the nature of our modern society. The book caused a discussion in science, the opinions of prominent scientists were attached to the text. The book will certainly be of interest not only to sociologists, anthropologists and ethnographers, but also to everyone who has encountered the problem of crime and punishment.