Wojciech Józef Burszta (1957–2021) was one of the most prominent Polish anthropologists. He specialized in the theory and methodology of ethnology, cultural anthropology, cultural studies, folk and popular culture, and anthropology of the present. He is the author of several hundred works in these fields. The importance of his achievements for cultural studies is unquestionable. His researches largely defined the shape of Polish cultural anthropology. In 1979, he graduated from ethnography at the Historical Faculty at Adam Mickiewicz University. In 1984, he received his PhD in Ethnology. In 1993, he obtained a readership (habilitation) and in 1998 he became a professor. He played an important role in the community of cultural researchers. He was a member of the Committee on Ethnological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Committee on Polish Diaspora of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Cultural Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (member and chairman). His activity in scientific life also included participation in scientific societies: the Polish Folk Society and the Polish Cultural Studies Society, the Polish Sociological Society and the European Association of Social Anhtropology. He worked in scientific councils and editorial committees of Polish and international journals.

The author presents the output of Eduard Makarian, a Russian cultural anthropologist, featuring his contribution to the problem of origin of culture. The development of Makarian’s scientific research has been presented from the understanding of systemic character of culture to the research on the origin of culture; from reflecting upon the first principles of culture development to the concept of system evolution as anthropogenesis, social evolution and cultural evolution, to the understanding of the origin of culture as a creative core of culture (cultural heritage, dynamics of cultural traditions, “tradition”–“change” dichotomy, hypothesis of “cultural genes”, etc.). The scientist moved from the issue of the origin of culture in the prehistoric times through the issues of permanent creation and dialectic self-revival of culture to the problems of culture in contemporary world. His research was of key importance for the establishment of philosophical and cultural approach in the research of the origin of culture in Russia.