Mikhail Pavlovich Ovchinnikov (1844-1921) was a Russian revolutionary, political exile, and amateur archeologist active in the Irkutsk Governorate. Ovchinnikov discovered many ancient sites around Irkutsk that were later reexamined by Irkutsk State University academia. His passion for Eastern Siberian archeology led to contemporaries dubbing him "the Father of Siberian Archeology."