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Archaeology of the Communist Era pp 59–99Cite as

Archaeology in Soviet Russia

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Abstract

Although Marxist thoughts were introduced in pre-Revolutionary Russia, my primary focusis on the development of Soviet archaeology. I examine the establishment of the Academy of Material Culture History and the rivalry between the two leading centres: Leningrad and Moscow. I also correlate major changes in the approach to theory with political developments, especially those related to the Great Purge and the cult of Stalin. Subsequently, I discuss the Thaw and loosening of ideological grip during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev era. Finally, I ask a significant question: How truly Marxist Soviet archaeology was and it is possible to develop a genuine Marxist archaeology? I conclude that due to perestroika and dissolution of the Soviet Union we may have gained freedom in pursuing academic research, but archaeology as an academic discipline declined.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Editor’s note: Chapter by Danckers (Chap. 12) in this volume contradicts this statement. See also the history of social archaeology in Latin America (cf. works by Vargas & Sanoja).

  2. 2.

    CheKa —Chrezvychainaya Komissiya, Extraordinary Comission; GPU—Glavoye Politicheskoe Upravlenie, Main Political Governance.

  3. 3.

    Editor’s note: Marx used the term Kasernenkommunismus translated by Marx’s interpreters as “barrack communism ” in relation to crude and authoritarian collectivisation. Later the term referred to dormitories for workers common in the Soviet Union undergoing rapid industrialisation.

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  1. St. Petersburg University, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia

    Leo Klejn

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  1. Hunter College, New York, New York, USA

    Ludomir R Lozny

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Klejn, L. (2017). Archaeology in Soviet Russia. In: Lozny, L. (eds) Archaeology of the Communist Era. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45108-4_3

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