Soviet Archaeology

Trends, Schools, and History
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-960135-6
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 456 Seiten, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 739 g

In Soviet Archaeology: Trends, Schools, and History the Russian archaeologist Leo Klejn examines the peculiar phenomenon which was Soviet archaeology, showing where it differs from Western archaeology and the archaeology of pre-revolutionary Russia, and where it reveals similarities. In this revised and expanded volume, he asks whether Soviet archaeology can be regarded as Marxist, and, if so, whether Marxism was to Russian archaeology a help or a hindrance at that time. Were the writings of Soviet archaeologists mere propaganda, driving their own political agenda, or can they be read as objective studies of our past?

Klejn shows that Soviet archaeology was no monolithic bloc, though Soviet ideologists attempted to present it as such. Rather it was divided into competing schools and trends and, even beneath the veil of Marxist ideology, was often closely related to movements current in Western archaeology. Inside the system, however, the slightest deviation from the Party line was regarded as hostile, those guilty being often dismissed from their posts and condemned to life imprisonment in the Gulag, or even to death.

As an archaeologist working during the turbulent years of Soviet rule, Klejn presents an account which is at once scholarly and vivid. He traces the history of archaeology in Russia from 1917 to 1991 and through the years which followed, recounting the lives and fates of prominent Soviet archaeologists in graphic descriptions with accompanying illustrations.

Zielgruppe

For students, scholars, and members of the public interested in archaeology and the history of Soviet Russia.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Klejn, Leo S

Weitere Mitwirkende

Windle, Kevin

Ireland, Rosh

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Archäologie: Theorie und Methoden
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Translators' note

- From the author

- List of Illustrations

- Part I: History and the Present

- 1: The 'Great Unknown'

- 2: The Stages of a Long Journey

- 3: Generations and Aspirations

- 4: A Spectrum of Trends

- 5: The Arena of Debate

- Part II: Facets of a new science

- 6: Under the Sign of History

- 7: The archaeology of a Great Power: the complications of composition

- 8: Archaeology under the red flag

- 9: Childe and Soviet archaeology

- 10: Reading between Lines

- Part III: Personalities in the system

- 11: Unbridled intellect and revolution: N. Ya. Marr

- 12: The red demon of archaeology: the saga of V. I. Ravdonikas

- 13: A Historian Armed with a Spade: A. V. Artsikhovsky

- 14: Prince of Soviet Archaeology: B. A. Rybakov

- 15: The masters and their roles.

- Conclusion: Retrospective and Perspective.

- Bibliography

- ANNEX

- A. A. Formozov: On L. S. Klejn s book The Phenomenon of Soviet Archaeology and on the phenomenon itself.

- L. S. Klejn: More on Soviet archaeology and Marxism: A professor s reply to a professor s son

- List of abbreviations

- Indices

Über Autor(innen)

Leo S. Klejn is Emeritus Professor at St Petersburg University, formerly Leningrad University. From 1960 until 1981 he taught archaeology at Leningrad University. In 1981 he was arrested on the initiative of KGB and sentenced to a minimal term imprisonment. After his release, his titles were removed and he was unable to find employment for ten years. During the reorganization of the Soviet government in the 1980s, Klejn's papers began to be printed again, and he was allowed to go abroad. He began lecturing as a visiting professor in West Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, Turku, Seattle, and Madrid. In 1994 he was invited to lecture at St Petersburg University as Professor of Cultural Anthropology. He retired in 1997 but continued to write and publish books. Since 2008 Klejn has been working as a columnist in the Russian newspaper for scholars Troitsky Variant. He has published over 460 works, including 15 monographs and 25 new translations and editions.