Research Catalog

Title

Soviet archaeology : schools, trends, and history / L.S. Klejn ; translated from the Russian by Rosh Ireland and Kevin Windle.

Author

Kleĭn, L. S. (Lev Samuilovich)

Publication

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Ireland, Rosh.
• Windle, Kevin, 1947-

Description

xvii, 411 pages, 6 unnumbered of plates : illustrations, color maps; 23 cm.

Summary

• An updated English translation of Leo S. Klejn's volume, which originally appeared in Russian and German. In this title Klejn looks at the peculiar phenomenon that is Soviet archaeology and its differences and similarities to Western archaeology and the archaeology of pre-revolutionary Russia. In this updated and expanded volume, he considers whether Soviet archaeology can be considered as Marxist and, if so, was Marxism a help or hindrance to Russian archaeology at the time. Were the writings of Soviet archaeologists sheer propaganda with their own political agenda or can they be considered as objective sources about our past? Klejn shows that Soviet archaeology was not a monolithic block as Soviet ideologists attempted to represent it, but rather it was divided into competing schools and trends and, even under the veil of Marxist ideology, was often closely related to the movements occurring in western archaeology.
• "In Soviet Archaeology: Trends, Schools, and History, Russian archaeologist Leo S. Klejn looks at the peculiar phenomenon that is Soviet archaeology and its differences and similarities to Western archaeology and the archaeology of pre-revolutionary Russia. In this updated and expanded volume, he considers whether Soviet archaeology can be considered as Marxist and, if so, was Marxism a help or hindrance to Russian archaeology at the time. Were the writings of Soviet archaeologists sheer propaganda with their own political agenda or can they be considered as objective sources about our past? Klejn shows that Soviet archaeology was not a monolithic block as Soviet ideologists attempted to represent it, but rather it was divided into competing schools and trends and, even under the veil of Marxist ideology, was often closely related to the movements occurring in western archaeology. However, inside the system, even the slightest deviance from the party line was considered hostile, and the guilty person was often discharged and punished with sentencing to a life in the Gulag prisons, or even death. As an archaeologist working during the turmoil of the Soviet government's rule over Russia, Klejn's scholarly account is laid out in a journalistic manner, tracing the history of archaeology in Russian from 1917 to beyond 1991, as well as recounting the lives and fates of leading Soviet archaeologists in vivid descriptions with accompanying photographs."--Publisher's website.

Series Statement

Oxford studies in the history of archaeology

Uniform Title

• Fenomen sovetskoĭ arkheologii. English
• Oxford studies in the history of archaeology.

Alternative Title

• Fenomen sovetskoĭ arkheologii.
• Soviet archaeology : trends, schools, and history

Subjects

• Archaeology > Study and teaching > Soviet Union
• Archaeology > Soviet Union > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [375]-398) and index.

Language (note)

• Translated from the Russian.

Contents

Part I: History and the Present. The 'Great Unknown' ; The Stages of a Long Journey ; Generations and Aspirations ; A Spectrum of Trends ; The Arena of Debate. -- Part II: Facets of a new science. Under the Sign of History ; The archaeology of a Great Power: the complications of composition ; Archaeology under the red flag ; Childe and Soviet archaeology ; Reading between Lines. -- Part III: Personalities in the system. Unbridled intellect and revolution: N. Ya. Marr ; The red demon of archaeology: the saga of V. I. Ravdonikas ; A Historian Armed with a Spade: A. V. Artsikhovsky ; Prince of Soviet Archaeology: B. A. Rybakov ; The masters and their roles ; Conclusion: Retrospective and Perspective.

ISBN

• 9780199601356 (hbk.)
• 0199601356 (hbk.)
• 0199601356 (hbk.) (canceled/invalid)

OCLC

• ocn827947536
• SCSB-5683050

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries