Archaeological Science and Education in Siberian Universities at the Turn of the Epochs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2021 14(1): 137–147 DOI: 10.17516/1997-1370-0576 УДК 902:378 Archaeological Science and Education in Siberian Universities at the Turn of the Epochs Lyudmila Yu. Kitova* Kemerovo State University Kemerovo, Russian Federation Received 18.01.2020, received in revised form 18.03.2020, accepted 20.05.2020 Abstract. This research is devoted to archaeological science and education in Siberia at the end of the 19th century – the first third of the 20th century. The purpose of the article is to analyse the development of Siberian archaeology at the turn of the epochs when high- level professionals first appeared in the region running away from the Bolsheviks from the European part of Russia and evacuated by A.V. Kolchak from Kazan and Perm universities. The reasons for the intensification of archaeological activity in Siberia in 1918–1926 were identified recreating an integral picture of its development. Particular attention is paid to identifying the specifics of the process of training researchers of antiquities at Tomsk and Irkutsk universities. Tomsk University, on the initiative of Professor S.I. Rudenko and lecturer S.A. Teploukhov, provided individual training of paleoethnologists as part of the natural science cycle of disciplines, while Irkutsk University established the first archaeological school in Siberia. The modernisation of higher education in the first years of the Soviet power led to the destruction of emerging historical education at Siberian universities and to the termination of archaeologists’ training as a result. Keywords: archaeology, training of historians, Tomsk State University, Irkutsk State University, paleoethnological scientific school. Research area: archaeology. Citation: Kitova, L.Yu. (2020). Archaeological science and education in Siberian universities at the turn of the epochs. J. Sib. Fed. Univ. Humanit. Soc. Sci., 14(1), 137–147. DOI: 10.17516/1997-1370-0576. © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-4769-9819 – 137 – Lyudmila Yu. Kitova. Archaeological Science and Education in Siberian Universities at the Turn of the Epochs Introduction first third of the 20th centuries, N.I. Platonova The centenary of the Great Russian Rev- developed the author’s concept of its develop- olution and the intensity of the Orange revo- ment on the basis of two platforms: archaeology lutionary passions in the world suggest that as a science of the humanities and archaeology researchers once again think about the results as a natural history discipline, for which, in her and lessons of revolutionary changes in differ- opinion, there were two different systems of ent areas of society life and activities including philosophical views on human nature and the such fields as science and education. Moreover, history of mankind. Based on the analysis of the contemporary modernisation of science and the activities of two metropolitan archaeologi- higher education in Russia included its partic- cal centres, the researcher rightly debunked the ipants in determining the prospects for this myth of empiricism and methodological failure process, which are not possible without a retro- of Russian archaeology of the end of the 19th – spective analysis. the first third of the 20th centuries (Platonova, The initiator of the development of his- 2010). toriographic problems in Russian archaeology However, materials on the formation and was Muscovite, a researcher at the Institute development of Siberian archaeology are not of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of presented in the works of Saint Petersburg re- Sciences A.A. Formozov (Formozov, 1961; searchers. This problem was solved by V.I. Mat- Formozov, 1986; Formozov, 1995). Neverthe- iushchenko in a two-volume monograph, which less, it was the representatives of the scientif- examines the history of archaeology of Sibe- ic school of Saint Petersburg who for the first ria of the 18th – 20th centuries (Matiushchenko, time considered the issue of institutionalisa- 2001). Using unpublished archival materials, tion of archaeology in Russia deeply and in we investigated unknown and debatable issues various aspects. of the development of Siberian archaeology in An important milestone in comprehend- 1920–1930 (Kitova, 2007). Nevertheless, the ing the development of Russian archaeology specificity of emerging and development of was the monograph by G.S. Lebedev (Lebedev, training researchers of antiquities at Tomsk 1992), in which Russian science was consid- and Irkutsk universities in the first quarter of ered in a wide range: from 1700 to 1917 against the 20th century were not revealed, which this the background of world archaeology. article is devoted to. L.S. Klein was one of the first to analyse the stages of formation and the main direc- Research methods tions of development of Soviet archaeology The article uses general historical meth- and determined the influence of Stalinism on it ods: (Klein, 1993). He later created two fundamen- • historical and comparative, to estab- tal works: one is devoted to the history of world lish general and special features of the devel- archaeological thought (Klein, 2011), the other opment of the teaching of archaeology in the to the history of pre-revolutionary, Soviet and European and Asian parts of Russia; post-Soviet archaeology (Klein, 2014). • problematic and chronological, ac- I.V. Tunkina studied the process of forma- cording to which the recreation of events is tion of the Russian science on the classic antiq- carried out in chronological sequence; uities of the south of Russia in the 18th – middle • historical and systematic, which al- of the 19th centuries (Tunkina, 2002). lowed to identify the reasons for the intensifi- The monograph by I.L. Tikhonov on the cation of archaeological activity in Siberia in emergence and development of the archaeolog- 1918–1926, to recreate a holistic picture of its ical science in Saint Petersburg University is development; especially interesting in terms of the topic of • historical and genetic, which made it our research (Tikhonov, 2003). possible to determine the organisational struc- Studying the history of archaeological ture of historical education in national univer- thought in Russia at the end of the 19th – the sities in the 19th century and the dynamics of – 138 – Lyudmila Yu. Kitova. Archaeological Science and Education in Siberian Universities at the Turn of the Epochs its transformation in the first quarter of the 20th at the Department of Philosophy of Moscow century. State University in 1835, the number of disci- The use of a comprehensive interdisci- plines in which information on ancient history plinary approach for dealing with issues of and archaeology was used, started to increase interaction between scientists, society and the gradually. authorities made it possible to analyse the de- Classical (antique) archaeology in Russia velopment of the organisational structure of passed the stage of its organisational devel- Siberian archaeology in the context of wider opment earlier than all other fields (Tunkina, historical transformations. To study archival 2002: 607–609), due to the interest in ancient materials we applied a comprehensive source antiquities in Europe, which also influenced study approach. the hobbies of the Russian nobility, and then the researchers of Greek and Roman artefacts. The beginning Slavic-Russian and primitive archaeology will of teaching archaeology in Russia be formed as independent fields later. Archaeology is a young science, which In 1884, the Chair for Geography and Eth- started to develop in Russia in the second half nography, headed by D.N. Anuchin, was estab- of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th cen- lished at the Department of History and Philol- tury. In the indicated period, material sources ogy of the University of Moscow, which began had been accumulated from the Palaeolithic to to function since 1850. He would develop a the Middle Ages; research methods were de- course of lectures on prehistoric (primitive) veloped, first of all typological. Archaeologists archaeology, anthropology and ethnography. began to classify complexes of artefacts, using However, already in 1888 at the request of the the materials of the European part of the Rus- scientific community of Moscow State Univer- sian Empire, the first archaeological cultures sity the Chair for Geography and Ethnography were identified and typological series of things was transferred to the Natural Science Subdi- were constructed in a relatively chronologi- vision of the Department of Physics and Math- cal sequence. State (Imperial Archaeological ematics. The teaching of prehistoric archae- Commission) and public organisations (Rus- ology was also transferred to the Department sian Archaeological Society, Moscow Archae- of Physics and Mathematics (Platonova, 2010: ological Society, etc.) were established to guide 147). It should be noted that in Russian science, archaeological research. Periodicals dedicated not only geography belonged to the circle of to archaeological research began to appear and natural science disciplines, but also ethnogra- a circle of researchers was formed involved in phy, which for a long period was formed within solving a wide range of problems of prehistory, the framework of geography. which had their followers. As a result, these re- At Saint Petersburg University from 1846– searchers started teaching