The archaeological unit in the system of the people's commissariat of education (1918-1926)

The Soviet Government had to tackle the issue of recording and preservationof archaeological heritage right after the revolution. The Archaeological Unit (AU) runby V. A. Gorodtsov was set up within the Department of Museums and Preservation ofHistorical and Artistic Sites of the People's Commissariat of Education (Narkompros)to manage archaeological heritage in 1918. The AU activities influenced the entireorganization of archaeology in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).These activities can be studied only by archival sources. The AU was reorganized morethan once and was in operation until the end of 1926. The AU main responsibilities wereas follows: (i) administrative work: keeping records of archaeological sites as well asentities and individuals involved in archaeological studies across the RSFSR; compilationof complete lists of state and private collections, which also included archaeologicalcollections, in Russia and abroad; facilitation of organization of archaeological meetings; (ii) methodological work: assistance to museums in acquisition, appropriate display andstorage of archaeological finds; to perform the latter function, it compiled a subject catalogueof archaeological artifacts for the entire RSFSR distributed by cultural periods and ages; (iii) research: organization and conduction of expeditions; preparation of archaeologicalmaps of the RSFSR; preparation of bibliography on Russian archaeology; launchinginitiatives on setting up scientific societies and educational institutions specializing inarchaeology and relevant assistance. After establishment of the Russian Academy for theHistory of Material Culture in April 1919, two institutions started competing with eachother, which had an adverse impact on development of Russian archaeology. The newstage in the archaeological service development began when V.A. Gorodtsov resigned asthe head of the AU. The time required new people and new concepts.