Methodological workshops of USSR central archaeological agencies as a platform for discussions (the problem of thematic content of reports in the 1960s – early 1970s)

Methodological workshops were organized in central Soviet archaeological agencies such as the Institute of Archaeology and the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Archaeology, USSR Academy of Sciences, starting from the late 1950s. Their history in the 1960s – early 1970s is still understudied. The examination of archival materials and publications established topics of the papers discussed at the methodological workshops in both institutes at that time such as issues of prehistory; issues of social and historical reconstructions; issues of paleoecology in archaeology; ideological concepts of the earliest societies; issues of ethnosocial reconstructions. These thematical areas are in line with the most relevant topics mentioned in leading papers published by Soviet Archaeology. While initially methodological workshops pursued an ideological aim, over time they turned into a platform for discussing relevant issues of archaeology and even testing most advanced theoretical concepts in the 1970s–1980s.