Theoretical Issues in Contemporary Soviet Paleolithic Archaeology
Annual Review of Anthropology
Vol. 12: 403-428 (Volume publication date October 1983)
R S Davis
In lieu of an abstract, the publisher reproduces the first page of the article. (Link)
Letters to My Tutor…
My dearest Simone,
I was likely drawn to this article because I have been watching early episodes of MacGyver, a TV show that ran from 1985 to 1991. It seems very much to be a Cold War era show. Remember when there used to be talk of defectors left and right? So far I’ve seen a couple episodes that covered finding creative ways to get out of East Berlin, one involving a coffin that transformed into a jet ski. I watched the show during its original airing, but I’m finding that I may remember the pop culture references to the show more than I do the actual show. The show seems an interesting commentary on Americans and our view of our place in the world at the time; it’s not the most flattering view from an anti-imperialist perspective. I’m curious to see how the show develops and how it handles the fall of the Iron Curtain.
And then I come to this article with its talk of paleolithic archaeology in the the good ole USSR with its centralized organizational structure with headquaters in Leningrad, and it takes me back. I hadn’t thought recently of how Cold War era politics may have affected cross-cultural communication in the academic community at the time. Although Davis writes of how ideological differences between the USSR and the West translated into differences in theoretical orientations, he says that the main barrier to information sharing on Paleolithic research had to do with language. He mentions a forthcoming dissertation on Upper Paleolithic research from Olga Soffer-Bobyshev, who also mentions the language barrier. In a 1986 interview with the Mammoth Trumpet, Soffer said, “The data base there is so incredibly rich, and other than Richard Klein’s Ice-Age Hunters of the Ukraine, there was really nothing in the west for our non-Russian reading colleagues.” Soffer talks about her dissertation research in the interview with the Mammoth Trumpet.
The article left me wanting to read more on the concept of archaeological culture. Davis writes that the West was further along than the USSR in its thinking that cultures are the relevant units of analysis in Paleolithic archaeology. He writes that scientists in the USSR spent a long time divesting themselves of the concept that stages of development (Pre-Clan society, Era of Clan Organization, Decomposition of the Clan and Emergence of Class Society) based on Marxists ideology were the relevant unit – this made for an interesting commentary on the conservatism in academia and how it can be difficult to move away from a popular theoretical model even after it has been largely abandoned. Davies writes of how some archaeologists in the USSR took to publishing “basically descriptive, data-oriented excavation reports” in an effort to avoid dealing with the theoretical void created after abandoning a model that held sway for time.
I was about to say, “Enough time travel,” but then thought maybe I’ll take a look at how MacGyver manages to make a quiet exit from Bulgaria. And this note comes with a theme song… Beatles “Back in the U.S.S.R.”
Ever true,
S.
