Professionalization

Abstract

This chapter charts the transformation of the amateur into the professional archeologist. It follows the establishment of numerous learned societies that focused on excavations and material culture, beginning with the inaugural one in Odesa in 1839. Individuals played an outsized role because the societies adopted the personalities of the men and fewer women who expended great efforts in organizing them. As a result, some societies leaned into nationalism and others were more oriented toward imperialism in their objectives. The Russian state likewise became more activist, evident in the establishment of the Imperial Archeological Commission in 1859. The chapter also covers the two archeological institutes built in the two capitals: the first in St. Petersburg in 1877 and the second in Moscow in 1907. Although initially intended to train archivists, excavating proved a much bigger draw for students than did indexing. Moreover, especially following the 1905 Revolution, both the military and the Orthodox Church began organizing locally based archeological societies in a conservative reaction to the radical events. Finally, in 1909, A. A. Spitsyn taught the first course in archeology as a social science at St. Petersburg University.