The Long Journey of a Summary Publication (On the Preparation of the “Outlines of Ancient History of Ukraine” at the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

The paper presents the history of writing the “Outlines of Ancient History of the Ukrainian SSR” - the first summary publication written by the specialists of the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences in Kiev. The work began in 1948. It was planned to continue for two years, but extended to eight, and the book was only published in 1957. The texts were edited several times and even rewritten by other authors. Therefore, the process can be subdivided into three stages: 1948-1950 – initial writing of the texts; 1951-1952 - the first correction of the texts related to the publication of J.V. Stalin’s article; 1953-1955 –complete rewriting of the book due to a change in the concept to make it more historical. It also resulted in changes in the structure of the publication. Besides politics, the delay was caused by managerial faults of the administration of the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences.

Keywords

• history of archaeology
• soviet archaeology
• institute of archaeology of the ukrainian ssr academy of sciences
• outlines of ancient history of the ukrainian ssr
• late 1940s - 1950s