Czechoslovakia: the last three years.

Czechoslovakia: the last three years. I feel somewhat uneasy in writing about Czechoslovakia, which nolonger exists. However, the problems encountered by its twoarchaeological successors are more or less similar, although somedivergence divergenceIn mathematics, a differential operator applied to a three-dimensional vector-valued function. The result is a function that describes a rate of change. The divergence of a vector v is given by may be expected in the future.The disintegration disintegration/dis��in��te��gra��tion/ (-in?ti-gra��shun)1. the process of breaking up or decomposing.2. of Czechoslovakia into two parts is hardlycomprehensible com��pre��hen��si��ble?adj.Readily comprehended or understood; intelligible.[Latin compreh to foreigners, and in the beginning the attitude of theCzechs (who inhabit the western part of the former Czechoslovakia) wasthe same. They felt that the longing for independence was exclusively aSlovak affair; most Czechs were of the opinion that the idea ofseparation was a crazy one. The situation changed somewhat when thegeneral election of 1992 brought left-wing parties to power in Slovakiawhilst the Czechs voted for the right.Czechs and Slovaks certainly have much more in common than, forexample, Germans from southern and eastern Germany Eastern Germany refers to: German Democratic Republic or East Germany, communist state from 1949-1990 Former eastern territories of Germany, in Germany known as ehemalige (deutsche) Ostgebiete: . Their similarity isnot limited to language: Czech and Slovak are in fact a single languagewith two variants. To relate the problem more specifically to theinterests of ANTIQUITY readers, the archaeology of the two nations isthe same from both the theoretical and the methodological points of view(although Slovakia has been only slightly affected by developmentswithin the Anglo-Saxon archaeological communities and their allies inthe theoretical field over recent decades). In my view, Slovakarchaeology has been one of the most successful constituents of Slovaknational culture, since in this field Slovaks have been equal partnerswith other nations of central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe. .Separation has now become a reality. It has created the CzechRepublic Czech Republic,Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. , with some 10 million inhabitants :This article is about the video game. For Inhabitants of housing, see Residency Inhabitants is an independently developed commercial puzzle game created by S+F Software. DetailsThe game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. , and the Slovak Republic,with some 5 million: neither is a very large state. The most seriousproblem that this has generated is the danger of parochialism, which canonly be overcome if both countries join the intellectual, economic andpolitical networks of Europe. Unfortunately, we are still far fromlarge-scale integration, mainly for economic reasons.According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the prevailing view among both the general public andarchaeologists in 'the west', Czechoslovakia belongs toeastern Europe Eastern EuropeThe countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. . I am unhappy about this, because the Slav language isour only link with the east. The development of the prehistoric pre��his��tor��ic? also pre��his��tor��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or belonging to the era before recorded history.2. Of or relating to a language before it is first recorded in writing. culturesof Bohemia Bohemia,Czech Čechy, historic region (20,368 sq mi/52,753 sq km) and former kingdom, in W and central Czech Republic. Bohemia is bounded by Austria in the southeast, by Germany in the west and northwest, by Poland in the north and northeast, and by and Moravia was essentially the same as that of Germany andsouthern Scandinavia: most of the territory of Czechoslovakia wasinhabited first by the Celts The following pages provide lists of nations or people of Celtic origin, arranged by branch of Celtic ethnicity or language grouping:Goidelic Celts list of Irish people list of Scots list of Manx people Brythonic Celts and then, in the first five centuries AD,by Germanic tribes. The immediate ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks,who probably arrived from the eastern part of central Europe in the 6thcentury AD, chose the Latin variant of Christianity in the 10th centuryAD, after several centuries of hesitation. They completed theirintegration with their western neighbours by fully joining the Gothiccivilization in the 13th century. With the exception of the unfortunateepisode following World War II they had almost nothing to do with theeast. If anyone in the Czech Republic uses the phrase 'easternEurope' in relation to his or her country, it is almost certain tobe in compliance with 'western' geographical concepts. MostCzechs, including archaeologists, favour the term 'centralEurope'.At the same time, I have to admit that the past 45 years have leftbehind much that does not belong to the western tradition. In analysingsome points that are relevant to an understanding of recent developmentsin Czech archaeology, I must begin by returning to the past.The pastIdeologyIt is a matter of common belief in 'the west' that we weresubjected to strong Marxist philosophical indoctrination during theyears of communist rule. This view was only partially correct, and thenonly for the first two decades, from 1948 to about 1968. Even at thattime, 'Marxism' was interpreted through Stalin's eyes,becoming the ideology of the Soviet state rather than a philosophy.Nevertheless, all university students, even those at technicaluniversities and medical schools, were obliged to pass examinations inthis kind of 'Marxism', and as a result many became influencedby it. For those archaeologists with a theoretical orientation, Marxismbecame the only basis upon which it was permissible to formulate theirideas.Many archaeologists who took university courses in the 1950s becameMarxists unconsciously, because they mistook what they were taught for'philosophy'. Philosophical Marxism in that period consistedof a coherent system of concepts derived mainly from the teaching ofG.W.F. Hegel. Once this system had been accepted, it became difficult tomake exceptions or to abandon it altogether for another system. This is,of course, true of any theoretical teaching. It was a tragi-comicalexperience to observe how archaeologists who strongly opposed communismon the basis of their family backgrounds accepted the Marxist conceptualnetwork for these reasons.The situation changed completely after the Soviet invasion ofCzechoslovakia in 1968. No one could any longer believe in any honestgoal of communism. At the same time it became impossible to believe thatcommunism could be reformed into anything 'with a human face':people realized that there was no 'third way' between theSoviet type of socialism and capitalism. There was no longer any doubtthat the very abstract form of the official Marxism of that time hadnothing to do with philosophy and that it had become an apologeticideology of the Soviet state. So far as I am aware, no Czechoslovakarchaeologist became a Marxist as a consequence of his universitytraining in the period after the Soviet invasion.This was a period of despair. The western powers clearly indicatedthat they were prepared to abide by To stand to; to adhere; to maintain.See also: Abide the Yalta agreement British prime minister Winston Churchill, U.S. president franklin d. roosevelt, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin met from February 4 to 11, 1945, at Yalta, in the Crimea. which deliveredCzechoslovakia to the Soviets. At the same time, given the 1968experience, there was no hope that any communist regime inCzechoslovakia could be removed by internal movements. Despair is oftenfollowed by moral decadence. This was the atmosphere in which manyarchaeologists became members of the Communist Party Communist party, in ChinaCommunist party,in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. . Without Partymembership it was hardly possible to achieve anything or to have accessto possibilities for intellectual development (e.g. foreign travel). Thechildren of those who were not Party members had little hope of going touniversity, and sometimes even of going to secondary schools. Somearchaeologists -- not necessarily Party members but sharing theirprivileges -- became agents of the secret police. No one who has notexperienced the bloodless blood��less?adj.1. Deficient in or lacking blood.2. Pale and anemic in color: smiled with bloodless lips.3. pressure of a sophisticated totalitarianregime can ever understand how this could be possible.It follows that philosophical Marxism was not an obligatoryconstituent of archaeological writing after 1968; however, at the sametime, it was only permissible to imitate im��i��tate?tr.v. im��i��tat��ed, im��i��tat��ing, im��i��tates1. To use or follow as a model.2. a. western archaeology in itstechnical aspects. For example, it was not possible to express sympathywith the 'New Archaeology' and, oddly enough, it was alsodangerous to mention the existence of western European Marxists. Iremember having difficulties over the use of the word'structure' in spite of the fact that in my usage it had noconnection with the structuralism structuralism,theory that uses culturally interconnected signs to reconstruct systems of relationships rather than studying isolated, material things in themselves. This method found wide use from the early 20th cent. of Levi-Strauss. Contrary towidespread belief, there was no censorship of archaeological journals,but editors and authors were aware of what they could publish withoutrisking serious problems. This was, of course, another source ofdecadence since authors (including myself) consciously submitted to theregime.Archaeological institutionsThe structure of archaeological institutions was simple at the end ofthe 1940s before the communists took over. It consisted of threeuniversities (Prague, Brno and Bratislava), a network of museums (onlyPrague and Brno with archaeologists), and the State ArchaeologicalInstitute located in Prague, Brno and Nitra.When the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences was founded in 1953,modelled in every detail on the Soviet Academy, the State ArchaeologicalInstitute was transformed into an Institute of the Academy. The newInstitute, based on Prague, Brno and Nitra, grew rapidly: the PragueInstitute The Prague Institute for Global Urban Development is a research institute which advises urban planners globally.It also publishes the Global Urban Development Magazine and hosts seminars and conferences on Urban planning, especially with a global perspective. alone had more than 200 employees, some 60 of them graduatearchaeologists, at the end of the 1980s, constituting roughly half ofall professional archaeologists in Bohemia. It was only natural that theDirectors of the Institutes should make decisions on anything ofimportance in archaeology. In fact, the Academy, which had beenestablished to exert communist control over the whole field of scienceand the humanities, was given by law special rights in this respect, awholly undemocratic situation.The Institutes of the Academy were expected to carry out'basic' theoretical research in archaeology, mainly through'planned' (i.e. non-rescue) excavations, which usually lastedfor decades (Bylany was a typical example). The Institutes of theAcademy, however, took over a number of large-scale rescue excavationsas time progressed, and they were always responsible for maintainingrecords of archaeological sites. Since they also assumed the role ofmuseums, they developed into multi-functional bodies, carrying out allkinds of archaeological activities apart from the training ofundergraduate students.Theoretical work was planned at least five years in advance. However,since the plan was based on the predilections of archaeologists, it wasusually not followed through over many years. This resulted in asituation in which it was not so important to publish as to present asatisfactory report. In any case, those who did not occupy the rightposition in the hierarchy were not expected to publish too much, andcertainly not monographs. Archaeologists were praised and remunerated re��mu��ner��ate?tr.v. re��mu��ner��at��ed, re��mu��ner��at��ing, re��mu��ner��ates1. To pay (a person) a suitable equivalent in return for goods provided, services rendered, or losses incurred; recompense.2. for excavating a site but not for publishing it.The universities were poorly resourced, both in staff and technicalequipment, and the system of study was unbelievable. Many students wereaccepted on the basis of political criteria (mainly the positions oftheir parents within the power structures), and virtually anybody whoentered university to study archaeology completed his or her studies andwas given a job in archaeology. All those who finished were presumed tobe 'scientists' in due course and usually specialized in thefield of their final theses. Incredibly, this system produced a fairnumber of good archaeologists.Some museums, especially the National Museums in Prague Museums In Prague, Czech RepublicArt museumsMuseum of Decorative Arts (Prague) National Gallery in Prague Cultural and historical museumsNational Museum (Prague) Museum of Communism andBratislava, were allowed to employ more archaeologists, but otherwisethey were afforded few opportunities. They were not even given new findsexcavated by the Institutes of the Academy, which retained them in theirown collections.The archaeological part of the State Monuments Service wasrudimentary rudimentary/ru��di��men��ta��ry/ (roo?di-men��tah-re)1. imperfectly developed.2. vestigial.ru��di��men��ta��ryadj.1. , its functions having been taken over by the Institutes ofthe Academy. There was almost nothing comparable with archaeologicalunits, as in the United Kingdom, or the German Bodendenkmalpflege.EconomyThe socialist economy Noun 1. socialist economy - an economic system based on state ownership of capitalsocialismcommunism - a form of socialism that abolishes private ownershipInternational - any of several international socialist organizations was a very inefficient one, yet it spent agreat deal of money on archaeology. However incomprehensible this factmay seem, it was presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. attributable to the phenomenon of hiddenunemployment. The government was obliged to employ people in some way,and giving them jobs in archaeology would suggest that socialismsupported 'science'. Hidden unemployment meant that everybodyworked approximately one-half of his or her working hours; there was noincentive to work more, and in many cases this was even undesirablesince there were not enough materials and energy for full-timeemployment, whilst the products would be difficult to sell. Besides,everybody needed a great deal of time to procure the basic necessitiesof life, which were not easily available on the market: if one urgentlyneeded two long nails for one's home, it was often necessary tospend several working hours to obtain them, as it was impossible to buyeverything during one's free time. It is not therefore surprisingthat people boasted publicly of not working as they should and thatthose who did work were looked upon with suspicion or scorn.In a way life was easy in a socialist society The Socialist Society was founded in 1981 by a group of British socialists, including Raymond Williams and Ralph Miliband, who founded it as an organisation devoted to socialist education and research, linking the left of the British Labour Party with socialists outside it. . One did not get toomuch money, certain goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. were unobtainable, and theacquisition of others required unbelievable effort, but there was nopressure and no responsibility, and almost everybody was equally poor --nails could be bought during working hours. The general socialistapproach to work, permeating per��me��ate?v. per��me��at��ed, per��me��at��ing, per��me��atesv.tr.1. To spread or flow throughout; pervade: "Our thinking is permeated by our historical myths"every sphere of human activity, could notleave archaeology untouched. All this did not happen because people werelazy but rather because they found themselves in unnatural conditionswhich they could not control or change.The presentEveryone knew that socialism would end one day, but I have to confessthat I did not myself believe that it would pass away so rapidly.November 1989 brought political freedom, but it did not automaticallychange the other sub-systems of society. Scrutiny of the generalsituation in Czechoslovakia reveals that both the moral and the economicconsequences of communist rule have caused much greater damage than hadoriginally been suspected.The archaeology of the present day is, of course, not restrictedideologically in any way, but the situation is not yet fully normal: forexample, no variant of Marxism is yet openly favoured by anyarchaeologist. The 'Velvet Revolution' has resulted in alimited measure of destruction of previous power structures, but the oldcommunist elite (including that established within archaeology) istrying to regain control. Its aspirations are greatly aided by peoplewho look backwards at the easy socialist way of life with a certaindegree of nostalgia, since everyone is expected to buy nails in theirfree time and there is pressure to use working hours for writing reportsand articles. What follows is an account of the present state of themain sectors of Czechoslovak archaeology after three years of politicalfreedom.The Academy of SciencesThe Soviet-style Academy of Sciences with its large Institutes haschanged very little since 1989. Its survival is due to a large extent tothe creation of pseudo-democratic institutions elected by the scientiststhemselves, which make the leadership of the Academy and its Institutesdependent upon the trade-union requirements of their employees. Theserequirements, of course, provide for little, if any, change. Any changesthat have occurred in the Academy have been achieved in some of itsInstitutes.The staff of the Prague Archaeological Institute, which I shalldescribe in some detail, was reduced by about one-third in 1991 withoutanyone noticing. In parallel with this reduction in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers.See also: Number , theactivity of the Institute, whether measured in terms of the incomederived from rescue excavations or the number of publications, hasincreased. The strategy of planned non-rescue excavations has beenabandoned completely; instead, answers to theoretical questions aresought through the excavation of endangered sites. At the same time, theabandonment of so-called 'basic' research by more than 50archaeological graduates has been in progress, since it would hardly bepossible for so many people to carry out basic theoretical research in acountry as small as Bohemia. The work of the Institute has beendeliberately based on two types of archaeological activity,corresponding with the archaeological units and the Royal Commissions inthe United Kingdom.Over the past three years the Institute has received funds to enableit to buy computers, magnetometers and other technical equipment to thepoint where it has become almost saturated. A computer database ofBohemian sites is being compiled and an extremely fruitful campaign ofaerial photography This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. has been launched. Institute archaeologists havetravelled widely abroad, bringing back information about recentdevelopments. Three groups of British archaeologists are working inBohemia, informal contacts have been developed with French and Germancolleagues, and it is hoped to establish links with other, smaller,archaeological communities. The traditional one-sided orientation ofBohemian archaeology towards Germany has been superseded in favour ofmore varied links, although Germany has not been abandoned as animportant partner. To further foreign contacts, one of theInstitute's periodicals, Pamatky Archeologicke (founded in 1854),has been converted into a foreign-language journal (English, French,German).This is not the right place for a discussion on theoretical currentsin the Institute. Suffice it to say that a debate has been initiated onpost-processualism, which will be published shortly.There has so far been no radical change in the size of theInstitutes. Important changes are expected in 1993, however, because thebudget of the entire Academy has been cut by the government by some 40%,presumably to stimulate its transformation. The ArchaeologicalInstitutes will not escape this cut: they are likely to be split intotwo parts, one carrying out rescue excavations and the other engaged onarchaeological inventory work. It would be desirable if some of thetheoretically oriented archaeologists from the Institutes could betransferred to universities in the not too distant future. In this waythe reorganization of one sector of Czech archaeology would be almostcompleted.The goal of this transformation should on no account be a mereimitation of a foreign model. The greatly diversified structures ofarchaeology in different western European countries has resulted fromtheir adaptation to local conditions over many decades. Czecharchaeology should develop in the same way, but it is to be hoped thatthe process will be a less lengthy one.UniversitiesUnfortunately the changes in the universities have been lessadequate, with the exception of the fact that there are now morestudents and they are no longer selected on political grounds. Studentsare no longer guaranteed jobs on graduation, but this has so far hadlittle effect, as the demand for archaeologists has exceeded the supply(this is an effect of the old socialist system, when very few studentswere accepted). The main problem is that graduates are all of the samelevel and all aspire to aspire toverb aim for, desire, pursue, hope for, long for, crave, seek out, wish for, dream about, yearn for, hunger for, hanker after, be eager for, set your heart on, set your sights on, be ambitious for carry out 'scientific' work, sincetheir university courses have been very specialized. This system mayproduce a few good specialists, but at the same time many archaeologistsdesperately seeking employment when the present short-term boom is over.Students are taught mainly artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual archaeology; in addition tothe archaeology of Czechoslovakia, that of the surrounding countries ofcentral Europe is usually well covered. Ecofacts are given someattention but at a level far below that in, for example, Britain.Personal experience of ecofacts and technical skills such asconservation or computing are poorly developed, which is understandablegiven the fact that the Charles University in Prague Other universities in the region were Krakow (1364) in Poland, Vienna (1365) in Austria and Heidelberg (1386) in Germany.Its seal shows Charles kneeling in front of St. Wenceslas, surrounded by the inscription, Sigillum Universitatis Scolarium Studii Pragensis carries out noexcavations. In this respect students at Brno are better off, since theycan take part in their department's excavations and process theresulting finds.The staffs at both Prague and Brno are very small, though here againthe situation in Brno is the better. The Institutes of the Academyprovide assistance, but this cannot fully replace the missing universityteachers. Another problem is that two universities with chairs ofarchaeology are not enough for the Czech Republic. All this means thatthe university archaeological departments must be the next to bethoroughly modernized.MuseumsIn addition to the National Museum in Prague there are many regionaland local museums, each employing a single archaeologist and only inexceptional cases up to four or five specialists. Museums absorb most ofthe archaeology graduates. However, their work is largely ineffectivebecause of their isolation and the lack of necessary equipment (thelatter being a consequence, of course, by the former). They are usuallyunable to cope either with a large excavation or with the documentationof the finds already deposited in their museums; they are also incapableof accepting large collections from the Institutes of the Academy orfrom any future archaeological units.The system of isolated archaeologists in local museums may work ifthey represent a supplement to the work of other well-functioningarchaeological bodies, but in the present-day Czech Republic this is notthe case. If these museum archaeologists could be assembled into small,well equipped regional groupings, much more could be achieved with thesame number of people. Such grouping is, however, unlikely, since eachlocal archaeologist in this category is paid from a different source,usually city councils.Archaeological unitsAt the present time there are very few independent institutionsoperating as excavation units. Some are museums, and others belong tothe State Care for Monuments, an organization which is traditionallyresponsible almost exclusively for standing medieval and latermonuments. Most rescue excavations are carried out by the ArchaeologicalInstitutes of the Academy of Sciences. As already mentioned, these arelikely to be split up, one of the resulting parts becoming an excavationunit whose main preoccupation will be with rescue work.This may not represent a full solution to the problems. Archaeologyis a regional discipline, and a centralized cen��tral��ize?v. cen��tral��ized, cen��tral��iz��ing, cen��tral��iz��esv.tr.1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate.2. body can only work properlyif there is a rationale behind it. I am not certain that a centralinstitute carrying out rescue work in, for example, the whole ofBohemia, is reasonable. At the same time, however, it must be borne inmind that the future regional policy and structure of the Czech Republichas not yet been decided and so excavation units would have an uncertainfuture if they were to be regionalized immediatelyThe legal regulation of archaeological field activities as providedby the most recent amendments, in 1987 and 1992, is reasonablysatisfactory. Developers are obliged to consult archaeologists abouttheir plans in advance of starting work and to pay for any necessaryarchaeological excavations. However, this provision has already beenignored on a number of occasions because of insufficient archaeologistsbeing available to enforce it or to carry out excavations. A new law isexpected soon, which it is hoped will not prove to be less satisfactory.In my view all types of archaeological institution -- universities,excavation units, site-recording institutions, museums, researchinstitutes (some possibly combined) -- should be based on a strongfeedback between the empirical study of sites and finds on the one handand theoretical considerations on the other. There should be no theoryusing finds for illustration and no excavations or site databases whichhave no immediate impact on theory. If these objectives can be achieved,there will be good archaeology.ConclusionIn this paper I have tried to demonstrate that there are two mainproblems facing Czech (and possibly also Slovak) archaeologists:democratization de��moc��ra��tize?tr.v. de��moc��ra��tized, de��moc��ra��tiz��ing, de��moc��ra��tiz��esTo make democratic.de��moc and effectiveness. The normal functioning of the wholearchaeological community, including its theoretical output, depends onhow successful the community will be in securing these basic conditionsin its work.The last three years of Czechoslovak archaeology have been in myopinion among its most fruitful periods. We have initiated, locally atleast, a structured change from the undemocratic and ineffectiveSoviet-style organization of archaeology towards an organic Europeanmodel.