The article is devoted to the activities of archaeologists and archaeological institutions of Petrograd in the difficult years of revolution and civil war. It is analysis of their response to two revolutions of 1917 and the attempts to use the change of power for the development of archaeology in Russia in 1917 to 1922. The Revolution and the demolition of the old state apparatus has played a catalytic role in the development process of the organizational structure of archaeology, helping to eliminate the old and the emergence of new and more advanced organizational structures. At the same time, the methods and circumstances of this "break" caused enormous damage to the human potential of the Russian archaeology and the whole system of scientific relations.