The paper is dedicated to the initial period of establishment of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences associated with the activity of the Moscow section of the Russian / State Academy for the History of Material Culture in 1919–1929. The self-organization and consolidation of Moscow archaeologists proceeded in the 1920s with the organizational framework of this section, as well as the Institute of Archaeology and Art Studies of RANION, State Historical Museum and the Institute of Anthropology of Moscow State University. It could not be accomplished in those years. By the end of this decade, the Institute of Archaeology and Art Studies of RANION and Moscow section of the State Academy for the History of Material Culture ceased to operate as organizational and academic structures. For a short time until 1932 the Historical Museum and the Institute of Anthropology remained the main academic units for Moscow archaeologists, until the State Academy for the History of Material Culture made a decision to reestablish the Moscow section. The authors focuse on the organization and development stages of the Moscow section of the Russian / State Academy for the History of Material Culture and its practical activities. The history of the Moscow section is reviewed in the context of interactions with the head institution in Leningrad and against the background of the social and political situation in the country, especially at the turn of the 1930s.