Michał Pawleta

In the nineteenth century, within the territories of Poland under partition, archaeological monuments acquired particular significance in scholarly, social, and symbolic terms. In the absence of an independent state, antiquarianism and archaeology functioned as important instruments in the construction of national identity and the preservation of historical memory relating to the Polish lands. Prehistoric and early medieval monuments were understood not only as sources of knowledge about past communities, but also as material evidence of the so-called settlement continuity and as evidence of the age-old connection of the Polish people with a strictly defined territory, treating them as carriers of historical memory and national identity. This article adopts the concept of monument values formulated by Alois Riegl in his classic essay The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Its Origin (1903) as an analytical framework for examining modes of perception and valuation of archaeological monuments in the nineteenth century. Although Riegl’s ideas have been extensively discussed within Polish art history and heritage conservation, their impact on archaeological thought has remained limited. The article seeks to partially address this lacuna by analysing contemporary understandings of historical monuments and by examining key terms applied to archaeological sources. These issues are subsequently discussed in relation to Riegl’s theoretical proposal, demonstrating its capacity to structure and critically reassess the relationship between past and present.

Dziedzictwo archeologiczne pełni istotną rolę w kulturze i historii, jednak jego wartości w polskim społeczeństwie wciąż nie są dostatecznie rozpoznane, rozumiane i doceniane. Badania społeczne dotyczące tego tematu prowadzone są rzadko, co utrudnia opracowywanie skutecznych strategii jego ochrony oraz promocji. W artykule dokonano analizy wyników badania dotyczącego wiedzy, postaw oraz zaangażowania Polaków w kwestie związane z dziedzictwem archeologicznym według danych z sondażu CATI (ang. Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews), przeprowadzonego w 2024 r. na reprezentatywnej próbie 1080 dorosłych mieszkańców Polski, w ramach projektu „Wartości dziedzictwa archeologicznego z perspektywy lokalnych społeczności – analiza porównawcza”. Uzyskane rezultaty przeanalizowano w kontekście szerszych wyzwań związanych z ochroną, zarządzaniem i popularyzacją dziedzictwa archeologicznego, proponując rekomendacje dotyczące poprawy obecnych strategii i działań w tym zakresie. Postulowano także konieczność prowadzenia dalszych badań społecznych na ten temat.

The aim of the article is to present and discuss the opinions of Polish Roman Catholic clergy on archaeological research carried out in areas under the church’s management. The article provides the research context of the said archaeological research within the framework of public archaeology. The study used the method of individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) conducted between February 20 and May 29, 2024 in selected Roman Catholic parishes and rectories in Poland. The interviews (IDIs) were conducted with parish priests and rectors of parishes and churches where archaeological research had previously taken place. Six categories were considered in the study: opinions of the clergy, opinions of the congregation as perceived by the clergy, reasons for conducting archaeological research, preservation of monuments, recommendations of the clergy to archaeologists, and future cooperation with archaeologists. The research was interdisciplinary, involving scientists from thehumanities and social sciences. The results of the study led to the emergence of different research perspectives.

This article offers an introduction to the 30th anniversary volume of Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia, a peer-reviewed journal with a longstanding presence in the archaeological community. For decades, Folia has been an important forum for exchanging scientific ideas in archaeology. The journal presents research on the prehistory and early Middle Ages of Central Europe, Mediterranean archaeology, and, in recent years, interdisciplinary areas and contemporary archaeology.This volume is being published at a time of symbolic significance, given the journal’s 30th anniversary and the changes in the editorial team. The new editors continue the journal’s mission by combining respect for tradition with an openness to new research, theoretical, and methodological perspectives. They emphasize the importance of pluralism in contemporary archaeology, which promotes the discipline’s intellectual dynamism and development rather than weakening it.The volume’s content reflects this diversity. Eleven articles address issues ranging from the Neolithic period to the 21st century and cover topics such as field studies, interdisciplinary analyses, and reflections on cultural heritage and archaeological theory. Both established scientists and younger researchers are given a voice.Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia remains a space for creative dialogue and the exchange of experiences. In keeping with the principles of scientific integrity, interdisciplinarity, and openness, the editors invite contributions to the journal that consider the future of archaeology as a dynamic, socially engaged discipline sensitive to the changing world.

The article addresses the issue of authenticity in the context of representations of the past created by archaeology. Starting from the traditional, dominant understanding of authenticity as the originality of monuments that have preserved their original features and form, I discuss alternative approaches to authenticity that focus not on the authenticity of material but on the ways of experiencing the past. Using full-scale open-air archaeological reconstructions as an example, I focus on the authenticity of relationships with the past that are created through copies, replicas, or re-enactments of life in prehistoric times. I argue that both original artefacts and archaeological sites, as well as their reconstructions, can carry values, including the value of authenticity, although understood in different ways. I also highlight the need for a deeper reflection on the concept of authenticity and its value in the context of contemporary archaeological practice, particularly in activities aimed at popularizing knowledge of the past among people outside this discipline.

The Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice, Poland, is a complex of former prisoner of war (PoW) and resettlement camps that functioned in the vicinity of the village from the time of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871 until 1946. This article focuses on the material remains and landscape transformations related to the functioning of Stalag 318/VIII F (344) Lamsdorf. The authors present the applied methodology of the “Science for society, society for science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” project, in which available archival sources and obtained archaeological data complement each other. Such a holistic approach has allowed conducting a more complete inventory and mapping of what has remained of Stalag 318/VIII F (344) Lamsdorf until the present day.

This paper is concerned with contemporary perceptions of the prisoner-of-war (PoW), displacement and forced-labour camps that operated in and around what is today the village of Łambinowice in southwestern Poland. It uses a community archaeology approach to explore how locals relate to the material remnants of the sites and subsequent constructions, including a modern museum called the Central Museum of Prisoners of War. Łambinowice was formerly called Lamsdorf and located within German territory, and camps were first established in the area in the mid-nineteenth century. During World War II, the locality contained one of the largest PoW camp complexes in Europe, where approximately 300,000 soldiers of various nationalities were detained behind barbed-wire fences. The research presented here formed part of a multidisciplinary research initiative titled “Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice”, and involved interviews with local residents and observations. The findings reveal diverse attitudes, approaches, practices and values associated with Lamsdorf’s wartime heritage in the present day.

‘Lamsdorf/Łambinowice: an archaeology of memory’ is an interdisciplinary project that uses archaeological research methods and tools to locate unknown and unmarked graves of prisoners of war (PoW) and civilians related to the functioning of the German camp Stalag VIII B (344) Lamsdorf in the years 1939–1945.