Cultural Heritage Management: A Global Perspective

10. Management of Archaeological Resources in Poland at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century

10 Management of Archaeological Resources in Poland at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century Zbigniew Kobyliński Poland is a large country situated in the center of Europe, and due to this location , most of the main processes and events of European prehistory and history left material traces on Polish soil. The archaeological heritage of this region is therefore both rich and diverse, representing various cultural traditions and various ethnic and national groups. At the same time, Poland has been subject to various forms of external pressure and changes in its frontiers, and at times it has even ceased to exist as an independent state. The repeated threats to the Polish national identity have heightened public awareness and appreciation for the need to preserve and protect the past, which has influenced the development of archaeological resource management. However, in the last 60 years, the historically justified focus on Polish national heritage as the main factor allowing the nation to survive despite all the external threats has caused some difficulties in achieving objectivity regarding interpretation of the country’s multiethnic heritage. This has also affected the development of programs dealing with protecting and managing the past that are free from ideological determinants that favor the heritage of the majority over the present-day population. Historical Development: Polish Traditions in Archaeological Heritage Protection As a result of political events at the end of the eighteenth century, Poland lost its independence and was divided among the three partitioning empires: Russia , Prussia, and Austria. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the nominally autonomous Kingdom of Poland was created on a small part of its former territory . However, it was dependent on the Russian Empire; the Russian emperor was Poland’s sovereign. The beginning of Polish archaeology as a scholarly and academic discipline is therefore directly connected with archaeologies of the partitioning states. The university chairs in archaeology were founded in the territory gained by Austria in 1866, where Polish autonomy was the greatest. In the German and Russian parts, there were no universities until indepen- Management of Archaeological Resources in Poland 137 dence was regained in 1919. As a result, interests in prehistory were carried out through amateur activity, organized within learned societies (Lech 1997–1998; Kobyliński 2006a). The beginnings of archaeological resource management and conservation in Poland appeared in the early nineteenth century (see Wysocki 1997–1998) in connection with the activities of the Warsaw Society of the Friends of the Sciences and particularly with the activities of one of the most famous of its members , Zorian Dołega Chodakowski. He initiated the study of ancient strongholds , not only through written descriptions, but also by preparing contour plans. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Eustachy Tyszkiewicz was the first to suggest that part of a site should remain unexcavated for verification of the investigator’s discoveries by future archaeologists. At the end of that century, inspectorates of monuments had been established on the territory of all three of the partitioning powers. The most active inspectorates of monuments were in the Russian zone, where in 1905 Erazm Majewski formulated the first ethical code for archaeologists, and principles of archaeological site protection, which in many ways are still applicable. After the recovery of independence in 1920, the State Assembly of Conservators of Prehistoric Monuments was created to establish a centralized state institution and administration with legal authority. The Statute of the Assembly, apart from rescue excavations, included physical safeguarding, inventorying, documenting, and legally protecting sites. The activities of the assembly were terminated in 1928, when the president of the republic decreed that the State Archaeological Museum should take over its functions. In 1929, Roman Jakimowicz, the director of the museum, reformulated the philosophical basis for archaeological resource management and conservation, stating that the total excavation of archaeological sites and their complete transformation into documentation and museum materials was to be the appropriate method of management and conservation. Unfortunately, this idea has strongly influenced the subsequent development of Polish archaeology , conflicting with earlier suggestions that portions of the site should remain unexcavated for future verification. It is difficult to assess the management and conservation of archaeological sites and ancient monuments during the Communist rule. Although a great deal was achieved during this time, much was also irredeemably lost. However, during this period Polish archaeology established a relatively high level of competence and gained a good deal of international prestige (cf. Kobyliński 1991; Lech 1997–1998). New methods of investigation and documentation...