About the Journal

Aims and scope

Archaeologia Polona is a peer-reviewed (Double-Blind Peer Reviews) journal edited and annually published in the English language by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, intended for an international audience. Its primary purpose is to present a wide range of various approaches to the most critical problems of contemporary archaeology.
Each issue is dedicated to one theme of current interest. The members of the editorial board and the theme editors represent a wide range of interests and expertise, and this ensures that the papers published in Archaeologia Polona cover a wide variety of subject areas.
Recent issues illustrate the variety of material published in  Archaeologia Polona. The last volumes were dedicated to Neolithic in Polish Lands, research and views from fifty years ago until today, and to characteristics and distribution of siliceous rocks in prehistory. The latest volume, 59: 2021, concerns post-medieval and modern ceramic vessels. The next one, for the year 2022, will be dedicated to the topic of siliceous rock mining, as well as to all issues related to this theme (i.e., workshop places, lithothecas, history of the archaeology of siliceous rock mining, etc.). Future issues will range just as widely.

History of the journal

Archaeologia Polona was established in 1958 with the intention to popularize Polish archaeology abroad by publishing translations of the most essential papers which previously were published in Polish in journals edited by the Institute, mostly in "Archeologia Polski". Until 1990 the journal was published by the Ossolineum Publishing House.
Editors in this first period of the existence of the journal were:
• 1958-1962 (vol. I-V) - Aleksander Gieysztor, Witold Hensel and Kazimierz Majewski
• 1964 (vol. VI) - Aleksander Gieysztor and Witold Hensel
• 1964-1968 (vol. VII-X) - Aleksander Gieysztor, Witold Hensel and Kazimierz Majewski
• 1969 (vol. XI) - Witold Hensel and Kazimierz Majewski
• 1970-1990 (vol. XII-XXVIII) - Witold Hensel
The editorial policy changed in 1991, and now the journal publishes original contributions collected in monothematic volumes devoted to specific questions, especially those central to Polish archaeology.
Since 1991 Zbigniew Kobyliński has been the journal's editor, but specific volumes were also co-edited by various invited scholars, both Polish and foreign. Contributions from abroad were and are welcomed. Volumes published during these 17 years were devoted to essential fields of archaeological research, such as archaeometry, archaeological prospecting, environmental studies and the use of scientific analyses in archaeology, pottery studies and research on flint mining, as well as to crucial theoretical concepts, such as the concept of archaeological culture and the concept of ethnicity in archaeology. Some of the volumes were devoted to the history of archaeological theory, as well as to relations between Polish archaeology and the archaeology of neighbouring countries. Relations between archaeology, historiography and anthropology, as well as problems of archaeological heritage management, were also subjects of separate issues.
• Vol. 29 (1991): Ethnicity (editor of the volume: Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 30 (1992): Pottery as information (editors of the volume: Andrzej Buko and Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 31 (1993): Archaeometry (editors of the volume: Tomasz Herbich and Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 32 (1994): Origins of Medieval towns in Temperate Europe (editor of the volume: Przemysław Urbańczyk)
• Vol. 33 (1995): Flint Mining (editor of the volume: Jacek Lech)
• Vol. 34 (1996): The concept of archaeological cultures (editors of the volume: Bożena Wyszomirska-Werbart and Paul Barford)
• Vol. 35-36 (1997-1998): Archaeology in the 20th century. Ideas - people - research (editor of the volume: Jacek Lech)
• Vol. 37 (1999): Archaeology and ecology (editors of the volume: Bogusław Gediga and Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 38 (2000): Archaeological heritage management (editor of the volume: Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 39 (2001): Archaeology and archaeological science (editors of the volume: Arkadiusz Marciniak, Johannes Müller and Włodzimierz Rączkowski)
• Vol. 40 (2002): Polish archaeology in an international context (editor of the volume: Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 41 (2003): Archaeological prospection (editor of the volume: Tomasz Herbich)
• Vol. 42 (2004): Neighbours: Polish-German relations in archaeology. Part 1 - to 1945 (editor of the volume: Jacek Lech)
• Vol. 43 (2005): Neighbours: Polish-German relations in archaeology. Part 2 - after 1945 (editor of the volume: Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 44 (2006): Archaeology - anthropology - history. Parallel tracks and divergences (editors of the volume: Dorota Cyngot, Stanisław Tabaczyński and Anna Zalewska)
• Vol. 45 (2007): Glass and Silver (editors of the volume: Tadeusz Baranowski and Teresa Stawiarska)
• Vol. 46 (2008): Archaeometry of pottery and glass (editors of the volume: Urszula Kobylińska and Zbigniew Kobyliński)
• Vol. 47 (2009): Profiles of archaeologists of the twentieth century dedicated to the memory of Andrew Sherrat (editors of the volume: Jacek Lech, Wojciech Piotrowski and Pamela Jane Smith)

In 2011, Mateusz Bogucki became the new editor in Chief of Archaeologia Polona. The editorial staff was also enlarged by the associate editor and subject editors. The Advisory Board stayed unchanged.

In 2013, Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz became the new editor-in-chief of Archaeologia Polona. The editorial staff was also enlarged by the associate editor and subject editors. The Advisory Board stayed unchanged.
• Vol. 48 (2010): Archaeology of the Slavs (editors of the volume: Mateusz Bogucki and Bartłomiej Lis)
• Vol. 49 (2011): Geoarchaeology in Poland (editors of the volume: Fabian Welc and Barbara Woronko)
• Vol. 50 (2012): Looking into the Past (editors of the volume: Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz, Marzena Woźny and Dagmara H. Werra)
• Vol. 51-52 (2013-2014): Archaeology of Children and Childhood (editors of the volume: Paulina Romanowicz and Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz)
• Vol. 53 (2015): Archaeological Prospection (editors of the volume: Tomasz Herbich and Iwona Zych)
• Vol. 54 (2016): Investigating Geochemical and Petrographic Methods for Identifying Siliceous Rocks in Archaeology (editors of the volume: Dagmara H. Werra and Richard E. Hughes)

From 2017 onwards its current Editor-in-chief is Dagmara H. Werra.
• Vol. 55 (2017): Pottery and glass in contemporary studies (guest editors of the volume: Krystian Chrzan, Sylwia Siemianowska, Paweł Rzeźnik and Aleksandra Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz)
• Vol. 56 (2018): Characteristics and Distribution of Siliceous Rocks in Prehistory (guest editors of the volume: Dagmara H. Werra and Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka)
• Vol. 57 (2019): The Neolithic in Polish lands. Fundamentals, Research Directions and Interpretations of Cultural Systems - Fifty Years Ago and Today (guest editors of the volume: Hanna Kowalewska-Marszałek, Sławomir Sałaciński and Halina Taras)
• Vol. 58 (2020): Prehistory of North-East Africa. Volume Dedicated to Prof. Michał Kobusiewicz on His 80th Birth (guest editors of the volume: Przemysław Bobrowski and Mirosław Masojć)
• Vol. 59 (2021): Archaeology of Post-Medieval Pottery in Poland and Beyond. Tradition and Innovation (guest editors of the volume: Magdalena Bis, Michał Starski, Dagmara H. Werra, Ewelina Więcek-Bonowska and Marzena Woźny)
• Vol. 60 (2022): THE LORDS OF FLINT – 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE PREHISTORIC STRIPED FLINT MINES IN KRZEMIONKI (guest editors of the volume: Dagmara H. Werra, Marzena Woźny, Maciej T. Krajcarz and Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk)
• Vol. 61 (2023): ECHOES OF WAR – 20th-CENTURY CONFLICT ARCHAEOLOGY (guest editor of the volume: Krzysztof Tunia)