Towards a new synthesis of the prehistory of Polish lands. Some remarks on “The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the early Middle Ages”

Michał Pawleta

doi:10.23858/SA70.2018.017

Published: 2018-12-16

Vol. 70 (2018)

Towards a new synthesis of the prehistory of Polish lands. Some remarks on “The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the early Middle Ages”

Michał Pawleta

Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

Section: Discussions and Polemics

https://doi.org/10.23858/SA70.2018.017

Abstract

The article discusses recently (2016) published a five-volume synthesis entitled “The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the early Middle Ages”, edited by Przemysław Urbańczyk. It is a long-overdue publication, written by a group of sixty archaeologists, presenting in subsequent chapters the oldest history of Polish lands from the Palaeolithic Era to the Early Middle Ages (1000 AD). Instead of systematic analysis of its scientific content - that due to its extent and abundance of issues it addresses is impossible for one author – this article takes under scrutiny the main initial goals and ideas of this compendium, its theoretical and methodological assumptions along with the proclaimed anthropological and less materialistic approach to the human past as well as its editorial layout. It also addresses the crucial aspect of an accessibility of this publication.

Keywords:

synthesis, the prehistory of Polish lands, new discoveries, the social past, an anthropological approach, theory of archaeology, accessibility

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Pawleta , M. (2018). Towards a new synthesis of the prehistory of Polish lands. Some remarks on “The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the early Middle Ages” . Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 70, 353–373. https://doi.org/10.23858/SA70.2018.017

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