Józef Kostrzewski (25 February 188519 October 1969) was a Polish

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. Kostrzewski was born in Węglewo (now in

Poznań County Poznań County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

). He studied first in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, then from 1910 onwards with Gustaf Kossinna at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and graduated in 1914. Back in Poland, he was to turn Kossinna's settlement-archaeological method (''"Siedlungsarchäologische Methode"'') against its creator and to try to prove a Slavonic autochthonism in Poland from at least the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(

Lusatian culture The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300–500 ) in most of what is now Poland and parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (e ...

) onwards. Kostrzewski became professor of prehistory at the newly founded

University of Poznań A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

in 1919, and from 1934 conducted the excavation of the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement of

Biskupin Biskupin () is an archaeological site and a life-size model of a late Bronze Age fortified settlement in north-central Poland that also serves as an archaeological open-air museum. When first discovered it was thought to be early evidence of a ...

, which he continued after the war. After 1918, Kostrzewski became involved in bitter polemics about the ethnic ascription of the Lusatian and

Pomeranian culture The Pomeranian culture, also Pomeranian or Pomerelian Face Urn culture was an Iron Age culture with origins in parts of the area south of the Baltic Sea (which later became Pomerania, part of northern Germany/Poland), from the 7th century BC ...

s with the German archaeologist Bolko von Richthofen. During the German occupation of Poland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Polish universities and museums were closed, the finds were often transported to Germany, and many scholars were arrested, tortured and detained, or murdered.Materski, Wojciech; Szarota, Tomasz (2009). Polska 1939–1945: straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami (in Polish). Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu; Kostrzewski hid from the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

during the war, but returned to his Poznań chair in 1945. He died in Poznań in 1969, aged 84.

Publications

* Gród prasłowiański w Biskupine w powiecie żnińskim (Poznań 1938). * Kultura prapolska (1947) * with W. Chmielelewski and K. Jażdżewski, Pradzieje Polski (Wrocław 1965)

Publications

References

Further reading