A Few Observations on the Cultural Aspects of 19th Century Polish Archaeology

Abstract

The article identifies and discusses several examples of specific perceptions of archeology developing in the 19th century in constructing and sustaining national identity, especially in the face of the loss of the political subjectivity of the state, which sometimes even resulted in outlining an opposition of discovering, collecting and studying artifacts of native “antiquity” against the dynamically developing Mediterranean archeology (ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome) in Western Europe.