Żelazo meteorytowe w starożytnym Egipcie przed okresem późnym

The aim of the article is to present an unusual raw material, which is the meteorite iron and its specific status in the culture of ancient Egypt. The presentation of this extraordinary material, highlighting the features allowing to recognize it, the interpretation of the artifacts made of it (taking into account the physicochemical analyzes), and the development of the results of experimental works recreating the methods of its processing allow us to obtain the necessary information about the delineation of meteorite iron metallurgy in ancient Egypt up to the beginning of the Late Period. An important source for achieving the article’s goal are also texts. Text analysis highlights the ambiguity of the terminology used to describe meteorite iron. By reviewing the contexts of its use, they allow us to enrich knowledge about its metallurgy and help to characterize the status of this metal in the consciousness of the Egyptians.

Przedstawienia grzybów psychoaktywnych w ewidencji archeologicznej i ich interpretacje

There has been a debate regarding substances that cause altered states of consciousness (especially those of a psychedelic nature) that have been intrinsically linked to man since the dawn of time. The question of the beginning of the crystallization of human consciousness intrigues today’s researchers. American writer and ethnobotanist Terence McKenna tangled with such ideas, indeed one of his thoughts contributes to many controversial opinions and theories presented in this work. The stoned ape theory considers psilocybin, the active substance of entheogenic mushrooms, as an element that played an important role in the process of human evolution and contributed to the acceleration of human consciousness. The author of a title theory believes that psychoactive mushrooms, which might have been components of our ancestors’ diet, could also contributed to the development of language and religion. In this paper, an attempt will be made to subject the title theory to criticism with particular discussion of archaeological evidence.

The attitudes of the contemporary Poles towards the archaeological past

This paper aims to present how the past is viewed in contemporary cultural and social narratives, and defines contemporary attitude to the past among Poles. My deliberations are placed in the context of the present-day society/culture and their constituting processes, namely the phenomenon of forgetting the past, democratization of the past, its privatization/individualization, commodification of the past and new ways of experiencing it. The paper will specifically concentrate on the archaeological past - that is the past created by archaeologists, and on archaeological heritage. It address three crucial issues, namely: (1) how changes in the historical context of post-1989 Poland influenced the emergence the renaissance of the past and different narratives about it; (2) what are the most important and widespread forms of presenting and/or experiencing the archaeological past in the present?, and (3) what are the main motivations that lie behind contemporary Poles interest in the past, archaeological heritage and activities undertaken around it? Finally, it is argued that the changes in the people’s attitudes towards the past have led also to a transformation in the hierarchy of aims and methods in education and dissemination of the knowledge about the past within institutions concerned with the past on a professional level.

Próba interpretacji zjawiska rytualnego składania ofiar z ludzi na Słowiańszczyźnie Zachodniej

The subject matter of the article concerns on ritual sacrificial practices related to human sacrifices among the Western Slavs, including the Polish lands and the Polabia region. The chronological range covers the early Middle Ages, from the 7th to the 12th centuries. Considerations on this subject include the review of anthropological and philosophical disciplines research including R. Girard studies in this aspect, an analysis of written sources, and above all the analysis of the occurrence of victims and sacrificial sites from an archaeological perspective. The aim of the study was to identify archaeological remains related to sacrificial rituals by presenting the occurrence of victims and sacrificial sites at selected archaeological sites. The study aims to discuss the issues with interpretations of various aspects of the human sacrifices from the early medival Western Slavdom territory sites. The work is interdisciplinary, as it takes into account and integrates the results of archaeological research, knowledge in the field of history, philosophy and cultural anthropology. The article presents the effectiveness of interdisciplinary methods in expanding analytical and interpretative possibilities of archeology regarding the rituals of sacrifice and sacrificial sites.

Obozowisko łowieckie ludności kultury świderskiej na stanowisku Sulejówek 4, pow. miński, woj. mazowieckie

The paper presents results of an analysis of the assemblage of flint artefacts from the site no. 6 in Sulejówek, Mazovian Voivodeship. The main attention was focused on technological and typological observations. Based on the obtained results, these materials were interpreted as a remnant of a medium-sized hunting camp of the Swiderian community. An important feature of the inventory is the extremely high proportion of relics made of chocolate flint, which was imported from about 150 km.

Ślady produkcyjne na cegłach profilowanych z placu Kolegiackiego w Poznaniu – próba rekonstrukcji dawnej wytwórczości strycharskiej

Medieval profiled bricks from the remains of the city parish church of St. Mary Magdalene in Poznań are a very important source of information about the brickmaking craftsmanship. The study attempts to identify production traces with specific stages of brick production (the process of forming and drying bricks), along with an attempt to reconstruct these operations that were used by the Poznań brickmakers. In addition to the analyzes related to the number of occurrences, the type of research material was defined, the criteria for isolating individual traces were described, the state of knowledge about brickmaking and analogies of fittings found in medieval buildings, mainly in the city of Poznań, were taken into account.

Pottery from the well and its context. Searching for differences and similarities

In this article the pottery obtained from three wells from the settlement in Kwiatków was analyzed. Compared to other sites associated with the Przeworsk culture, this site deserves a special attention due to the presence of over a hundred of artificial water intakes within excavated area. The method of the vessels production, macro and micromorphology characteristics, the degree of their preservation and the level of deposition inside the features were examined in detail. Most of the pottery fragments should be associated with the Przeworsk culture from the Roman Iron Age, however there was also a small percentage of pottery with Jastorf culture elements. The information obtained allowed to define the context of their discovery and to explain its presence inside the well.

Czego oczy nie widzą, tego archeologom żal – nowe metody dokumentacji sztuki naskalnej (RTI, DSTRETCH)

This article presents the cognitive possibilities of the methods of documentation of rock art. It focuses on the latest and relatively recent documentation methods, such as RTI and DStretch. These techniques have been described in terms of the effectiveness of their application to various types of monuments, with particular emphasis on their application to the Franco-Cantabrian rock art. It was also emphasized that these techniques significantly affect the quality of the collected data and the analytical and interpretative level of cave art.

Wczesnośredniowieczne grodzisko w Dusinie, pow. gostyński, woj. wielkopolskie w świetle ponownej analizy archeologicznej

The article presents the results of another archaeological analysis carried out on materials from an early medieval settlement in Dusina in southern Greater Poland. The data obtained during the excavations, during the millennium research, prompted the recognition of the settlement as the oldest motte-type object in Poland. During the verification of the old findings, the ceramic material and the stratigraphic situation were re-analyzed, radiocarbon dating was made, and historical and cartographic data were used to confirm the chronology of the stronghold as well as the course of events that led to severe damage and disturbance of the original appearance of the stronghold. A contour plan and a model of the terrain were also prepared.

Jaka przyszłość czeka muzeum archeologiczne? Dyskusja z tezami zawartymi w książce Moniki Stobieckiej: Natura artefaktu, kultura eksponatu. Projekt krytycznego muzeum archeologicznego

This article is of polemical nature. It discusses main theses of the recently published book by Monika Stobiecka: Natura artefaktu, kultura eksponatu. Projekt krytycznego muzeum archeologicznego (2020). The book presents contemporary archaeology as a very innovative discipline striving for interdisciplinarity and extending beyond traditional research issues and borders. At the same, the authoress postulates a need to reorient archaeology and create a new type of archaeological museum, namely critical museum – “museum of life”.