Józef Kostrzewski (25 February 1885 - 19 October 1969) was a Polish

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

. Kostrzewski was born in Węglewo (now in

Poznań County Poznań County ( pl, powiat poznański) 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 ref ...

). He studied first in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, then from 1910 onwards with Gustaf Kossinna at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

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 is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

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

University of Poznań A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 1919, and from 1934 conducted the excavation of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

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 W ...

, 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 to ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 (), 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 Prussia into one orga ...

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