Archaeologia Polona

Overcoming the barriers: Jan Żak's involvement in building contacts with German archaeology

Danuta Minta-Tworzowska and Włodzimierz Rączkowski

The paper discusses the problem of building relationships between Poznan and German archaeologies. Jan Żak as Head of Archaeology Chair at Adam Mickiewicz University played a very important role in this process. The contacts and cooperation with German archaeologists which Żak initiated and established at the turn of 1980s were highly relevant to the building new Polish-German relations in the then changing political situation as well his own interest in German archaeology and its methodology. It is emphasized that Żak represented critical attitude to culture-historical archaeology and he looked for discussion partners in Germany (G. Kossack, H. Jankuhn, F. Schlette). Thanks to the contacts initiated by Żak many archaeologists from both countries established new close contacts which are still fruitful.

Keywords: archaeology, methodology of prehistory, Polish-German relations

Language: English