Archaeology of Us and the Local Identity. An Interdisciplinary Context

Abstract

<jats:p>In this paper, the Author presents the semantic and methodological scope and characteristics of a new field the archaeology of the contemporary past. In his opinion the essence of the archaeology of the contemporary past is best conveyed by the term archaeology of us, which refers to the relationships between individuals or communities and their own material heritage. Due to the community and local dimension of archaeology of the contemporary past, an important source in this field is oral tradition, which is obtained and analysed during ethnographic interviews. The author refers to his own experience, gained during many years of research in the Polish Jurassic Highland, and indicates the importance and research effectiveness of incorporating the methodology of ethnographic research into the perspective of archaeology of the contemporary past.</jats:p>

The Former Gestapo Headquarters and the Provincial Office of Public Security in Anstadt Avenue in Łódź Interdisciplinary Site Research

“…The activities undertaken combined ethnographic and archaeological perspectives, oriented towards the study of the recent past. Thus, ethnographic methods were used along with the tools of archaeology of the contemporary past, which, apart from sources typical of historical archaeology, also uses spoken records (González-Ruibal 2014;Zalewska 2016;Krupa-Ławrynowicz, Ławrynowicz 2019a;2019b;Ławrynowicz 2019a;2019b). The aim of the archaeological work was to recognise immovable relics of the former Łódź headquarters of the Gestapo and the communist Provincial Office of Public Security (WUBP) in Łódź, and to identify potential places of burial of victims of Nazi and Stalinist crimes at the site.…”