Archeologia nadmiaru

Podsumowanie wyników badań archeologicznych KL Plaszow z lat 2016–2019

Abstract

­ ARCHAEOLOGY OF EXCESS. A SUMMARY OF THE OUTCOMES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN THE KL PLASZOW IN THE YEARS 2016–2019

During the work on the script for the commemoration of KL Plaszow in the years 2016–2019 an archaeological reconnaissance of the post-camp area was carried out. The aim of this paper is to present a summary of the outcomes of that project, and to reflect more broadly on research in the 20th century. The author describes the work conducted in the area of the former KL Plaszow as a study of archaeology of excess, which is connected with the necessity to clearly specify the field of research in a precise way, and to set it in a wider academic and social context. These deliberations were initiated by Andrzej Brzozowski’s documentary film Archeologia produced in 1967 during pioneer archaeological research conducted at the former concentration camp in Auschwitz. The paper discusses the problems with constructing a coherent definition of archaeology specically dedicated to researching 20th-century relics, as well as its connections with what is referred to as ‘difficult heritage’ and the social understanding thereof. The next part presents the key assumptions of the project in question, and a base of historical sources on KL Plaszow. The author then proceeds to describe all the phases of research, including documentary and inventorial works, field prospection with the use of geophysical survey methods, surface survey, and archaeological excavations. The last part of the paper outlines the analysis of movable artefacts obtained in the course of the project. The remarks presented by the author, apart from classical references to an archaeologist’s surveys, are complemented by observations made from the perspective of a museologist. This discussion is further continued in the final part of the paper which focuses on the issue of the materiality of archaeological sources and their meaning.