Impressed by Austrian laws on the preservation of monuments, the first two positions for keepers of artistic and cultural monuments were created in the Małopolska region in 1853. In 1873 the positivist revolution began; critical of Slavonic archaeology, it was closely linked with Romanticism and the growing interest in the origins of humankind and human culture. Archaeology assumed a naturalist and evolutionist bias, and it became a profession.

In Cracow in 1872, the Society of Friends of Sciences was replaced by the Academy of Learning, a scientific institution whose primary objective was to stimulate the development of many disciplines. At the same time, both the Archaeological and the Anthropological Commissions were set up, which signaled the collapse of a broadly based archaeology. The field was divided into prehistory, anthropology, and ethnography, labeled “anthropological sciences.” A modern program of joint archaeological and anthropological studies was set up by Izydor Kopernicki, secretary of the Anthropological Commission. This commission propagated a positivist evolutionist approach, whereas the Archaeological Commission continued the traditions and historical approach of Romantic archaeology. Fundamental archaeological works by John Lubbock (lord avebury), lewis h. morgan, H. Spencer, and E. B. Taylor were translated into Polish between 1864 and 1898. As a result the typological method originating in evolutionism was introduced, as was the stratigraphic method in excavation, which allowed for the classification of an increasing number of source materials.

In 1873 the first Polish archaeological journal, Wiadomości Archeologiczne (Archaeological News), was founded by private researcher Count Jan Zawisza. It has continued to publish ever since. The end of the nineteenth century was marked by many achievements and the extraordinary activities of a few outstanding prehistorians. Among these was Godfryd Ossowski (1835–1897), who studied the Paleolithic caves near Cracow and Ojców and excavated unique Magdalenian artifacts from the Maszycka Cave near Ojców. Ossowski also studied prehistoric Pomerania, Ukraine, and Volhynia and authored the first written attempts to synthesize the prehistoric cultures of Galicia (1890). Jan Nepomucen Sadowski researched Greek and Roman trade routes, using topographic information to map the extensions of imported goods. Zawisza, owner of the Pradnik Valley, continued to study caves with Paleolithic material. Józef Przyborowski and Zygmunt Gloger studied Mesolithic sandhill deposits.

Attempts to map and inventory prehistoric monuments were undertaken by Sadowski for the Wielkopolska region (in 1877), by Ossowski for the region of Pomerania (between 1880 and 1881), and by Władysław Przybysławski for eastern Galicia (in 1906). Bolesław Erzepki, director of the Museum of the Society of Friends of Sciences in Poznań, made significant contributions in this area. The landed gentry were also significantly involved, an example being Count Albin Wesierski from Wróblewo (in the Wielkopolska region), who was a well-known collector of archaeological artifacts. Activity in the regions centered around the local scientific societies, the most enterprising of which were those in Poznań and in Toruń.

The last decade of the nineteenth century was marked by a slowing down or even a break in what had been a vigorous development of archaeology, primarily due to a generation gap. Both the societies and the archaeological journals were in a state of crisis. Archaeology itself suffered from an identity crisis, trying to find its place between the humanities and natural sciences. Ludwik Krzywicki introduced the distinction between prehistoric archaeology and proto-historic archaeology.

The work and achievements of Erazm Majewski (1858–1922) had a large impact on the development of late-nineteenth-century Polish archaeology. Majewski was interested not only in archaeology but also in ethnography, sociology, economics, and the philosophy of civilization. He was the author of a four-volume work entitled The Science of Civilization (1908–1923), and in 1899 in Warsaw he started publishing the archaeological journal światowit. He also founded his own museum, which quickly assumed a dominant position in Polish archaeology. He gathered around himself a group of