Hensel, Witold

(1917– )

One of the most eminent Polish archaeologists after World War II, Hensel studied prehistory at the University of Poznan under archaeologist józef kostrzewski, historian Kazimierz Tymieniecki, and ethnographer Eugeniusz Frankowski. While still a student, Hensel took part in excavations conducted by Kóstrzewski at biskupin, and he also participated in research on early Polish medieval sites in Gniezno, Klecko, and Poznan.

Hensel was one of the most important initiators of a huge archaeological and historical research project realized in connection with the commemoration of the anniversary of the millennium of the Polish state and the baptism of Prince Mesco I in a.d. 966. In a 1946 article entitled Potrzeba przygotowania wielkiej rocznicy (Need for Preparation of a Great Anniversary), Hensel outlined the main objectives of this research project. He actively participated in the activities of the Management of Studies of the Beginnings of the Polish State, which was changed in 1949 into the Institute of the History of Material Culture, Polish Academy of Sciences. His main scientific interests were focused on the problems of early medieval period, especially issues related to settlement studies, technology, contact, trade and exchange, and the process of creating the proto-classic societies and their transformation into the classic societies of early Piasts. These were western Slavic tribes who united to form small states between a.d. 800 and 960, and came to be ruled by the Piast dynasty, whose descendents ruled greater poland from a.d. 1047 until 1386.

Hensel was one of the founders of Slavonic archaeology, as he created the background that was fundamental for the development of the modern discipline in relation to the previous traditions of Polish archaeology. Additionally, that field of interest was one of the most important areas of contact between archaeologists from the former Soviet Union and the Slavonic former socialist countries. He contributed to the origin of a new journal, Slavia Antiqua, founded chiefly for the sake of these problems, and became its first and longstanding editor. Hensel also was the first director of the Department of Slavonic Archaeology at the University of Warsaw, and he contributed very effectively to the dynamic development of Slavonic archaeology in other Slavonic countries. He was one of the main initiators and organizers of the International Congress of Slavic Archaeology, held in 1965 in Warsaw, and he was elected the first president of an International Union of Slavic Archaeology.

After World War II, Hensel advocated the introduction of Marxist methodology into Polish archaeology. This methodology was to serve as a platform for an integrated archaeology of Poland, including classical archaeology and ethnography within the history of material culture. Hensel was also interested in the periodization of Polish prehistory as he wished to reconcile traditional archaeological chronological divisions with the general divisions of history originated by Friedrich Engels and lewis henry morgan. He devoted a great deal of time to the history of archaeology, and to the methodology of archaeological enquiry, and in the latter area he was to initiate microregional analysis.

Hensel was an active supporter of international cooperation in historical archaeology, and he was an active organizer. In 1953, he became a member of as organizational committee to establish the Institute of the History of Material Culture at the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 1954 to 1989 he was director of the institute, which was the central, largest, and the most important archaeological institution in poland, and under his supervision, the institute became the center for Polish archaeology. His other duties included working at and then becoming director of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Poznan (1945–1954). He was director of the Department of Slavonic Archaeology from 1956 to 1965 and director of the Department of Prehistoric and Early Mediaeval Archaeology at the University of Warsaw from 1965 to 1970.

He is a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences; editor of the archaeological journals Slavia Antiaqua, Archaeologia Polona, Polskie Badania Archeologiczne (Polish Archaeological Research), and Swiatowit; and a member of editorial committees for other Polish and foreign journals. Hensel remains an active member of