Abstract
Nescire autem quid ante natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas homini, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur? (Cicero 46 BC).
This paper deals with essential issues associated with Polish forensic archaeology, ones which are closely linked with recent history. Hence, the vast majority of actions undertaken concern the search for victims of crimes against peace, humanity and war crimes, with a particular focus on crimes committed by the communist regime. Polish forensic archaeology, in terms of the tasks which it faces, differs from the Western European countries, where archaeological methods are used primarily to search for murder victims and the concealed proceeds of crime, as well as to perform visual inspections of mass disaster scenes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This issue was first noted at the First Congress of Polish archaeology, held in Warsaw on 19 September–21 September 2013. In the aftermath of the conference, Archeologia współczesności was published (Warszawa 2016).
- 2.
See Schlachtfeldarchäologie. Battlefield Archaeology, Halle 2009; T. Lynch, J. Cooksey, Battlefield Archaeology, Chalford 2007.
- 3.
See, e.g. A. Kola, Archeologia zbrodni. Oficerowie polscy na cmentarzu ofiar NKWD w Charkowie, Toruń 2005.
- 4.
Archeologia totalitaryzmu. Ślady represji 1939–1956, Łódź 2015.
- 5.
Act of 6 June 1997 – Code of Criminal Procedure, Journal of Laws of 1997 No. 89, item 555, as amended.
- 6.
Guideline No. 1 of the Chief of the Police of 23 July 2015 on the performance of certain intelligence collecting activities by police officers, Dz. Urz. KGP of 2015, item 59, especially Chapter 8, Oględziny miejsca, osoby, rzeczy (Visual inspection of places, persons and items).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Borkowski, T., Trzciński, M. (2018). Interrogating the Ground: An Archaeologist at a Crime Scene. In: Barone, P., Groen, W. (eds) Multidisciplinary Approaches to Forensic Archaeology. Soil Forensics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94397-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94397-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94396-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94397-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)