Sharing Stories: Students’ Experiences in Archaeological Education

Society of Archaeology Students (SAS), in Polish: Koło Naukowe Studentów Archeologii (KNSA), is one of the oldest student societies working within the Institute of Archaeology of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. In recent years SAS began to work in cooperation with other archaeological, historical and educational organisations, as well as with museums and open-air archaeological reservations. Most of our work is focused around building and maintaining the archaeological consciousness in contemporary society – not only through participating in various mass events but also through preparing workshops for people from local communities, as well as through adding archaeological impressions to various museum events and mass outdoor reenactment festivals. Within the current outlook on archaeological methodology, those actions are linked to so-called public archaeology – the concept that is still somewhat new in many areas of archaeological activities in Poland.

The following article concerns strategies that are present in the SAS’ archaeological popularisation initiatives, as well as our reflections and inquiries on the topic of archaeological education in contemporary reality, with its numerous homogenised, standardised or idealised concepts of the past, often mirrored in many historical festivals’ conventions. Through our observations based upon various experiences, we would like to try to determine how the archaeological education and popularisation could be more widely recognised not only as a valuable but rather as an inseparable part of being an archaeolo-gist – university scholar or a field-working one.