A Few Remarks on the Chronology and Periodization in Archaeology

Abstract

The issue of chronology and periodization has been a concern not only for the world of Polish archaeology, and it has never ceased to be a current problem. Both of these terms are generally interchangeable and refer mainly to the chronology, or strictly dating the prehistory sequence, for which there are no written records in which we would have absolute dates of particular events. The range of chronological issues was synthetically presented in the entry “Chronology (Chronologie)” in volumes of “Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde”. The achievement made by Ch. J. Thomson, in the form of distinguishing three-age system, was the first attempt to divide the prehistory, not only according to the time sequence, but to show the changes in the culture depiction and thus the periodization of history. However, this technological and raw material criterion is undermined. In Polish archaeological literature the three-age system became the subject of lively discussion in the post-war years, which was linked with ideological changes. At present, these attempts should be made again from the periodization of particular elements of culture, and at a later stage an attempt to synchronize the obtained effects should be made and construct an overall picture of the periodization of prehistory and culture of prehistoric societies.