Cite this as: Oniszczuk, A. 2026 'Pick One – A Model of a Site-Centred Approach to Community Integration Around Local Heritage', Internet Archaeology 72. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.72.10
In order to ensure day-to-day protection of sometimes remote archaeological sites, heritage managers must boost the interest of local communities in heritage that can improve their quality of life and give them a sense of belonging.
The community outreach model proposed in this paper is based on using one chosen site as a focal point for all activities. Explaining heritage-related issues and archaeology through the local perspective brings archaeological heritage closer to the people and integrates community around common values. Remaining local, it can be best suited for the needs of the public.
This model results from participation of Poland’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) in a European Union (EU) project entitled TRIQUETRA - Toolbox for assessing and mitigating Climate Change risks and natural hazards threatening cultural heritage, funded by the EU Higher Education research and innovation programme under GA No. 101094818 in 2023–2025 (Ioannidis 2025).
Corresponding author: Agnieszka Oniszczuk
[email protected]
Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa/National Institute of Cultural Heritage
Figure 1: Aerial view of Smuszewo site 3, Polish pilot site of the TRIQUETRA project, by W. Rączkowski, Adam Mickiewicz University.
Figure 2: The TRIQUETRA project team at the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
Figure 3: Anomalies detected by A. Harding in a gradiometer survey, indicating the spatial layout of Smuszewo site 3 settlement on the background of an aerial photograph (by W. Rączkowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, after Rączkowski et al. 2009, figure 8, p. 90).
Figure 4: Groups of heritage recipients in Poland (aged 18+), determined in a survey from 2021 (Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa 2021, 2).
Figure 5: The cover and some pages of the self-published book ‘Smuszewo – save from oblivion’ by Kinga Biniewska. The book presents a photo archive of the inhabitants, as well as a history of the village and its families.
Figure 6: Posters with press articles on archaeological research in Smuszewo from the 1950s and 1960s at the archaeological picnic in 2024, based on the archives of the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, by A. Makowska, National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID).
Figure 7: Agnieszka Makowska from National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) and Dr Lidia Żuk from Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań during the harvest festival in Damasławek, 2025, by W. Rączkowski, AMU.
Figure 8: Snapshots from the archaeological picnic in Smuszewo in 2024: explaining remote sensing (A, B), hydrology for adults (C) and children (D), touring the Bronze Age settlement (E), underwater archaeology on one poster (F), by A. Makowska, National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID). Researchers in the photos are (from top left): Dr hab. Sławomir Królewicz (Adam Mickiewicz University, AMU), Robert Ryndziewicz (IAiE PAN), Professor Dr hab. Renata Graf (AMU), Dr Lech Kaczmarek (AMU), Dr Ryszard Kaźmierczak (UMK).
Figure 9: Snapshots from the workshops in Smuszewo in 2024: explaining stratigraphy with layered desserts (A) and cake (C), working side by side with the community (B), building Bronze Age structures with crackers and bread sticks (D), by A. Makowska, National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID).
Figure 10: Summary of the proposed approach to local communities, by A. Oniszczuk.
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