The origins of archaeology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University date back to 1946, when the Department of Prehistory was established at the Faculty of Humanities, founded and headed by the eminent early medieval scholar, Professor Roman Jakimowicz. Until 1950, the Department also employed Dr. Helena Cehak-Hołubowicz and Dr. Włodzimierz Hołubowicz, the first doctor of archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University.
In 1952, the Department of Prehistory was renamed the Department of Polish and Universal Archaeology, where Dr. Kazimierz Żurowski lectured. In 1962, the Department of Archaeology was granted the right to educate archaeologists – between 1966 and 1968, two cohorts graduated (13 alumni).
In 1976, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography was established, comprising two departments: Archaeology and Ethnography. K. Żurowski served as its first director from 1976 to 1979. In 1994, when the Department of Ethnography was renamed the Department of Ethnology, the institute’s name changed to Archaeology and Ethnology. In January 2003, following the establishment of the Department of Ethnology, it was renamed the Institute of Archaeology.
Until 2019, the Institute of Archaeology included eight departments: the Department of the Old and Middle Stone Age, the Younger Stone Age, the Bronze and Iron Age, Ancient Archaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology, Late Medieval and Modern Archaeology, Architectural Archaeology, and Underwater Archaeology. It also housed five laboratories: Reconstruction of the Natural Environment, Traceology, Documentation and Conservation, Computer Methods, and Scientific-Technical Methods.
Since 1 October 2019, the Institute of Archaeology of the Faculty of Historical Sciences of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń has comprised four departments: the Department of Environmental Archaeology and Human Paleoecology, the Department of Prehistory, the Department of Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, the Department of the Middle Ages and the Modern Period. It now boasts three laboratories: the Laboratory of Documentation, Conservation of the Collection of Archaeological Monuments, the Bioarchaeology Laboratory, and the Traceology Laboratory.
