The Chair of Archaeology was established at the Department of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo during the 2008/09 academic year as an expression of the growing need in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society for this discipline—a discipline that in the previous decades had for the most part been the domain of associates from the Department of History, primarily Esad Pašalić, Alojz Benac and Borivoje Čović. Beginning with its first academic year, Dr. Enver Imamović, as the local faculty member, played a key role in the implementation of the teaching process, while some subjects were taught by outside associates—Dr. Boris Kavur (Palaeolithic), Dr. Tihomila Težak-Gregl (Neolithic) and Dr. Boško Marijan (Bronze and Iron Age). Dr. Salmedin Mesihović, at that time a young assistant professor, served as the first head of the Chair. During the 2009/10 academic year, Adnan Kaljanac was employed as the first teaching assistant at the Chair of Archaeology and he took on the task of stabilising the infrastructure of the Chair and developing it as a self-sustainable unit. Also during this academic year, Dr. Ivor Karavanić took over Dr. Boris Kavur’s position. As Dr. Boško Marijan could no longer work as a visiting professor at the Chair, his role was taken over by Dr. Hrvoje Potrebica. Dr. Adnan Busuladžić took over the area of classical archaeology, initially as a visiting lecturer and later as the second faculty member at the Chair. Finally, Dr. Krešimir Filipec took on some of the courses in medieval archaeology, while other medieval archaeology courses were taken on by Dr. Dubravko Lovrenović. In the Fall of 2013, Dr. Adnan Busuladžić became the second full-time employee at the Chair, while Adnan Kaljanac, already a teaching assistant, was employed as an assistant professor after completing his doctoral studies. A few months later, Edin Bujak MA was employed as a teaching assistant and the next year, Dr. Aiša Softić was employed as an assistant professor. In the Fall of 2015, Jesenko Hadžihasanović MA became the final full-time employee at the Chair as a teaching assistant. Over the years, the following individuals have worked at the Chair as visiting associates: Dr. Mirza Hasan Ćeman, Dr. Ćazim Hadžimejlić, Dr. Nermin Sarajlić (Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo), Dr. Asja Mandić, and Dr. Mevlida Operta (Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Sarajevo).
As a unit of the University of Sarajevo, the Chair of Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy has over the years participated either as a partner or primary institution in the implementation of several local and international projects. During the 2010/2011 academic year, staff from the Chair of Archaeology participated in the implementation of a project made possible by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for obtaining archaeological tools for geophysical research and providing scholarships to students. The most significant project, however, was Tempus BIHERIT (BIHERIT TEMPUS 530755-TEMPUS-1-2012-1 BA-TEMPUS-JPCR): from October 2012 to September 2014, work was done to modernise the existing curriculum of the second study cycle for archaeology, to develop heritage studies at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to promote cultural heritage through archaeological research in Đelilovac and Zecovi.
At the beginning of 2013, staff at the Chair of Archaeology began working on the initiative to establish an Institute of Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo which was successfully inaugurated on 31 January 2013. Since then, the Institute has implemented a series of projects researching the archaeological heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which the most significant are: Archaeological preparatory research: Plan for preventive prospecting of archaeological potential at the national heritage site and archaeological area of the prehistoric settlement in Butmir (implemented in October 2016); archaeological research at Vranjače (implemented in August 2017); the second phase of the archaeological project Plan for preventive prospecting of archaeological potential at the national heritage site and archaeological area of the prehistoric settlement in Butmir (implemented in October 2017); and archaeological research at the prehistoric settlement in Ripač and the broader area of Brandža (implemented in June 2017).