PhD candidates: Kamil Niemczak, MA
Joanna Szymczak, MA
Adam Budziszewski, MA
Ana Davitashvili, MA
Olha Synkovska, MA
Bioarchaeology is an integral part of archaeological research, especially helpful in reconstructing the relationship between man and the environment throughout history. In our department we conduct research and teach in the field of archaeozoology, anthropology and archaeobotany. We analyse animal, human and plant remains reconstructing the economy, living conditions, diet, health or origin of people, animals and plants, as well as the environment, trade, intercultural contacts and issues related to cult and religion. We cooperate with many archaeological missions in Poland and abroad, in Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT: Classical archaeology as a separate scientific discipline was a relative latecomer at the University of Warsaw. It was established in 1930 when Professor Kazimierz Michałowski moved to the capital. Poland already had established Departments of Classical Archaeology—at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków since 1897 and the University of Lviv since 1905—but teaching archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean cultures started to be institutionalized in Warsaw at a much earlier date. The first classes devoted to the ancient Greeks and Romans were offered already at the Royal University of Warsaw (1816–1831), with students of classical philology attending lectures on topics dealing with numismatics, epigraphy, ancient architecture and art, the topography of Rome, and public life of people in the Mediterranean world all through the 19th century. Interest in classical archaeology did not wane despite a complicated political situation and the university’s intermittent operation status. Teaching of ancient Greek and Roman history and material culture continued at the Main School, the Imperial University of Warsaw, and at the University of Warsaw once it was revived in 1915.
Rich didactic collections of antiquities, numismatics, engravings, drawings and architectural models, continuously added to by the professors from the founding of the university until the outbreak of World War II, played an important role in shaping classical archaeology as a discipline at the University. The Cabinet of Gypsum Models led the field in spreading knowledge about past cultures among students as well as residents of Warsaw. Its collection of casts of the most famous antique sculptures was presented in the Column Hall of the once museum building (now the History Faculty), supplemented with a library stocked extensively with books and slides used during classes (now in the Library of the Faculty of Archaeology). Also of great importance in sustaining interest in the study of past cultures was the Archaeological Cabinet, formed of the Numismatic Cabinet and the Museum of Antiquities in 1871.
The idea for a Department of Archaeology at the university was conceived in 1865, but it was not until 1930 that the unit was actually established. The Chair of Classical Archaeology (organized as a Department) officially began functioning in 1931 with Dr. Kazimierz Michalowski, already making a name for himself in the field, as its first head. Michałowski initiated the first Polish archaeological field research in the Mediterranean. The outbreak of World War II put a stop to the Department’s development.
Years later, a Department of Classical Archaeology was reinstated in the structure of the University’s Faculty of Archaeology, called up by decision of the Council on 25 November 2020 and operational from 1 March 2021. Its staff comprises specialists dealing with various aspects of classical culture from material culture to art to spiritual culture.
The Department brings together field archaeologists, epigraphers, numismatists, specialists in classical art and material culture. Research focuses on ancient Greece and Rome in its core territories as well as peripheries subject to Greek and Roman influence. The Department’s staff conducts excavations abroad and participates in Polish and foreign research projects, including European Union programs.
Teaching is an important part of the Department’s program, including student internships, exchanges under the Erasmus program for both staff and students, scientific supervision of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses.
The Department effectively offers a broad spectrum of research, often of cardinal importance for a better understanding of classical cultures.
Research results are published in Polish and foreign journals and the proceedings of international and national conferences. Hitherto they have often led to a revision of standing hypotheses and to new discoveries that have significantly changed current views on many aspects of ancient cultures.
Novae (Bulgaria) – near the city of Svištov, research since 1960. Fortress of the VIII Augusta and I Italica legions, late antique and medieval city. Most important discoveries: Flavian legionary bathhouse, army hospital (valetudinarium), timber-and-earth barracks of the first cohort of the VIII Augusta legion, House of the Centurion of the first cohort of the I Italica legion, marble head of the emperor Maximinus Thrax, marble statue of a nymph from the legionary bathhouse, inscription confirming the damnatio memoriae of the I Italica legion. Thousands of small finds of ancient art and material culture.
Rhizon (Montenegro) – modern Risan, investigations since 2001. Bronze Age settlement; Illyrian, Roman, medieval city; Ottoman and Venetian fortress. Most important discoveries: Largest known Hellenistic hoard of coins struck for an Illyrian king Ballaeus, gold ring with a representation of Artemis, figurine of Sylenus, plaque with a representation of a Maenad (copy of artwork by Callimachos), store of Hellenistic amphorae, Hellenistic bathhouse, first known Illyrian palatial complex, remains of a temple of an Illyrian deity Medaurus, Greek inscription with the name of Medaurus, new Roman mosaic.
Scodra (Albania) – modern Shkodra, research since 2011. Capital of Illyria, Ottoman and Venetian fortress. Most important discoveries: coins from the First Crusade, one of the earliest Christian churches and a Turkish hammam discovered for the first time in Albanian territory – sets of Turkish vessels and Venetian majolica, hoard of Dubrovnik coins.
Bushat (Albania) – ancient name unknown – investigations since 2018. Bronze Age settlement, unknown Illyrian city. Most important discoveries: fragments of monumental fortifications, more than 3 m wide, two city gates.
DCIM100MEDIADJI_0159.JPG
Tanais (Russia) – Greek colony; chronology: 3rd century BCE–5th century CE. Archaeological research in Tanais started in 1853. The University of Warsaw expedition initiated investigations in 1995, first in the area of the western necropolis, then, from 1999, in trench XXV located in the western part of the city of Tanais. 20 seasons of fieldwork have resulted in the discovery and clearing of a section of the fortification and inner city architecture, most importantly a fragment of a defensive ditch and a wooden-and-stone bridge—a unique structure unparalleled in the ancient world—crossing it to the city gate. The stone wall defenses included a proteichisma and a city gate. Investigations of the inner town revealed architecture and a grid of streets, also yielding (in the last few seasons of fieldwork) proof of a rebuilding in the 1st century CE; this information has led to a revision of earlier ideas about the effective destruction of the town by the Bosporus king Polemon I in the end of the 1st century BCE.
Konsulovskoje (Ukraine) – late Scythian stronghold; chronology: 1st century BCE–2nd century CE. First described in 1867 by A.P. Chirkov, member of the Odessa Society of Lovers of History and Antiquities. A more detailed description with a topographic plan was produced by W.I. Goszkiewicz, who carried out the first archaeological excavations at the site in 1913. Goszkiewicz uncovered a section of a stone defense wall about 19 m long, but his report was not detailed enough to be used in further research. Archaeologists from the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Soviet Union’s Academy of Sciences surveyed the stronghold in the middle of the 20th century and excavated four trial trenches. Surveys and excavations were carried out next in the 1970s through 1990s by N.A. Gavryljuk and M.P. Olenkowski. In 2014, archaeologists from the Museum Preserve “Chortyca” tested the site, uncovering remains of residential stone architecture and fortifications. The first field season of the joint Ukrainian–Polish archaeological expedition took place in 2015 and the work has continued through today. So far the team has uncovered a citadel and the main part of the site, including some houses. The fortifications were constructed in the emplekton technique using broken limestone with a core of stone rubble bonded with tamped clay. The wall in the main part of the stronghold was flanked by stone towers. Another tower defended the gate leading into the citadel.
GRANTS:
Prof. dr hab. Piotr Dyczek (full professor): Novae. Legionary camp and late antique town–continuation of research. Barracks of the first cohort of the VIII Augusta and I Italica legions. Research program aimed at establishing the plan and layout of barracks of the VIII Augusta and I Italica legions (most probably first cohort) in the scamnum located east of the principia in Novae and establishing the plan of the later civil settlement in this part of the fort.
Dr hab. Renata Ciołek (university professor): Sensational coin hoard from Risan (Montenegro). Research on the “Dark Ages” in Illyria, grant no. 2012/05/B/HS3/03765
Funding: NCN OPUS-3 program
Institution: University of Warsaw; Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Center, Start date: 2013-01-29, End date: 2017-10-28
Dr hab. prof. UW Renata Ciołek (university professor): Circulation of coins in Moesia and Illyria. Case study on finds from Novae (Bulgaria) and Risan (Montenegro)
Grant: 2016/21/B/HS3/00021
Funding: NCN OPUS-11 program
Institution: University of Warsaw; Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Center, Start date: 2017-01-04 End date: 2022-01-03 Completed
Dr Marcin Matera: NCN: OPUS 11: Hellenistic architecture in Tanais: fortifications and adjacent urban area. Continuation of research, completed in 2020 (2016/21/B/HS3/03423)
Dr hab. Hubert Kowalski: NPRH grant: Reconstruction and exposition of fragments of Vasa residences discovered at the bottom of the Vistula River. Recovered national heritage within the frame of interdisciplinary investigations of the river bottom, PI,
Project: 11H 13 0031 82
Funding: 700.000 PLN
Status: completed
Dr hab. Hubert Kowalski: NPRH grant, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education: Reconstruction and study of scientific collections of the Zoological Cabinet of the University of Warsaw. From the 18th century Musaeum Polonicum to the National Nature Museum, PI
Project: 11H 18 0038 87
Funding: 1 445 142 PLN
Status: Start date 1.09.2020 – in progress
European programs
– Culture 2000 – investigations of the Roman limes, inscription of the Antonine Wall on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
– Tempus IV – launching in Albania and Kosovo a new teaching course on World Cultural Heritage, focused on the Balkans.
– EuroTech – development of conservation and documentation techniques for endangered archeological artifacts.
– PICASP – launching in countries around the Caspian Sea research and studies on their Cultural Heritage, teaching new documentation techniques and archaeological research.
About us:
Prof. dr hab. Piotr Dyczek (full professor)– director of the Department of Classical Archaeology
Specialization:
Aegean, Classical, Limes and Illyrian archaeology. Interdisciplinary research, ceramic studies, various aspects of spiritual life, material culture and provincial Roman art. Archaeological fieldwork methodology and techniques. Implementation of Polish and European research programs; member of scientific committees, among others: LRCW, CRPA, Roman Frontier Studies; scientific journals, among others, Oppidum, Iliria, Fervet Opus, corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, corresponding member of DAI, Commission on Archaeology of Mediterranean Countries of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Scientific Councils of the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures and the State Ethnographic Museum.
dr hab. Renata Ciołek (university professor)
Specialization:
Roman, Greek and Illyrian numismatics, finds of ancient coins in the Mediterranean and Barbaricum, coin circulation in Moesia and Thrace, Illyrian minting, research grants concerning monetary circulation in Moesia, Thrace and Illyria, member of the Organizing Committee of the International Numismatic Congress, scholarship holder of, among others, DAAD, Lanckoroński Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Foundation for Polish Science
Dr Marzena Łuszczewska
Specialization:
Archaeology of ancient Rome, imperial propaganda in Roman official and private art, material culture of antiquity, stone artifacts, architectural decoration
Dr Marcin Matera
Specialization:
Greek ceramic epigraphy, amphora studies, archaeology of the Black Sea littoral, cultural interactions on the fringes of the Greek oikumene, Greek colonization, material culture of antiquity, ancient poliorcetics, archaeological fieldwork techniques. Member of the Commission on Archaeology of Mediterranean Countries of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
Specialization: contextual and interdisciplinary study of the visual arts in Classical Antiquity, ancient mosaic art in particular.
Work methods: interdisciplinary, micro-historical and cognitive. University of Warsaw and Sorbonne graduate. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowtwice. Membership in international scientific and administrative committees: journals, congresses and workshops: AIEMA, ‘Antioch Mosaics : Current Stand and Perspectives’, Bull.AIEMA, JMR, De Medio Aevo, Eikón Imago; UNESCO expert (saving the archaeological heritage of Syria), associate member of ASOR and ASCSA. Recent lectures in Padua, Paris and Thessaloniki. Currently research on Syrian mosaics in cooperation with the DGMA. Author of several dozen scientific discoveries, most recently identification of eight sundials on ancient mosaics, circumstances of discovery, date, founders and royal “benefactors” of the complex, establishing and development of one of the most important urban centers of antiquity in the Near East, Apamea on the Orontes, then the discovery of a representation of the oldest waterwheel (noria), discovery based on an antithesis, commonly used in antiquity, to confirm a research hypothesis that the mosaic from the House of Aion in Cyprus is a pictorial anti-Christian polemic.
Dr hab. Dariusz Szeląg
Teaching, academic year 2020/21:
– The little stabilization. Syria and Anatolia in the Iron Age before the Assyrian conquest, support classes, 30 hours (Semester I)
– Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, BA seminar, 60 hours (Semesters I/II)
– History and culture of Babylonia in the first millennium BCE, institute-wide lecture, 60 hours (Semesters I/II)
– Archaeology of the Near East, MA seminar, run together with Dr hab. K. Jakubiak, 30 hours (Semesters I/II)
– Implementation classes, 30 hours (Semester II)
Textiles accompany us throughout life, from swaddling clothes to funerary shrouds, flexible and accessible materials through which we express gender, age, and status. As a techno-complex, textile crafts predate metallurgy and even pottery. European history and identity is shaped by this materiality and technology, and its manifestations in terminology, iconography and symbolism have an impact on the history and archaeology of Europe.
It is by no means a coincidence that the industrial revolution was sparked by the textile industries, changing European landscapes and speeding up production of this extremely time-consuming craft. Consequently, textiles became universal media of communication, exchange, and identity creation across epochs, cultures, social classes, technologies, markets, and genders. They bring people, bodies, and objects together, more than any other media or material.
The topic of textiles is universal. It comprises theoretical as well as material studies and scientific analyses. But the current approaches for understanding and appreciating textiles in European history do not respond well to the rational, linear treatments applied to other technical problems in science.
There are a number of challenges in textile research and as many ways of resolving them – each approached differently by the various stakeholders involved. EuroWeb seeks to challenge national and mono-disciplinary approaches which have dominated our understanding of textiles. It not only envisages collaborations among the traditional disciplines of history, philology, art history, archaeology, ethnology, and anthropology but also builds bridges between crafts practitioners, museum curators, designers, and artisans.
EuroWeb therefore delivers interdisciplinary, intersectoral research and training for a new generation of ECIs as members of an imaginative and innovative network. Textiles are a fundamental component of European material culture, which gives EuroWeb remarkable potential for outreach and knowledge sharing with all parts of society and with all parts of Europe, including the ITC. The scientific goal is to co-create a new textile-based interpretation of European history centred on sustainability, training the next generation of scholars with the interdisciplinary skills needed to address new fields of knowledge.
EuroWeb explores the whole geographical area of Europe. The chronological frame stretches from prehistory and into Industrialisation and the globalised textile trade. Major technological textile innovations came with new loom types c. 6000 BCE, with the exploitation of wool c. 3000 BCE, the invention of the spinning wheel 1300 CE, and the mechanisation of textile processes in the 18th century CE during the industrial revolution, which profoundly changed Europe and had a global impact. Textiles are not just clothing and furnishings but are also sails and sacks – used for transportation, storage and other domestic necessities. EuroWeb aims to investigate the cultural and socio-economic impact of textile production on agriculture, animal husbandry and the environment, and its role in craft organisation and production, in trade and communication, and in the construction of gender and individual and collective identities.
Multidisciplinary microregional studies of the Middle Palaeolithic in the south-western Chatkal Range (western Tian Shan piedmonts, Uzbekistan); NCN OPUS; 2017/25/B/HS3/00520, (PI: prof. dr hab. Karol Szymczak)
Three human species in Middle Upper Palaeolithic of Central Asia- an archaeological perspective; NCN OPUS; 2011/03/B/HS3/00473, (PI: prof. dr hab. Karol Szymczak)
Settlement of the Sąspow Valley from Palaeolithic up to Modern times- elaboration of the unpublished fielwork results of prof. Waldemar Chmielewski ; NCN SONATA BIS; 2016/22/E/HS3/00486, (PI: dr hab. Małgorzata Kot)
Scar pattern analysis method. Testing the procedures. NCN SONATA; 2016/21/D/HS3/02665, (PI: dr hab. Małgorzata Kot)
Environment and climate reconstruction in Central Italy between Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Testing direct radiometric dating method on the small mammal bones from Grotta della Ferrovia; NCN MINIATURA-4; 2020/04/X/ST10/01659, (PI: dr hab. Claudio Berto)
recently conducted fieldworks:
Middle Palaeolithic open-air site of Zwoleń near Radom
Kuksaray 2 – Middle Palaeolithic loess open-air site located in the western foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains, Angren district (Uzbekistan)
Kyzyl Dara – high-altitude site with rock engravings located in the western foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains (Uzbekistan)
Excavations in cave sites located in the western foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains (Uzbekistan)
Pod Oknem Cave (Wisieluch) near Kroczyce, Zawiercie County – Upper Palaeolithic site located in the northern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland.
Getahovit 2 – Upper Palaeolithic, Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic cave campsite in the Tavush region, Northern Armenia.
Szczepanki (Masuria) – peat-bog site of hunter-gatherers
Dudka (Masuria) – cemetery and campsites of hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age
PhD students: Jakub Artemiuk
Marina Filatova
Robert Janiszewski
Vital Sidarovich
Grants coordinator: dr hab. Arkadiusz Dymowski
About the Department: The Department of Numismatics and Museology evolved from the Department of Contacts of the Mediterranean World with Barbaricum, a division of the former Institute of Archaeology UW, with some welcome additions made to our academic staff. The Department specializes in ancient and barbarian numismatics (Photo 1), particularly in the analysis of monetary phenomena and their interpretation, archaeology of the Migration Period in East-Central Europe (Photo 2), museology, and problems of archaeological conservation, monuments protection and cultural heritage management. An important aspect of our research are contacts of the Classical World with communities in the Babaricum, and in particular the broader issue of Roman imports (Photo 3). We publish our findings in successive tomes of the series Corpus der Römischen Funde in Europäischen Barbaricum-Polen with supplements. Another key speciality of our Department are digital numismatics and archaeology (see https://coindb-prod.ocean.icm.edu.pl/AFE_PL/, https://rgcb.lach.uw.edu.pl).
Moneta barbarzyńska grupy Ulów z połowy III w. po Chr., zachodnia Ukraina (fot. 1)
Depozyt z Suchania, pow. stargardzki z Okresu Wędrówek Ludów (fot. 2)
Skarb denarów i srebrnych naczyń z Boroczyc na Wołyniu (fot. 3)
Our recent major achievement was organising the XVI International Numismatic Congress held in the Central Campus of the University of Warsaw in September 2022 (Photo 4), with an attendance of 650 (https://inc2022.pl/). We are currently preparing the conference proceedings for publication by Brepols Publishers in 2024. Organisation of the Congress and publication of conference proceedings was financed from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland grant ‘Excellence Science’.
XVI International Numismatic Congress. Opening ceremony in the historic Auditorium Maximum building, University of Warsaw, Poland (Photo 4)
Archaeological fieldwork: Ten seasons of excavations were conducted by the team of dr hab. Roksana Chowaniec at Akrai (Latin Acrae) a Greek and Roman site in Sicily, located on SW margin of the modern town of Palazzolo Acreide, in a hill in the Hyblean Mountains in what has been the first ever dig run in Italy by Polish mission (Photo 5).
Bird’s-eye view of ancient Akrai, current Palazzolo Acreide, Sicily (Photo 5)
A three-years’ multidisciplinary study financed from the Polish National Science Centre grant ‘Maestro’ of the Hanging Cave, an important late Migration Period site in the Polish Jura at Kroczyce-Okupne, 80 km north of Cracow (Photo 6).
Artefacts from the Hanging Cave in the Polish Jura (Photo 6)
After a 12-years’ break caused by the civil war in Libya archaeological fieldwork was resumed in 2022 in Ptolemais. This large Greek port city was established in the 3rd century BC in Cyrenaica in the eastern region of Libya. In late AD 3rd century it became the capital of the Roman province of Libya Superior. The Polish dig in Ptolemais was initiated in 2001 by Professor Tomasz Mikocki (1954–2007) world class art historian and recognized classical archaeologist. A major highlight of the University of Warsaw dig was the discovery of the House of Leukaktios (3rd c. AD) richly decorated with mosaics and polychrome wall paintings (Photo 7). In 2006 a hoard of Roman coins (tpq = AD 262) was unearthed in the neighbourhood. The Head of the Polish Archaeological Mission to Ptolemais is dr Piotr Jaworski.
House of Leukaktios in Ptolemais, Libya (Photo M. Bogacki, Photo 7)
Aleksander Bursche (Project leader), Jakub Artemiuk (PhD student, grantee)
Scientific, legal and practical aspects of archaeological heritage protection in Poland after 1989, a comparative approach;
Implementation: 2022-2026, NCN, Preludium Bis 3 nr 2021/43/O/HS3/01186
The aim of the project is to verify whether the archaeological heritage protection system established in Poland after 1989 serves the research tasks of archaeology, ensures effective protection of archaeological heritage, encourages reporting new archaeological finds to the authorities and prevents crimes against archaeological monuments. An analysis of the solutions adopted for the protection and registration of archaeological monuments in selected countries (Denmark, England and Wales, Belgium, Italy, Romania) will also be made as a part of conducted research.
Barbarian fakers. Manufacturing and use of counterfeit Roman Imperial denarii in East-Central Europe in antiquity (Barbarzyńscy fałszerze. Wytwarzanie i użytkowanie fałszywych denarów rzymskich z okresu cesarstwa w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej w starożytności)
Implementation: 2019-2024, NCN nr 2018/31/B/HS3/00137
The project addresses the phenomenon of manufacture and use of fake Roman denarii of the first-second centuries AD in East-Central Europe in Antiquity. Recent years have brought a landslide of new finds of these coins, particularly in Eastern Europe, both silver-plated denarii (subaerati), and copies, cast from base metal alloy, but also from alloys with a high silver content, (flati). Until recently the territory of the Roman Empire was viewed as the only centre of production of these coins. However there is no longer any doubt that fake coins were manufactured on a mass scale also on the barbarian territory. This was confirmed in a most spectacular manner by recent discoveries of ancient counterfeiting workshops in our part of Europe. One of the project tasks was non-destructive analysis of coins recovered in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus manufactured in barbarian workshops, the first interdisciplinary study of the production and use of fake Roman coins outside the Greek and Roman world.
Piotr Jaworski (Project leader), Szymon Jellonek (researcher, post-doc)
Coin circulation in the Byzantine and Umayyad Marea/North Hawwariya: studies in the monetary economy of Mareotis region in the hinterland of Alexandria. (Obieg monetarny w bizantyńskiej i umajjadzkiej Marei/Północnej Hawwariji: badania nad gospodarką pieniężną regionu Mareotis na zapleczu Aleksandrii),
Implementation: 2021-2025, NCN OPUS 20, nr 2020/39/B/HS3/03102
Marea/Philoxenite (Northern Hawwariya in Egypt) is an archaeological site approximately 40 km west of Alexandria, on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis. The city experienced a ‘Golden Age’ during the Byzantine period after the emergence of a Christian pilgrimage centre at the nearby Abu Mena. Marea/Philoxenite a large urban centre with an impressive layout presumably owes its existence to its position on pilgrim traffic between Alexandria and Abu Mena Since 2000, comprehensive archaeological research at Marea has been conducted by the University of Warsaw in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum in Krakow, which yielded ca. 8,500 coins. This assemblage collected on a single site from well-understood archaeological contexts can be used in future to recognize the monetary circulation in a large Byzantine city in the hinterland of Alexandria.
Szymon Jellonek (Leader)
Circulation of Late Antique coins in Novae
Small Grant CRAC X
The focus of the project is the nature of the supply and circulation of coins in Late Antique Novae in the Roman province of Moesia Secunda (now Bulgaria) – a military frontier town. Two assemblages of coins will be examined, one recovered from the town centre and one from its margin (‘annex’, the site of a former necropolis) to identify possible differences. The finds derive from recent excavation seasons of the Faculty of Archaeology Expedition led by dr hab. Agnieszka Tomas.
The area described as ‘annex’ in our research was excavated between 2017 and 2021 uncovering the remains of Late Antique structures built on the site of an earlier cemetery. This makes the Late Antique coins an assemblage distinct from the coin finds assemblage of finds from the period of the Principate. While the necropolis has been published (Tomas et al. 2020), the Late Antique phase of this site is currently under analysis. In 2021 fieldwork moved to the site of the retentura, in immediate vicinity of the headquarters (principia). During the most recent seasons Late Antique layers were uncovered corresponding in their chronology to the phases of the ‘annex’.
Kyrylo Myzgin (Project leader)
The neural network of solidi. Contacts between Romano-Byzantine and barbarian worlds in the light of die-linked gold coins found in Europe and Central Asia (Neuronowa sieć solidów. Kontakty pomiędzy światem rzymsko-bizantyńskim i barbarzyńskim w świetle połączeń stempli złotych monet znalezionych w Europie i w Azji Środkowej)
Implementation: 2021-2024, NCN nr 2020/39/B/HS3/01513
Our goal is obtaining new data about political contacts between Romans and Barbarians, and among barbarians themselves, between the 4th and 6th century through the study of the chronology, directions and reasons of the influx of gold coins to the territories beyond the Roman limes, and their redistribution within the Barbaricum. In this respect die-link studies offer a huge potential helping to recognize migration routes of individual coins or their groups. The traditional visual method of die-link analysis using human eyesight is labour intensive and we hope to train Artificial Intelligence to recognize the patterns on coins (deep learning). Our Artificial Intelligence Coin Network (AICN) software will use a convolutional neural network for visual recognition of coin die patterns and links between them.
Vital Sidarovich (researcher)
Understanding a deluge of silver: the Paharelshchyna hoard and the beginnings of the silver flow from central Asia to northern Europe (Zrozumienie “potopu” srebra: Skarb z Paharelshchyny i początki napływu srebra ze środkowej Azji do północnej Europy)
Implementation: 2023-2024, John Fell Fund, University of Oxford
The project will analyse the Paharelshchyna Hoard discovered in north-western Belarus containing 1800+ Arabic dirhams and silver scrap, including a fragment of a currency bar attributed to the Balt environment. The hoard was stolen in 1997 from the Museum of the Belarusian State University History Faculty in Minsk. Most of the coins from the hoard later turned up on auctions across Europe, and some of them passed to public museum collections in Stockholm and Tübingen. A monograph of the Paharelshchyna Hoard will be published in 2024.
Vital Sidarovich (Leader)
Finds of coins of Bithynia from the eastern Barbaricum
Small Grant CRAC IX
The focus of the project research are coins of Bithynia found in Lithuania and Belarus. While Bithynian coins have been interpreted as Gothic war trophies some area recorded outside the territory identified with Gothic cultures, including the territory of modern Lithuania and north-western Belarus inhabited in the Roman Period by Balt communities.
Anna Zapolska (Leader)
Die Gräber mit römischen Münzen aus dem Gräberfeld der Dollkeim-Kovrovo Kultur in ehem. Grebieten
(Groby z monetami rzymskimi z cmentarzyska kultury Dollkeim-Kovrovo w dawnym
The aim of the project is analysis of grave inventories with Roman coins excavated on the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture cemetery at former Grebieten. After Bolshoe Isakovo (fmr. Lauth) the Grebieten is the cemetery with the largest number of Roman coin finds recorded in the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture. The grave assemblages in which the coins occurred will be analyzed using archival data, surviving coins and other archaeological objects, and the published record. In addition to a chronological and strictly archaeological analysis, an attempt will be made to determine the function and role of coins and bronzes in the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture in relation to other West Balt cultures (Western Lithuanian Stone-Circle Graves culture, Bogaczewo culture), and the role of bronze (including Roman coins) in the formation of local West Balt elites.
The present Department was created in 2020 from two other departments in the former Insitutute of Archaeology UW: Department of Archaeology of Ancient Europe and Department of Archaeology of the Roman Provinces.
The department employees specialize in the archeology of barbarian Europe from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages (2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium AD) and in the archeology of Roman provinces (2nd century BC – 6th century AD), with particular emphasis on the European part of the Roman Empire and frontier (limes) studies, as well as the issues related to Roman army. An important aspect of the research conducted by the staff of the department is the mutual relations between the barbarian and Roman world, including military, trade and diplomatic relations.
S-claps – a typical element of women’s garment in northern Poland in the first centuries AD (Nowy Łowicz). Photo I. Łukajniuk.
The current research on Barbaricum concerns mainly various aspects of the material and spiritual culture of the Baltic and Germanic peoples, including burial rituals, settlement structures, weapons and methods of fighting, the ancient “fashion” and interregional contacts.
Reconstruction of part of the elite burial inventory from northern Mazovia (Zgliczyn Pobodze). Photo M. Bogacki.
A great part of our research focuses on the archival archeology, which aims to restore the scientific circulation of “forgotten” sources, often scattered during World War II.
The field research focuses on the area of northern Poland and includes sites with various characteristics: cemeteries, settlements and ceremonial sites.
Novae 2012. The view on the central part of the site from south-east before the creation of the Archaeological Park (phot. M. Pisz)
The research on the Roman frontier and Roman army is realised through the excavations in Novae – a Roman legionary fortress and a late Roman town in today’s northern Bulgaria. It is the site with the longest history of Polish research abroad, where Polish archaeologists have been excavating continuously since 1960.
Novae 2018. Fibula type Riha 6.3 found in the area of the annex (phot. A. Tomas)
The research in recent years has focused on recognizing the chronology of the least explored part of the site, the so-called late antique annex – the area included in the fortress at the end of the 3rd century.
Novae 2018. A set of vessels found in one of the graves in the eastern necropolis (phot. A. Tomas)
Thanks to non-invasive and then excavation research, it was possible to conclude that there was a previously unknown civilian-military necropolis in this place, functioning at least until the 1960s.
Since 2021, we’ve started excavations in the center of the legionary camp, at the rear of the legion’s headquarters building. Similarly to other Roman legionary camps, there should be buildings very important for the functioning of the unit.
Over the last decade, employees and doctoral students associated with the Department have also carried out research projects in other positions related to the Roman army – in Herzegovina (Tomasz Dziurdzik at Ljubuški, Roman Dalmatia,) and Romania (Emil Jęczmienowski at Pojejena, Roman Dacia).
An important part of the research on the Roman army is also the non-excavation research project, the aim of which is to recreate the appearance of the building of the headquarters of the camp (principia) in Novae and its decoration, in particular the statues and altars that adorned both the temple of banners and the courtyard of the building. More on that project you can find here.
Excavations:
Poland
Czerwony Dwór, site XXI, commune Kowale Oleckie, voivodeship warmińsko-mazurskie. A cremation cemetery of the Sudovian culture. https://czerwonydwor.edu.pl
Nowy Łowicz, site 2, commune Kalisz Pomorski, voivodeship zachodniopomorskie. The barrow cemetery of the Lusatian and Wielbark cultures (in cooperation with the Museum in Koszalin). https://www.archeologia.uw.edu.pl/nowy-lowicz-cmentarzyska-i-osady/
53°20′57″N 15°46′29″E
Lake Lubanowo, commune Banie, voivodeship zachodniopomorskie. Sacrificial site from the Roman Period and early Middle Ages (research in cooperation with the Department for Underwater Archaeology, University of Warsaw). 53°07′46″N 14°36′44″E
Zgliczyn Pobodzy, site 8 and 9, commune Bieżuń, voivodeship mazowieckie. A settlement and a cemetery from the pre-Roman, Roman and Migration Periods.
Abroad
Novae (today Svishtov, northern Bulgaria). Legionary camp and late Roman town (1st-6th century AD). Research conducted in cooperation with the National Institute of Archeology and the Museum of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia.
Grants:
English translation of the book by Bartosz Kontny, “Archeology of War. Studies on the armament of barbaric Europe in the Roman and Migration Periods”. NPRH grant no. BPM.WPH.62.45.2020.SS.
Dąbek, site 9. A Cemetery of the Przeworsk and Wielbark cultures in northern Mazovia. Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (program Protection of archaeological monuments). Facebook information pageFacebook
Extramural settlement near the Roman legionary fortress at Novae (Lower Moesia) and its fate in Late Antiquity, NCN, OPUS 10, nr UMO-2015/19B/HS3/017/90. Implementation period: 5.06.2016 – 5.06.2021. More on the project and visit our fanpage
In medio castrorum. Sculptural and epigraphic landscape of the central part of the legionary fortress at Novae, NCN, OPUS 11, nr UMO-2016/21/B/HS3/00030. Implementation period: 02.02.2017 – 01.10.2022. More on the project
PhD Candidates: Maciej Miścicki, MA
Marek Truszkowski, MA
retired employees: Dr. Wojciech Wróblewski prof. dr hab. Andrzej Buko
dr hab. Joanna Kalaga, prof. ucz.
prof. dr hab. Jerzy Kruppé
Martyna Milewska, MA
about the Department:
The Department was created from the fusion of two departments of the former Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw: the Department of Early Medieval Archaeology and the Department of Late Medieval and Modern Era Archaeology. The areas of interest of the staff fall within the broad spectrum of problems relevant to these periods (i.e. early and late Middle Ages and modern times), along with their specificity and scientific workshop. The subject of research are various aspects of the material and spiritual culture of those times, reconstructed on the basis of archaeological sources, obtained, among others as a result of own field works, carried out mainly in the area of northern and north-eastern Poland (within the borders of early medieval Pomerania and the Prussian-Yotvingian lands and the medieval monastic state in Teutonic Prussia). They are complemented by various research projects undertaken in Mazovia, Podlachia and abroad. In-office studies, supported by a rich collection of archival artefacts stored at the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (e.g. from Chojnice, Ciechanów, Frombork, Gdańsk, Lębork, Rawa Mazowiecka, Sąsiadka, Wiślica), go far beyond the indicated geographic scope.
The main research topics of the Department’s employees focus on:
• the formation and disappearance of early medieval tribal structures in Prussia, Yotvingian lands and Pomerania, the material and spiritual culture of those communities inhabiting these lands and their relations with the inhabitants of neighbouring areas;
• comprehensive studies of various categories of finds representative of medieval towns and castle complexes (including ceramics, glass, wooden and leather finds);
• archaeological and architectural research;
• the use of isotope analyses in archaeology to determine the chronology of finds (radiocarbon dating), diet (stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur), origin and migration (stable isotopes of strontium and oxygen), as well as DNA analyses;
• archival archaeology and reconstruction of collections lost and dispersed as a result of World War II, from former museum collections from Polish lands (within the borders of the Second and Third Republic of Poland) and related to Poland.
In carrying out their research, the staff of the department cooperate with representatives of other scientific and museum centres in Poland, as well as with researchers from Belarus, Czechia, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
The sites excavated by the staff of the department:
Błonie, Masovian voivodeship, medieval chartered town (town plots; K. Blusiewicz)
Ciepłe, Pomeranian voivodeship, early medieval cemetery (S. Wadyl)
Czaszkowo (former Lake Nidajno), Warmian and Mazurian voivodeship, sacrificial place from late antiquity (in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Science; T. Nowakiewicz)
Człuchów, Pomeranian voivodeship, Teutonic and gubernator’s castle (M. Starski, K. Blusiewicz)
Debrzno, Pomeranian voivodeship, medieval town and defensive walls (M. Miścicki, M. Truszkowski)
Obłęże, Pomeranian voivodeship, early medieval barrow cemetery and stronghold (in cooperation with the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń; S. Wadyl)
Pasym, Warmian and Mazurian voivodeship, early medieval stronghold (S. Wadyl)
Puck, Pomeranian voivodeship, medieval chartered town (town plots, church graveyard; M. Starski, K. Blusiewicz)
Skarszewy, Pomeranian voivodeship, medieval chartered town (town plots, fortifications; M. Starski, K. Blusiewicz)
Szczeberka (vicinity), Podlachia voivodeship, a complex of early medieval cemeteries on the Szczeberka River (in cooperation with the Terra Desolata Foundation; T. Nowakiewicz)
Shestovitsa, Chernihiv region, Ukraine, early medieval barrow cemetery (in cooperation with the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv National Pedagogical University; D. Błaszczyk, V. Skorokhod)
grants carried out by department staff (projects in which staff performed leading functions)
Dr. Dariusz Błaszczyk
Locals or foreigners? Burials in chamber graves in Poland in the early Middle Ages (National Science Centre Fuga 2 grant), grant completed.
Maciej Miścicki, MSc
Barrels as a source for research on the provenance of wooden products from the territory of the state of the Teutonic Order. Production techniques – specialized analyzes – long-distance trade (National Science Centre Preludium 14 grant), grant in progress.
dr hab. Tomasz Nowakiewicz
Ostbalticum project (co-coordinator of the framework project of the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport), project in progress;
Conservation, compile, analysis and publication of finds from water deposits from Nidajno and former Herrn-See lakes (the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport/the National Institute of Cultural Heritage grant), grant completed;
Non-invasive prospection of the former cult place in Lake Nidajno in Masuria: extent, threats, paleoecological background (the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport/the National Institute of Cultural Heritage grant), grant completed.
Dr. Michał Starski
Puck’s material culture in the late Middle Ages. Archaeological portrait of a small town on the southern Baltic coast (National Science Centre Sonata 5 grant), grant completed;
The town’s plot of Długi Targ – Powroźnicza – Ogarna Streets in Gdańsk. Compile and publication of the results of archaeological research (the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport/the National Institute of Cultural Heritage grant), grant in progress.
Dr. Sławomir Wadyl
Prussian lands in the early Middle Ages. Shaping a new settlement-territorial and social structure in the light of archaeological sources (National Science Centre Fuga 4 grant), grant completed;
The place that created the power. A stronghold from the early Middle Ages in Pasym in the Masurian Lake District (the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport/the National Institute of Cultural Heritage grant), grant in progress.
about the Department: The Department conducts research and organizes teaching activities in the field of the archeology of the Americas, in particular of the Andean area, Central America, iconography of pre-Columbian cultures, rock art, as well as funeral and anthropological archeology.
The Department organizes the scientific life related to the archaeology of the Americas at the Faculty of Archeology by conducting archaeological field research, publishing research results, and by organizing and participating in international and national scientific conferences. The Departament collaborates with archaeologists and representatives of other disciplines, especially with the scientific centers from Poland and abroad.
Employees also popularize knowledge about the archeology of the Americas.
