PhD Programme in Archaeology
Coordinator of the Programme: JU Prof. Radosław Palonka, PhD
Office Hours:
E-mail: archeology.phd@uj.edu.pl, radek.palonka@uj.edu.pl
The programme in archaeology offered by SDNH UJ is characterised by its focus on PhD students’ individual work, and by wide application of the case study method. Students participating in archaeology courses will have an opportunity to develop their competences in two main directions. The first involves an enhanced introduction to modern analytical methods, with particular emphasis on statistical techniques and geographic information systems. Carried out in small groups, the classes will allow students to gain, in a relatively short time, practical skills helpful and sometimes necessary in the work of an archaeologist. The aim of the second group of courses is to prepare students for challenges connected with popularisation of science, and for undertaking their own field research. These courses address, to a significant extent, contemporary legal regulations with respect to the protection of archaeological cultural heritage in Poland and abroad. The bulk of the staff responsible for the archaeological programme in SDNH UJ are employees of the JU Institute of Archaeology, among them specialists in fields like the earliest history of humans, younger sections of prehistory and the early history of Europe, ancient civilisations of Egypt and the Near East, classical culture, New World archaeology, and the material culture of the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods. They also have outstanding expertise in various branches of methodology of archaeological research. For some of the courses, this team is supported by scholars invited from other institutions.
Studies at the Institute of Archeology of the Jagiellonian University are focused on the following research fields:
1. Transition from the middle to the upper Paleolithic, early presence of Homo sapiens and its relationship to Homo neanderthalensis.
2. Chipped stone industry – research on raw material, technique and function.
3. The second stage of neolithization in Central Europe: social and economic changes.
4. Beginnings of the Egyptian civilization in the predynastic and early dynastic periods.
5. Beginnings and development of prehistoric settlement in marginal zones (mountain and karst areas from Stone Age to Roman Period).
6. Economic foundations of prehistoric societies (hunter-gatherers and agricultural societies). Interdisciplinary field research and theoretical studies.
7. Egyptian influence in the Bronze Age of the Levant. Settlement structures of that period in Israel and Jordan.
8. Hoards and hoarding practices in the European Bronze Age.
9. Second millennium BC in Central and Southeastern Europe – social transformations and contact networks.
10. Formation and development of nomadic societies in the Great Steppe area (Eastern Europe and Siberia).
11. Greek colonies in the Black Sea basin.
12. Cultural transmissions at the beginning of the Iron Age in Europe outside Mediterranean – culture-historical and paleoeconomic approaches.
13. Hellenistic pottery – studies on chronology, provenance and function.
14. Cyprus in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
15. Funeral practices in the area of Central European Barbaricum in the Roman period.
16. Roman imports in Barbaricum – studies on inflow process, technological analysis of local and imported weaponry, numismatic research.
17. Iconography and propaganda in the Roman world.
18. Northern European societies during the Roman period and the migration of peoples.
19. Architecture and iconography of the Mayan civilization.
20. Prehistoric cultures of South America.
21. Settlement structures and strongholds in Poland in the early Middle Ages.
22. Culture of medieval castles and residences.
23. Ethno-archeology of the southwestern United States.
24. Archeology of medieval and early modern Krakow.