Principal investigator of the project

I’m an associate professor at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and a head of Stable Isotopes Lab. I apply geochemical methods such as analysis of stable isotopes and trace elements in fossil bones, supported by sedimentological investigation, to decipher geological contexts of archaeological materials.

My main research focus is Quaternary sediments, in particular the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene fauna-rich deposits at archaeological sites, mostly in caves and rockshelters. Such sites are of great importance for reconstructing the history of our kind and to set our past within the environmental background. Caves and rockshelters often contain numerous strata and many archaeological horizons in superposition, and this creates an invaluable opportunity to track the succession of archaeological cultures and human adaptations along changing paleoenvironments. 

My interest in cave and rockshelters arose because multi-strata sites are challenging in terms of their stratigraphy and understanding the site formation. Post-depositional processes are not uncommon there, so particular objects (such as archaeological artifacts, bones, shells) could have been re-deposited, sometimes from one stratum to another, and assemblages could have been mixed. I find it important and interesting to track these processes and to understand the homogeneity of archaeological and paleontological assemblages. 

Education

Before coming to Polish Academy of Sciences, I undertook my studies at the University of Warsaw (BSc in geology, 2003; MSc in Quaternary Geology, 2005; DPhil in Earth Sciences, 2010). My doctorate research was focused on the reconstruction of processes of bone fossilization in Biśnik Cave (southern Poland) and further application of this knowledge to evaluate the scale of post-sedimentary re-deposition of bones at this site. After finishing doctorate, I moved to the Institute of Geological Sciences PAS in 2010, where I got Assistant Professor position in 2011, habilitation in 2018, and Associate Professor position in 2019. I served as a manager of the Bioindicator Lab and a head of the Stable Isotope Lab. 

I took part in geoarchaeological projects focused on Paleolithic of Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.