Institute of Archaeology

The Department, founded in 1998, specializes in ancient Egypt and other civilizations of the ancient Middle East, from the 4th millennium BC to the Greco-Roman period. The main fields of research include: pre-dynastic and early-dynastic settlements in Egyptian Nile Delta, Egyptian architecture from the Middle Kingdom period, Egyptian art and religion (including magic and magic items), Egyptian civilization's influence on cultures of the early modern and modern period (particularly in Poland and the 17th–20th-century Europe), and also the history of archaeology and the Polish collections (including those of the Jagiellonian University).

The major research achievements of the Department include the revealing of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom worker settlement in Kasr el-Sagha and the exploration of its structure as well as the results of the recent studies into the beginnings of Egyptian state, based on the research on the predynastic and early dynastic settlements in Tell el-Farkha and Tell el-Murra. The Department initiated the international conference Egypt at its Origins, held every three years in the most important centres of research on the subject. (Kraków 2002; Toulouse 2005; London 2008; New York 2011). It has also conducted fruitful research into the origins of Mediterranean archaeology and the history of Polish archaeological collections. Finally, the Department staff have analysed various categories of Egyptian and Middle Eastern relics from a number of Polish and Middle Eastern collections.

• Archeologia śródziemnomorska w Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim 1897-1997. Materiały z sympozjum naukowego, Kraków 21-23 października 1997 (pod redakcją Joachima Śliwy), Kraków 1998.
• Centenary of Mediterranean Archaeology 1897-1997. International Symposium, Cracow October 1997, edited by J. Śliwa, Cracow 1999
• J.Śliwa, wspólnie z J. A. Ostrowskim, Stanisław Kostka Potocki, O sztuce u dawnych czyli Winkelman polski, t.1-4, Warszawa-Kraków 1992 [opracowanie, komentarz, przypisy]
• J.Śliwa, Egyptian Scarabs and Magical Gems from the Collection of Constantine Schmidt-Ciążyński, Warszawa-Kraków 1989.
• K.M.Ciałowicz, Les palettes égyptiennes aux motifs zoomorhes et sans decorations. Études de l'art. prédynastique [SAAC 3], Kraków 1991.
• J.Śliwa, Scarabs and Seal Amulets from the Collection of Sigmund Freud, Kra
• K. M.Ciałowicz, La naissance d'un royaume. L'Égypte des la période prédynastique a la fin de la Iere dynastie, Kraków 2001.
• J. Śliwa, Skarabeusze egipskie, Wrocław 2003.
• M. Jucha, Tell el-Farkha II: The Pottery of the Predynastic Settlement, Kraków 2005