Department of Environmental Archaeology and Human Paleoecology

The department’s primary research field concerns the environmental conditions that shaped prehistoric and medieval settlements. It undertakes projects on the history of ancient fauna and vegetation, biological changes in past human populations, the use of organic and inorganic resources, the impacts of climate change, landscape transformation, and the complex interactions between environment and culture in Poland and Central Europe. These issues are explored through archaeological, anthropological, archaeozoological, and palynological methods. The research also encompasses the paleoecology of the earliest settlements in Central Asia and interdisciplinary studies on the history of wild and domestic animals in Central and Eastern Europe, supported by modern biomolecular techniques.