Mark Nowak
Biographic Data
| ID | 657508 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Nowak |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Nowak |
| SIGNATURE | NOWAK M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Jagiellonian University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7220-6495 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 93 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Natural and Anthropogenic Threats to Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Southern Jordan: Comparison with Poland and a Call for the Exchange of Experiences
Jordan’s rich archaeological heritage, encapsulating crucial chapters of human history, faces unprecedented threats from both natural and anthropogenic factors. This article elucidates the various challenges besieging Jordan’s historical sites, ranging from climatic alterations to uninhibited urban expansion and intensified agricultural activities. Furthermore, it casts a spotlight on the detrimental impacts of mining activities, underscoring the…
One place, many worlds – nutrition strategies of human groups inhabiting the site 3 in Miechów (southern Poland) since the Neolithic until the Iron Age
Studies on the ratios of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen constitute a research tool commonly applied in bioarchaeology to reconstruct human diets, including the origins of proteins consumed, the relationship between plant and animal foods, weaning processes, and parameters of the environment from which the food was obtained. Within the comprehensive analysis of the excavation results carried out at site 3 in Miechów (approximately 30 km no…
The Department of Stone Age Archaeology of the Institute of Archeology of Jagiellonian University in the last half-century
The Department of Stone Age Archaeology of the Institute of Archeology of Jagiellonian University was established in 1985. Its first director was Professor Bolesław Ginter. In the first years, the focus was on fieldwork in Egypt. Further activity covered the Palaeolithic layers of caves in today’s Bulgaria (Bacho Kiro, Temnata) and Greece (Klissoura) and southern Poland (Ciemna and Obłazowa Caves). Upper Palaeolithic open sites in the Váh River v…
On the edge of Prehistory. Preliminary results of excavations at three Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites in southern Jordan
This article summarizes the research conducted between 2019 and 2022 by a Jagiellonian University (JU) team at three important sites in southern Jordan: Umm Tuweyrat, Wadi Quseir/Huseiniya, and Wadi Faynan 731. The data gathered provide new perspectives on population groups inhabiting the southern part of modern Jordan during Late Prehistory and give insights provoking reconsiderations of previous assumptions. The excavated sites offer new vantag…
An Early Neolithic house in the Foothills: A case study of pottery and lithic artefacts from the Biskupice site 18 (Wieliczka Foothills, southern Poland)
Plant macro-remains from a large middle Neolithic settlement in SE Poland – Internal diversification and possible status of the settlers
Middle Neolithic agricultural and land-use models in southern Poland: A case-study of the long-term settlement in Mozgawa
Palaeoecological and archaeological studies conducted in Mozgawa (southern Poland) demonstrated a long-term sustainable land-use by inhabitants of a large settlement occupied during the second half of the fourth millennium BC. The Middle Neolithic society established a settlement that covered an area of about 30–35 ha and functioned during at least three centuries, as validated by the absolute chronology. A thorough analysis based on the fuzzy-lo…
Feminized forced migration: Ukrainian war refugees
Do We Finally Know What the Neolithic Is
Over 20 years ago, an inspiring text by Lech Czerniak ( The Neolithic – What’s That?) on understanding the concept of the Neolithic was published. For the present author, the Lech Czerniak’s discourse on the Neolithic was for many years and, to a large extent still is, a conceptual basis for understanding and presenting this issue. This contribution is an examination of the current relevance of Lech Czerniak’s theses. Furthermore, starting from t…
The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare 1 . However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling 2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc 3 . Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia 5 and Anatolia 6 , have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic,…
Different Paths of Neolithisation of the North-Eastern Part of Central Europe
Origins of the Neolithic in the north-eastern part of Central Europe were associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Pottery culture after the mid-sixth millennium BC, as in other parts of Central Europe. During these migrations, a careful selection of settlement regions took place, in terms of the ecological conditions most favourable for agriculture. The enclave-like pattern of the Neolithic settlement persisted into the fifth millenniu…
The Linear Pottery culture face vessel from the site Biskupice 18, southern Poland
This paper presents the stylistic analysis of a unique face vessel fragment, found at a recently excavated settlement of the Linear Pottery culture near Biskupice, located in the Carpathian foothill region in southern Poland. The evaluation is based on a multivariate analysis of the stylistic features of 130 human face vessels from 91 Central European Neolithic sites of the Linear Pottery culture and the Alföld Linear Pottery culture, and is cond…
Obsidian Source Use Within the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Slovakia
This paper reports the results of non-destructive energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of 186 obsidian artifacts from eight archaeological sites attributable to the Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (c. 5600-4900 cal BC). This is the largest instrument-based study yet conducted and reported for Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (ALPC) artifacts from Slovakia, where ALPC chipped lithic assemblages are almost entirely composed of obsidian …
Addressing the issue of the Early Neolithic pottery exchange through a combined petrographic and geochemical approach: A case study on LBK ware from Dzielnica (Upper Silesia, southern Poland)
Terrestrial diet in prehistoric human groups from southern Poland based on human, faunal and botanical stable isotope evidence
We present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of animal and human bones from south-eastern Poland, dated to the Neolithic and the Bronze Ages. The analyses are discussed against the background of archaeobotanical data from the studied sites from Miechów and Mozgawa. The mean values of δ13C and δ15N obtained from wheat grains from south-eastern Poland were used to model human palaeodiet. Our results show high levels of plant proteins in t…
Isotopic evidence of millet consumption in the Middle Bronze Age of East-Central Europe
Plants of the Funnel Beaker culture in Poland
Neolithic communities appeared in Polish territories around the mid-6th millennium BC. However, till the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, they inhabited only small enclaves. Situation of this kind changed within the first half of the 4th millennium BC, when majority of Polish territories was settled by Neolithic groups reflected as the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). There is a fairly large amount of data on plants cultivated by TRB people. On th…
The first vs. second stage of neolithisation in Polish territories (to say nothing of the third?)
The origins of the Neolithic in Polish territories are associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) after the mid-6th millennium BC. Communities of this culture only settled in enclaves distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming (‘LBK neolithisation’). This situation persisted into the 5th millennium BC, when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. This state of affairs changed from …
HLC Project 2018: Jagiellonian University excavations in southern Jordan
A complex view of the prehistory in southern Jordan emerges from the excavations of the Jagiellonian University team, which carried out in 2018 its second season of fieldwork at the sites of Munqata’a and Faysaliyya, even as analyses of finds from the previous season were underway. Human communities living here in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age practiced both sedentary and mobile lifestyles. The changing landscape around them, caused by natur…
The Funnel Beaker Culture in Western Lesser Poland: Yesterday and Today
Although Jan Kowalczyk’s work on the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) did not particularly refer to western Lesser Poland, many of his general and detailed reflections on Neolithic archaeology can be utilized to better characterise this culture in this territory. The TRB appeared there c. 3750/3700 BC and existed until c. 2800 BC. “Funnel Beaker” acculturation of the late Lengyel-Polgár populations could play a large part in the origins of the local b…
Spatial and temporal patterns in Neolithic and Bronze Age agriculture in Poland based on the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of cereal grains
Multi-methodological approaches to investigate large archaeological sites: The case study of the Eneolithic settlement in Mozgawa, western Lesser Poland
HLC Project 2017. Jagiellonian University excavations in southern Jordan
The HLC (Heritage–Landscape–Community) archaeological metaproject, carried out since 2016 by the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, targets the archaeological heritage of southern Jordan (Tafila region), focusing currently on remains of the Early Bronze Age and earlier cultures that were found in the region. The project has already identified…
Do 14C dates always turn into an absolute chronology? The case of the Middle Neolithic in western Lesser Poland
In the late 5th, 4th, and early 3rd millennia BC, different archaeological units are visible in western Lesser Poland. According to traditional views, local branches of the late Lengyel-Polgár complex, the Funnel Beaker culture, and the Baden phenomena overlap chronologically in great measure. The results of investigations done with new radiocarbon dating show that in some cases a discrete mode and linearity of cultural transformation is recommen…
Natural and Anthropogenic Changes in the environment in the Middle Ondava Basin (Eastern Slovakia) during the Neolithic Period
The paper summarizes the geomorphological results of a research project focused on palaeogeographical and archaeological characteristics of a Neolithic settlement in the middle Ondava Basin (north-west part of the Eastern Slovakian Lowland). Investigations on an Early Neolithic (ca. 5500-5100 BC) settlement in Moravany were carried out as part of the project. Palaeogeographical studies were carried out in the neighbouring territory of this site. …
Feminized forced migration: Ukrainian war refugees
Isotopic evidence of millet consumption in the Middle Bronze Age of East-Central Europe
Middle and Late Holocene hunter-gatherers in East Central Europe: Changing paradigms of the ‘non-Neolithic’ way of life
According to traditional views, the main reason for ‘demesolithisation’ in East Central Europe was the spread of the Neolithic oecumene, particularly from c. 4000 BC. Simultaneously, the disintegrated Late Mesolithic world gradually underwent typological unification, and finally reached the stage that is sometimes described as pre-Neolithic. However, we definitely have to bear in mind that as a matter of fact we deal only with the ‘history’ of ar…
Spatial and temporal patterns in Neolithic and Bronze Age agriculture in Poland based on the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of cereal grains
The second phase of Neolithization in east-central Europe
This paper presents archaeological and palynological evidence for long continuation of the Mesolithic way of life in east-central Europe irrespective of the presence of early Neolithic farmers. The complete Neolithization of the area took place only about 3500 BC, as a consequence of long-term interactions between indigenous foragers and exotic farmers
Do 14C dates always turn into an absolute chronology? The case of the Middle Neolithic in western Lesser Poland
In the late 5th, 4th, and early 3rd millennia BC, different archaeological units are visible in western Lesser Poland. According to traditional views, local branches of the late Lengyel-Polgár complex, the Funnel Beaker culture, and the Baden phenomena overlap chronologically in great measure. The results of investigations done with new radiocarbon dating show that in some cases a discrete mode and linearity of cultural transformation is recommen…
Plant remains from an early Neolithic settlement at Moravany (eastern Slovakia)
Terrestrial diet in prehistoric human groups from southern Poland based on human, faunal and botanical stable isotope evidence
We present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of animal and human bones from south-eastern Poland, dated to the Neolithic and the Bronze Ages. The analyses are discussed against the background of archaeobotanical data from the studied sites from Miechów and Mozgawa. The mean values of δ13C and δ15N obtained from wheat grains from south-eastern Poland were used to model human palaeodiet. Our results show high levels of plant proteins in t…
Neolithisation in Polish Territories: Different Patterns, Different Perspectives, and Marek Zvelebil’s Ideas
The neolithisation of Polish territories, approached from a global perspective, seems to proceed in both a complex and heterogeneous way. This was primarily caused by the highly transitional location. Additionally, the more or less fundamental differences in our understanding of the pivotal terms and phenomena play a major role in the insufficient and ambiguous state of knowledge on the discussed topic. Nevertheless, the fact that groups of class…
Transformations in East-Central Europe from 6000 to 3000 BC: Local vs. foreign patterns
In the sixth, fifth and fourth millennium BC, in the basins of the Vistula and the Oder, extremely complex economic, social and ideological transformations took place. They consisted in the emergence and expansion of new systems of circulating information (‘communicative communities’). The majority of these were connected with the Neolithic. The process involved a constant clash between foreign and local patterns. The latter, over time, prevailed…
Middle Neolithic agricultural and land-use models in southern Poland: A case-study of the long-term settlement in Mozgawa
Palaeoecological and archaeological studies conducted in Mozgawa (southern Poland) demonstrated a long-term sustainable land-use by inhabitants of a large settlement occupied during the second half of the fourth millennium BC. The Middle Neolithic society established a settlement that covered an area of about 30–35 ha and functioned during at least three centuries, as validated by the absolute chronology. A thorough analysis based on the fuzzy-lo…
Obsidian Source Use Within the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Slovakia
This paper reports the results of non-destructive energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of 186 obsidian artifacts from eight archaeological sites attributable to the Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (c. 5600-4900 cal BC). This is the largest instrument-based study yet conducted and reported for Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (ALPC) artifacts from Slovakia, where ALPC chipped lithic assemblages are almost entirely composed of obsidian …
Multi-methodological approaches to investigate large archaeological sites: The case study of the Eneolithic settlement in Mozgawa, western Lesser Poland
Two Microethnographies
An Early Neolithic house in the Foothills: A case study of pottery and lithic artefacts from the Biskupice site 18 (Wieliczka Foothills, southern Poland)
Different Paths of Neolithisation of the North-Eastern Part of Central Europe
Origins of the Neolithic in the north-eastern part of Central Europe were associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Pottery culture after the mid-sixth millennium BC, as in other parts of Central Europe. During these migrations, a careful selection of settlement regions took place, in terms of the ecological conditions most favourable for agriculture. The enclave-like pattern of the Neolithic settlement persisted into the fifth millenniu…
Plants of the Funnel Beaker culture in Poland
Neolithic communities appeared in Polish territories around the mid-6th millennium BC. However, till the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, they inhabited only small enclaves. Situation of this kind changed within the first half of the 4th millennium BC, when majority of Polish territories was settled by Neolithic groups reflected as the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). There is a fairly large amount of data on plants cultivated by TRB people. On th…
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Two Microethnographies
The second phase of Neolithization in east-central Europe
This paper presents archaeological and palynological evidence for long continuation of the Mesolithic way of life in east-central Europe irrespective of the presence of early Neolithic farmers. The complete Neolithization of the area took place only about 3500 BC, as a consequence of long-term interactions between indigenous foragers and exotic farmers
Transformations in East-Central Europe from 6000 to 3000 BC: Local vs. foreign patterns
In the sixth, fifth and fourth millennium BC, in the basins of the Vistula and the Oder, extremely complex economic, social and ideological transformations took place. They consisted in the emergence and expansion of new systems of circulating information (‘communicative communities’). The majority of these were connected with the Neolithic. The process involved a constant clash between foreign and local patterns. The latter, over time, prevailed…
Middle and Late Holocene hunter-gatherers in East Central Europe: Changing paradigms of the ‘non-Neolithic’ way of life
According to traditional views, the main reason for ‘demesolithisation’ in East Central Europe was the spread of the Neolithic oecumene, particularly from c. 4000 BC. Simultaneously, the disintegrated Late Mesolithic world gradually underwent typological unification, and finally reached the stage that is sometimes described as pre-Neolithic. However, we definitely have to bear in mind that as a matter of fact we deal only with the ‘history’ of ar…
Plant remains from an early Neolithic settlement at Moravany (eastern Slovakia)
Mesolithic/Neolithic Interactions in the Balkans and in the Middle Danube Basin: Session C18
9 papers from the session on Mesolithic/Neolithic Interactions in the Balkans and in the Middle Danube Basin held at the 15th UISPP Congress in Lisbon in September 2006. Contents: 1) Mesolithic/Neolithic interactions in the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Basin: an introduction (Marek Nowak); 2) The chipped stone assemblages of Mentese and the problem of the earliest occupation of Marmara region (Ivan Gatsov, Petranka Nedelcheva); 3) Late Mes…
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Imaginative Militancy and the Transnational Poetry Dialogue
This essay examines how small-scale projects grounded in imaginative militancy and transformatory global forms of solidarity can move workers from low levels of solidarity toward more radical levels. It focuses on a series of creative writing workshops facilitated by the author which brought workers at Ford plants in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Port Elizabeth and Pretoria, South Africa, into productive transnational "poetry dialogues." It contends t…
Neolithisation in Polish Territories: Different Patterns, Different Perspectives, and Marek Zvelebil’s Ideas
The neolithisation of Polish territories, approached from a global perspective, seems to proceed in both a complex and heterogeneous way. This was primarily caused by the highly transitional location. Additionally, the more or less fundamental differences in our understanding of the pivotal terms and phenomena play a major role in the insufficient and ambiguous state of knowledge on the discussed topic. Nevertheless, the fact that groups of class…
Natural and Anthropogenic Changes in the environment in the Middle Ondava Basin (Eastern Slovakia) during the Neolithic Period
The paper summarizes the geomorphological results of a research project focused on palaeogeographical and archaeological characteristics of a Neolithic settlement in the middle Ondava Basin (north-west part of the Eastern Slovakian Lowland). Investigations on an Early Neolithic (ca. 5500-5100 BC) settlement in Moravany were carried out as part of the project. Palaeogeographical studies were carried out in the neighbouring territory of this site. …
Do 14C dates always turn into an absolute chronology? The case of the Middle Neolithic in western Lesser Poland
In the late 5th, 4th, and early 3rd millennia BC, different archaeological units are visible in western Lesser Poland. According to traditional views, local branches of the late Lengyel-Polgár complex, the Funnel Beaker culture, and the Baden phenomena overlap chronologically in great measure. The results of investigations done with new radiocarbon dating show that in some cases a discrete mode and linearity of cultural transformation is recommen…
HLC Project 2017. Jagiellonian University excavations in southern Jordan
The HLC (Heritage–Landscape–Community) archaeological metaproject, carried out since 2016 by the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, targets the archaeological heritage of southern Jordan (Tafila region), focusing currently on remains of the Early Bronze Age and earlier cultures that were found in the region. The project has already identified…
The first vs. second stage of neolithisation in Polish territories (to say nothing of the third?)
The origins of the Neolithic in Polish territories are associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) after the mid-6th millennium BC. Communities of this culture only settled in enclaves distinguished by ecological conditions favourable to farming (‘LBK neolithisation’). This situation persisted into the 5th millennium BC, when these enclaves were inhabited by post-Linear groups. This state of affairs changed from …
HLC Project 2018: Jagiellonian University excavations in southern Jordan
A complex view of the prehistory in southern Jordan emerges from the excavations of the Jagiellonian University team, which carried out in 2018 its second season of fieldwork at the sites of Munqata’a and Faysaliyya, even as analyses of finds from the previous season were underway. Human communities living here in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age practiced both sedentary and mobile lifestyles. The changing landscape around them, caused by natur…
The Funnel Beaker Culture in Western Lesser Poland: Yesterday and Today
Although Jan Kowalczyk’s work on the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) did not particularly refer to western Lesser Poland, many of his general and detailed reflections on Neolithic archaeology can be utilized to better characterise this culture in this territory. The TRB appeared there c. 3750/3700 BC and existed until c. 2800 BC. “Funnel Beaker” acculturation of the late Lengyel-Polgár populations could play a large part in the origins of the local b…
Spatial and temporal patterns in Neolithic and Bronze Age agriculture in Poland based on the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of cereal grains
Multi-methodological approaches to investigate large archaeological sites: The case study of the Eneolithic settlement in Mozgawa, western Lesser Poland
Terrestrial diet in prehistoric human groups from southern Poland based on human, faunal and botanical stable isotope evidence
We present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of animal and human bones from south-eastern Poland, dated to the Neolithic and the Bronze Ages. The analyses are discussed against the background of archaeobotanical data from the studied sites from Miechów and Mozgawa. The mean values of δ13C and δ15N obtained from wheat grains from south-eastern Poland were used to model human palaeodiet. Our results show high levels of plant proteins in t…
Isotopic evidence of millet consumption in the Middle Bronze Age of East-Central Europe
Plants of the Funnel Beaker culture in Poland
Neolithic communities appeared in Polish territories around the mid-6th millennium BC. However, till the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, they inhabited only small enclaves. Situation of this kind changed within the first half of the 4th millennium BC, when majority of Polish territories was settled by Neolithic groups reflected as the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). There is a fairly large amount of data on plants cultivated by TRB people. On th…
The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare 1 . However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling 2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc 3 . Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia 5 and Anatolia 6 , have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic,…
Different Paths of Neolithisation of the North-Eastern Part of Central Europe
Origins of the Neolithic in the north-eastern part of Central Europe were associated with migrations of groups of the Linear Pottery culture after the mid-sixth millennium BC, as in other parts of Central Europe. During these migrations, a careful selection of settlement regions took place, in terms of the ecological conditions most favourable for agriculture. The enclave-like pattern of the Neolithic settlement persisted into the fifth millenniu…
The Linear Pottery culture face vessel from the site Biskupice 18, southern Poland
This paper presents the stylistic analysis of a unique face vessel fragment, found at a recently excavated settlement of the Linear Pottery culture near Biskupice, located in the Carpathian foothill region in southern Poland. The evaluation is based on a multivariate analysis of the stylistic features of 130 human face vessels from 91 Central European Neolithic sites of the Linear Pottery culture and the Alföld Linear Pottery culture, and is cond…
Obsidian Source Use Within the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Slovakia
This paper reports the results of non-destructive energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of 186 obsidian artifacts from eight archaeological sites attributable to the Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (c. 5600-4900 cal BC). This is the largest instrument-based study yet conducted and reported for Alföld Linear Pottery Culture (ALPC) artifacts from Slovakia, where ALPC chipped lithic assemblages are almost entirely composed of obsidian …
Archaeology (29 works) · Geography (28 works) · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies (16 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (16 works) · History (16 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (13 works) · Ancient history (12 works) · Bronze Age (10 works) · History (9 works) · Prehistory (9 works)