Prof. Marta Osypińska, PhD, DSc – the first woman to hold the title of professor of archaeology at the University of Wrocław and in Polish African archaeology – is an archaeozoologist specializing in the study of human-animal relationships in prehistoric and medieval Africa. A graduate of the University of Warsaw, she worked in museum institutions and then at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where she obtained her doctorate (2009), habilitation (2018), and the title of professor at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IAE PAN) (2019).

Since 2022, she has been associated with the University of Wrocław, where she served as a professor at the University of Wrocław from 2024, obtaining the title of professor in 2025. She is the author of over 120 international scientific publications (including PNAS, Nature, Science, and Antiquity) and four monographs published in Poland (two) and by prestigious European publishers. She has led five international research projects funded by the National Science Centre (NCN). Her research spans Northeast and East Africa: Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Senegal, and most recently, Tanzania. She has participated in dozens of Polish archaeological missions in Africa. She initiated Polish archaeozoological research in Sudan and Egypt, and Polish archaeological research in Tanzania.

Major Achievements and Research Directions

Professor Marta Osypińska initiated modern archaeozoological research in Africa in Poland, integrating this field into the mainstream of research on the civilizations of the Nile Valley. She has led projects funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), which have led to a deepening understanding of the origins of African pastoralism. She has discovered the global, southern range of the aurochs, evidence of cattle domestication in Africa, and transcontinental contacts involving migration and animal trade in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Her discoveries in the port city of Berenike (Egypt) include a necropolis of companion animals from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. – resonated widely in the global media and scientific discourse, opening up modern fields of discourse on human-animal relations in antiquity. In 2024, she launched the “Matecznik Serengeti” project, initiating Polish research in Tanzania and creating the first archaeological map of the region. As an archaeozoologist, she collaborates with scientists working in Europe, Africa, and Asia, conducting interdisciplinary research combining archaeology, social sciences, natural sciences, medicine, and the humanities to explore the shared history of humans and animals. She is committed to popularizing science internationally (publications in leading media outlets in the US, Europe, the UK, Asia, and Africa, including Science, Smithsonian Magazine, USA Today, National Geographic, Le Figaro, the Times, etc.), and in Poland, where she actively participated in dozens of radio and television broadcasts. She won the “Archaeolgia Żywa” award in the nationwide vote for “Discovery of the Year 2024.”