Marcin Biborski
Dr Marcin Biborski is a graduate of the Jagiellonian University. In 1973-1982 he was employed as a senior assistant in the Archaeological Museum in Kraków. In 1983 he started working at the Jagiellonian University, where he organised the Laboratory of Archaeometallurgy and Conservation, which he directs now. He has participated in numerous archaeological expeditions, both in Poland and abroad. He excavated Roman forts upon the Rhine and sacrificial bog sites with weaponry deposits from the early 3rd c. AD in the territory of the Jutland Peninsula. For several seasons he also excavated an Alamanian cemetery from the Merovingian Period in southern Germany. In 1994-2004 he excavated the necropolis of the Przeworsk Culture in the village of Mokra, Kłobuck District. Dr Biborski specialises in issues of armament of the Roman Army and peoples of the European Barbaricum from the end of the 1st c. BC to the early 5th c. AD. He is a well-known student of arms and armour with a global reputation, with special reference to problems of Roman swords. He has devoted many publications to them, including issues related to i.a. their typology and chronology. In collaboration with specialists from the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Kraków he has carried out examinations on the technology of Roman swords. His works were published in several countries, including England, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Among his publications, of special significance is a two-volume work on Roman swords from the sacrificial site at Illerup (in cooperation with the Danish archaeologist J. Ilkjær). In 2007 His Royal Majesty King of Sweden granted Dr Biborski, J. Ilkjær, and C. von Carnap-Bornheim the award of the European Union for the publication of research results from the site at Illerup (Oustanding Studies – The Site of Illerup Ådal). Dr Biborski’s publications also include works related to conservation of metal archaeological artefacts and artistic craft. The Laboratory of Conservation of the Jagiellonian University, led by Dr Biborski, has numerous merits in the field of examination and protection of national heritage. Apart from that, his research interests focus on issues related to the history of the Polish sabre in the 17th-20th c. and the history of Europe. Dr Biborski participated in the works of a scholarly committee concerning the manufacture of the new clapper of the Sigismund Bell at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. In 2005 upon his initiative the Brotherhood of Bell-Ringers of the Royal Sigismund Bell at Wawel was founded and Dr Biborski was elected for its Senior. In 2008 under his leadership technological examinations (for the first time in history) of the Szczerbiec (Jagged Sword) – the coronation sword of the Kings of Poland – were carried out.
Grzegorz Żabiński
Dr Grzegorz Żabiński, the project director, is a historian and an archaeologist. He runs his own firm Archeo-Logos and is employed at the Institute of History of the Jan Długosz Academy in Częstochowa. He may be contacted at g.zabinski(at)gmail.com.
Janusz Stępiński
Janusz Stępiński, Dr Eng is an archaeometallurgist. He is employed at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Kraków.