OLEKSIAK Jerzy

Chercheur associé à l’équipe OrAM de l’UMR7041 ArScAn

PhD: « Sail South to Reach the East – Quantitative Analysis of Late Antique Economy of Eastern Desert and Red Sea ». Sous la direction de Tomasz B. Waliszewski, professeur à l’université de Warsaw.


Contact : j.oleksiak@uw.edu.pl




Archaeologist and Arabist specializing in the economic integration and interdependencies of sites across the Western Indian Ocean, Egypt, and the Eastern Mediterranean. His research focuses on the Red Sea region as a sphere of overlapping economic influence between the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Indian Ocean markets, with particular attention to the Late Antique economy of the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the role of Berenike and Sikait within long-distance trade networks.

His main area of interest is mass pottery material, which serves as a key source for understanding patterns of material culture exchange, trade distribution, and regional supply systems in the first millennium AD. Through quantitative ceramic analysis, he examines how pottery assemblages reflect economic connectivity between the Nile Valley, the Red Sea coast, and the wider Indian Ocean basin.

Since 2019, Jerzy Oleksiak has been working with the Berenike Project at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, where he specializes in pottery studies related to trade, connectivity, and the economy of Roman and Late Antique southern Egypt. He is also the principal investigator of the NCN Preludium 21 project Sail South to Reach the East, dedicated to reconstructing the economic landscape of the Late Antique Red Sea and Eastern Desert.

He has gained extensive experience as a ceramic specialist on archaeological projects in Cyprus (Nea Paphos), Tunisia (Mustis), Sicily (Akrai), Lebanon (Chhim), Jordan (Khirbet edh-Dharih), Egypt (Berenike, Sikait, Middle Sikait, Nugrus), Saudi Arabia (Thaj), and the UAE (Jumeirah, Jazirat al-Hulayla), contributing to research on amphorae, transport ceramics, mining settlements, and regional exchange systems spanning from the Hellenistic to the Early Islamic periods.

Specialisations:

  • Pottery studies
  • Full-quantification method
  • Statistical and big-data analysis
  • Reconstruction of economic models

Research Interests:

  • Late Antique trade
  • Economic history (Red Sea, the Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, Eastern Desert of Egypt)
  • Coarse wares studies (Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, Red Sea, the Gulf)
  • Long-distance exchange
  • Blemmyes and archaeology of Eastern Desert
  • Ancient mining exploration

0 documents

Documents récupérés de l'archive ouverte HAL logo

  • 2026, Oleksiak, J.M., From the Nile with love: Berenike and Sikait within the Nile Valley trade network, in J. Oller-Guzmán, J. de Torres Rodríguez (eds), From Local to Global – The role of local communities throughout the Red Sea history Proceedings of the Red Sea Conference XI (Barcelona, 5th-7th June 2024) (pp. 87-100). Barcelona: Asociación JAS Arqueología.
  • 2025, Oller-Guzmán, J., Fernandez Abella, D., Oleksiak J. M., et al., Dying in the Mines: Necropoleis and Funerary Practices During the Late Antique Period in the Smaragdos (Egyptian Eastern Desert), American Journal of Archaeology 129 (3), 409-438.
  • 2025, Oleksiak J. M., Wicenciak-Nunez, U., Bind the Spheres: A Comparative Study of Late Antique Trade Network at Berenike and Nea Paphos, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 34.
  • 2025, Juchniewicz, K., Lic, A., Oleksiak, J.M., Boraik, M., Zein, H., Breeze of Continuity: New Evidence for the Occupation of Jumeirah Throughout the Islamic Period, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 36: 306–327.
  • 2025, Oleksiak, J.M., Priestman, S.M.N., Rohmer, J., Ship, raft or camelback? Early Hellenistic ceramic imports of the Eastern Mediterranean from the ancient caravan city of Thāj, Northeast Saudi Arabia’, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 36: 197–229.
  • 2025, Oller Guzmán, J., García-Dils de la Vega, S, Fernández Abella, D., Oleksiak, J. et al., Results of the 2024 Season of the Sikait Project: Excavation and Survey of Middle Sikait, Documentation of the Emerald Mines, and Survey of the Wadi el-Gemal National Park, Thetis 29, 7-31.
  • 2024, Oleksiak, J. M., The Memory of the Fish – New Approach Towards Chronology and Primary Content of Ayla-Axum Amphorae, in: J. Bodzek et al. (eds), ΦιλομειδήςἈφροδίτη. Essays in Ancient Art and Archaeology, Kraków, Księgarnia Akademicka, 381-391.
  • 2024, Michalik, M., Kajzer, M., Urszula Wicenciak, U., Jerzy Oleksiak, J.M. et al., (Re)discovering Street A in Nea Paphos, Cyprus. Results of Trial Trench III at Maloutena (season 2021), Polish Archaeology in Mediterranean 33, 83–198.
  • 2024, Oleksiak, J. M. Catching the Big Fish – Fish-Sauce Containers from Republican Era to Late Antiquity in Nea Paphos (Cyprus), REI CRETARIAE ROMANÆ FAVTORVM ACTA 48, 141-146.
  • 2024, Oller Guzmán, J., García-Dils de la Vega, S, Fernández Abella, D., Ozcoz Benito, P., Oleksiak, J. et al., The 2023 Archaeological Season in the Emerald Mines of Wadi Sikait: Excavation in Sikait, Documentation of the Mining Regions, and Survey of the Wadi el Gemal National Park, Thetis 28, 17-27.
  • 2023, Sidebotham, S.E., Ast, R., Kaper, O.E., Bergmann, M., Bhandare, S., Maurer, A., Hartmann R., Popławski, S., Oleksiak, J.M., et al., Results of the Winter 2022 Excavation Season at Berenike (Red Sea Coast), Egypt, Thetis 27, 13-28.
  • 2022, Oleksiak, J. M. Kitchen Ware Pottery, in: R. Chowaniec, M. Fituła (eds.), The Archaeology of urban Life in the Ancient Akrai/Acrae, Sicily, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden.
  • 2022, Oller-Guzmán, J., Oleksiak, J.M., et al., A new ‘enigmatic settlement’ discovered in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: Zabara Northwest, Revue des Etudes Anciennes 124, 71-91.
  • 2021, Oleksiak, J. The last gate to the East: The Roman army outpost at Bigan on the Euphrates revisited, Polish Archaeology in Mediterranean 30/2, 307-337.
  • 2021, Popławski, S., Kraśniewska, U., Mi, F., Oleksiak, J., Trash from a temple: a deposit next to the Isis Temple at Berenike (Egypt), Polish Archaeology in Mediterranean 30/2, 387-418.