Stefan Jakobielski


Stefan Karol Jakobielski is a Polish historian, archaeologist, philologist, epigraphist. One of the pioneers of nubiology. He participated in archaeological research in Faras, Tell Atrib, Palmyra, Deir el-Bahari and Qasr Ibrim; directed the archaeological works at Old Dongola.

Biography

Stefan Jakobielski was born on August 11, 1937 in Warsaw. His parents were Karol Jakobielski and Halina née Grzymała. He graduated from secondary school – liceum im. St. Małachowskiego – in Płock. He began studying at the University of Warsaw in 1954.
Since the early 1960s he participated in the excavation works in Faras led by Kazimierz Michałowski. From 1961 Jakobielski participated in the archaeological effort as a coptologist, documenting and researching inscriptions. He took part in key works at the archaeological site in Faras – the discovery of the cathedral with wall paintings in the 1961/62 season and during two subsequent expeditions:1962/1963 and 1963/64; he also participated in the removal and transfer of wall paintings and the documentation of discoveries, presented now at the Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw. In early 1960s Stefan Jakobielski participated in works at many other archaeological sites: in 1962, as an epigrapher at Tell Atrib and Palmyra. In 1962/63 he took part in research and excavation work at Deir el-Bahari at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and the temple of Totmes III. In 1968 Jakobielski successfully defended his phD thesis.
In 1966 Stefan Jakobielski became director of excavation works at the Nubian site of Dongola. After the death of prof. Michałowski in 1981 he was appointed the head of this expedition on behalf of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, a function he held until 2006. Reports from excavations at that site were published in "Dongola Studien" and the "Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean". The excavations in Dongola were concluded by an exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw in 2006, entitled Polish excavations in Old Dongola. 45 years of archaeological cooperation with Sudan; Jakobielski was the co-curator of that exhibition. The exhibition contained artifacts discovered at multiple sites and borrowed from the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.
From 1972 to 1974 by invitation of the Egypt Exploration Society Jakobielski participated in a British-American-Polish archaeological mission in Qasr Ibrim as archaeologist-epigraphist.
In 1974–2002 Stefan Jakobielski was the director of the Nubiology Department at the Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology PAS, and at the same time he directed the chaired the Department Archaeological and Architectural Documentation at the same institution. From 1974 till 1989 he lectured at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. An employee of the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures PAS since 1961.
Stefan Jakobielski is the author of numerous publications and editor of scientific journals, including Nubia, Études et Travaux, Nubielskica et Aethiopica and Bibliotheca nubica. Since 2005, co-editor of "Gdańsk Archaeological Museum African Reports".

Membership in scientific associations

Stefan Jakobielski was one of the initiators of the International Society of Nubiology, established in 1972, and in 1978–1986 he served as a member of the Society's Board. Since 1980 he was a correspondent of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Stefan Jakobielski also belongs to the International Association of Egyptologists.

Distinctions

Stefan Jakobielski was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Selected publications