Miłosz Giersz
Polish archaeologist, the University of Warsaw graduate. For his PhD dissertation, defended in 2007, he was awarded The Prime Minister’s of Republic of Poland Award, as well as the Ignacio Domeyko Award for the best Latin-American PhD, founded by the Polish Society for Latin American Studies. Since 2002 he has co-directed two consecutive Polish-Peruvian archaeological projects in the northwestern Peru: the Valle de Culebras Archaeological Project, and the Castillo de Huarmey Archaeological Project. During the latter, he led the team that excavated a pre-Columbian royal mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey with the first unlooted royal tomb of the queens of Wari, an ancient civilization of South America predating the Inca empire (ca. 600 – 1050 AD). This sensational discovery was voted as one of the Top 10 Discoveries by the Archaeological Institute of America in 2013, and enjoyed wide coverage by the National Geographic Magazine, both its International (June 2014) and worldwide editions (June-August 2014), for many of which it was chosen as the cover story. Dr. Giersz has been awarded with the “Zostańcie z nami!” [Stay with us!] scholarship for outstanding young researchers, founded by the biggest Polish weekly magazine Polityka (VIII Edition, 2007), a TRAVELER 2013 National Geographic Award for the most important Polish scientific achievement of the year (2013), the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2015) and Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Peru (2018) for the achievements in the field of science and outstanding contributions in the cooperation between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Peru. Dr. Giersz is widely recognized as an expert on the Andean and South American archaeology. He is a member of many societies connected with his profession, including The Explorers Club and the Society for American Archaeology. He acts as the President of Polish Society for Latin American Studies. He is also the author of many books and articles on archaeology and art of the pre-Hispanic Latin American cultures. Currently he holds a position of an Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw.
