Barbara Kaim (born 1 December 1952) is a Polish archaeologist, professor at the Faculty of Archaeology

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. Her research focuses on the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

Parthian Parthian may refer to: Historical * Parthian people * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery sk ...

and

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

periods in Iran and Central Asia.

Professional career

Barbara Kaim studied at the Institute of Archaeology (now Faculty of Archaeology) (graduated in 1977). Since 1977 she worked as a Research Assistant. After completing her PhD in 1983, she began working as an assistant professor in the Department of Near Eastern Archaeology at the same institute. She did her habilitation in 2003, working on the architecture of

Kushan ''Kushan'' or Kushana may refer to: * Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan ...

period, and became a professor in 2005. On 18 April 2013, she was awarded the title of Professor.

Excavations

In 1995 Barbara Kaim began archaeological research at Old Serakhs, located in Serakhs oasis,

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. Two years later she started excavations at

Mele Hairam Mele-Heiran is a Zoroastrian fire temple located in the Ahal Province of Turkmenistan. It was discovered in 1997 by a Polish-Turkmen expedition led by Barbara Kaim, a professor of archaeology at the University of Warsaw. The complex archaeologica ...

in the same oasis, which revealed the remains of the

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

fire temple. In 2005-2006 she was a co-director of Irano-Polish Archaeological Mission in Sivand Dam Project (

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

), and after of Irano-Polish Archaeological Mission in

Sabzewar Sabzevar (; ) is a city in northeastern Iran. It is located in the Central District of Sabzevar County, Razavi Khorasan province, serving as the capital of both the county and the district. History The history of Sabzevar goes back to the ...

(2007-2010). During that time she conducted excavations at Fire Temple in Khone-ye Div (

). In 2011, after the Mele Hairam excavation was finished in 2009, she started a project at Gurukly-depe located in Serakhs Oasis,

Selected publications

* 1991. Das geflügelte Symbol in der Achämenidischen. Glyptik,” Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 24, 31–34. * 1996. Sztuka Starożytnego Iranu, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa. * 1999. Открытие Храма Огня в Серахском Оазисе, Культурные Ценности. Международный Ежегодник. Cultural Values. International Annual, Vol. 1997–1998, 200–203. * 2002. Zaratushtrian Temple of Fire. Five years of excavation at Mele Hairam, Warsaw. * 2002. Un temple du feu Sassanide découvert à Mele Hairam, Turkmenistan Méridional, Studia Iranica 31, 215–230. * 2007. Où adorer les dieux ? Dossiers d’Archéologie 371, 66–71.

References

20th-century Polish archaeologists Living people Polish women archaeologists 1952 births 21st-century Polish archaeologists Academic staff of the University of Warsaw {{Poland-academic-bio-stub