Sławomir Konik

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Born on October 11, 1981 in Wadowice/Poland
1988-1996: Elementary school
1996-2001: Polytechnic secondary school, electronics, Oswiecim/Poland
2001-2007: Archeology studies at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków/Poland
2007: Diploma thesis/obtaining a master’s degree: “Analysis of pre-classical architecture in the Sites of the Triangulo Project: Yaxha and Nakum".
Since 2004 working as a freelance archaeologist in Austria, Bavaria and Poland. Since November 2008 excavation manager on various excavation projects such as Marchschutzdamm project - prehistoric and medieval settlements, 2008-2011 (client: via Donau), Roman necropolis in Potzneusiedl, 2011 (client: Bewag), bypass road B16 Dillingen - Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Hallstatt period settlements, Hallstatt period tumuli necropolis, 2013-2014 (client: Archbau) or project S8 battlefield archeology near Wagram (client: Novetus GmbH).

Research interests: Historical Archaeology, Battlefield Archaeology, Napoleonic Wars, Anthropology, Identification of Dead Soldiers.

Current research project: The Killed on the Napoleonic battlefields - interdisciplinary findings to identify the soldiers
The research question on which my dissertation is based is whether it is possible, on the basis of interdisciplinary investigations (archival sources, archaeological data, anthropological data), to identify the soldier skeletons found from the time of the Napoleonic Wars (surname and first name, origin, place of birth, etc.) . There is also information about the unit in which the soldiers served (combat side, army, army corps, division, regiment), sex, age, height (general anthropological determination), origin (state, region, locality) and name. To achieve these goals, the following steps should be taken:
1. Methodical excavation with precise measurement of finds in order to be able to assign the individual finds to a specific individual, this includes a detailed find analysis.
2. Anthropological determination of age, sex and height including pathologies, peculiarities and living conditions (wounds, broken bones, etc.).
3. Research of written and cartographic sources, especially accurate battle maps and soldiers/recruit registers, as well as memoirs, staff documents, eyewitness reports.
4. Geochemical bone studies, especially for isotope strontium 90, to determine the origin and diet of the soldiers.
5. Genetic analysis (DNA) on the found skeletons and possibly also on the current population in the settlements from which the soldiers were conscripted (as one of the method tests).

Publications:

  • together with Michaela Binder, Alexander Stagl (eds.) Leben und Tod auf dem Schlachtfeld. Archäologie entlang der S8-Trasse im Marchfeld, Wien, 2021.
  • Recent archaeological research at the Austrian army camp on the 1809 Wagram battlefield; in: British Archaeological Research, 195-204, Oxford, 2022
  • Możliwości i wyzwania archeologii na przykładzie ratowniczych badań pola bitwy pod Wagram z 1809 roku in: Raport 15, Sławomir Kadrow (Red.), 257-279, Warszawa, 2020.