Biography
Jarosław Źrałka – Associate professor at the Department of New World Archeology, Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University. He specializes in archeology and the art of Mesoamerica with a special focus on pre-Columbian Maya civilization. In 2000, he defended his master's thesis: ‘Iconography of representations of the Maya rulers on Early Classic stelae from Tikal and Uaxactun, Guatemala’. In 2005, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled ‘Terminal Classic Occupation in the Maya Sites Located in the Area of Triangulo Park and the Problem of their Collapse’. In 2006, the work was awarded by the Prime Minister in the category of outstanding doctoral dissertations. In 2008, the doctorate was published in the form of a book by the Jagiellonian University Press. In 2015 he obtained a post-doctoral degree in humanities in the field of archeology (habilitation). Since 2006, he has been directing (together with Wiesław Koszkul) archaeological research at the Maya site of Nakum located in north-eastern Guatemala. He also conducts a project of documentation and conservation of Colonial mural paintings from Chajul (Highland Guatemala). Dr Jarosław Źrałka is one of the originators and organizers of the Cracow Maya Conference (an annual conference devoted to Maya culture and organized in Krakow).