Joanna Dębowska-Ludwin is an archaeologist specializing in the study of early Egypt, with a particular focus on funerary archaeology of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods. For many years, she has conducted extensive fieldwork and research, concentrating on social structures, burial rituals, and the development of early forms of statehood in the Nile Valley.
She is the author of numerous scholarly publications analyzing mud brick architecture, material evidence of religious beliefs and burial practices during the formative stages of Egyptian civilization. Her research has been presented at various international conferences.
Since 2025, she has directed excavations at Tell el-Farkha — one of the key archaeological sites for understanding the process of state formation in Egypt. These investigations are carried out in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team, combining traditional archaeological methods with modern documentation and data analysis techniques.
She is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University, in the Department of Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology, where she actively engages in teaching, including academic courses and field training for archaeology students.

Selected bibliography 

• A Newly Discovered “Bull Head Amulet” from Tell el-Farkha, Egypt, Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization 28 (2024), 99-114.
• Food and Drink in the Early Egyptian Funeral Tradition: the Case of Tell el-Farkha [w:] M. A. el-Dorry (red.), Food and drink in Egypt and Sudan selected studies in archaeology, culture, and history. Caire-Warsaw 2023, 55-69. [with K. Rosińska-Balik]
• Tell el-Farkha III. The Cemeteries of the Eastern Kom, Wydawnictwo Profil-Archeo/Instytut Archeologii UJ, Pękowice-Kraków 2023.
• ‘Another brick in the wall’ or how to build an Ancient Egyptian house, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 35(1) (2020), 57–72. [with K. Rosińska-Balik]
• Jean-François Champollion [w:] C. Smith (red.), Encyclopedia of global archaeology: living edition. 2018: Springer, Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2652-1.
• Socio-economic changes in early Egyptian society as reflected by graves of the Tell el-Farkha cemetery [w:] K. M. Ciałowicz, M. Czarnowicz i M. Chłodnicki (red.), Eastern Nile Delta in the 4th millennium BC. Kraków-Poznań 2018, 21–29.
• Early Egyptian niche architecture from the perspective of Tell el-Farkha [w:] M.D. Adams (red.) oraz B. Midant-Reynes, E. M. Ryan, Y. Tristant, Egypt at its Origins 4, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 252. Leuven-Paris-Bristol 2016, 47-61.
• Golden beads in the context of the Lower Egyptian culture, Archéo-Nil 25 (2015), 45-56. [with M. Czarnowicz i K. Rosińska-Balik]
• The origin of Egyptian mastabas in the light of research at Tell el-Farkha, Études et Travaux XXVI (2013), 153-162. [with K. M. Ciałowicz]
• Early Burial Customs in Northern Egypt. Evidence from the Pre-, Proto-, and Early Dynastic Periods. BAR International Series 2571, Archeopress, Oxford 2013.
• Trade or conquest? The nature of Egyptian-South Levantine relations in Early Bronze I from the perspective of Tell el-Farkha, Egypt and Tel Erani, Israel, Recherches Archéologiques NS 4 (2012), 113–125. [with K. Rosińska-Balik, M. Czarnowicz i A. Ochał-Czarnowicz]

Keywords
Early Dynastic Egypt; Funerary Archaeology; Predynastic Tombs; Egyptian State Formation; Tell el-Farkha; Egyptian Burial Practices; mud brick