Polish scientists led by Małgorzata Zaremba, a doctoral student from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University (UKSW) in Warsaw, have discovered the secrets of the production of Egyptian faience two thousand years ago.  

Geology graduate Małgorzata Zaremba managed to reconstruct, step by step, the entire incredibly complicated technological process of making faience vessels. This was the work of a laboratory researcher and a geological detective, requiring precision, knowledge and imagination. 

“We managed to recreate the most complex technology the ancient world knew. No one has formulated this kind of conclusion before. This is a breakthrough work”, says Dr Fabian Welc, Professor UKSW, and adds that thanks to the Polish researcher we have learned, stage by stage, the sequence of events. “We now know how the first high-tech ceramics in the history of mankind were created. Powerful archaeological centres in the world have not been able to discover this, while Małgorzata Zaremba has managed to do so”, said Prof. Welc.

The project ‘Technology of faience wares production in Egypt of the Ptolemaic period in the light of archaeological and archaeometric research’ was carried out with funds from a grant in the Prelude 14 competition of the National Centre by a team consisting of: Małgorzata Zaremba (project manager), Prof. Fabian Welc and Dr Jerzy Trzciński.