Excavation activities will be carried out by a staff of two archeologists, all of them very skillfull in the archaeological method and in the recording activities linked with our field-work.
Prof. Simonetta Menchelli, PhD – Scientific Supervisor
Simonetta Menchelli is Professor of Ancient Topography and Underwater Archaeology at the University of Pisa. Her research interests include: Archaeological excavations and survey methodology; Landscape archaeology; the archaeology of production, trade and transport systems.
She is conducting research in Italy (Tuscany, Liguria, the Marches) and Europe (Montenegro) and is Member of the Editorial Board of Italian and International Journals and Series.
Prof. Stephen Carmody, PhD – Field supervisor (Paleobotany)
Stephen B. Carmody is Associate Chair/Graduate Coordinator, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Criminology of Troy University, Alabama USA.
His Research activities include: Paleoethnobotanical Investigations, Environmental Science, Geoarchaeology, Anthropology. About these topics Stephen B. Carmody published important books and papers and took part in many International Conferences.
Prof. Adriano Ribolini, PhD
Adriano Ribolini is an Associate Professor at the University of Pisa, Department of Earth Sciences. His current research interests deal with glacial and periglacial landforms and processes in the Mediterranean area (SW Alps, Balkans, Greek mountains). His analyses are based on field geomorphological methods, microthermal ground-surface monitoring, landforms dating by means of cosmogenic isotopes and other methods. He is particularly involved in projects about near-surface geophysical applications (Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Ground Penetrating Radar) to landforms such as rock glaciers, landslides, coastal dunes, and in geoarchaeological contexts: these latter research are undertaken in several sectors of the Italian Peninsula, as well as in Oman, Israel, and Turkey. He is the author of more than 80 papers on peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and Proceedings. He teaches “Radar Geomorphology”, and “Geomorphology and Geophysical Application” courses in the MScs of the University of Pisa.
Paolo Sangriso, PhD – Field supervisor
Paolo Sangriso has a degree in ancient history about historical-archaeological aspects of Augustan triumviral colonization in northern Etruria; he has a specialization in archaeology about ager Lunensis topography; he took his PhD in ancient history with a dissertation about italian terra sigillata productive patterns. He is responsible of archaeological yard of S. Gaetano di Vada (LI), and Luni (Ortonovo, SP). He has been charged of many collaboration contracts with University of Pisa for projects dealing with coastal northern Etruria landscape. He is author of many studies and publications dealing with coastal northern Etruria landscape, italic terra sigillata production and relationships between pottery producers and central power élites.
Silvia Marini, PhD
Silvia Marini has been post-doc researcher at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; she graduated in Archaeology at the University of Pisa; she got her Specialization Diploma in Archaeology in 2011 with a thesis about the topography and funerary rituals of a late roman cemetery in Northern Etruria. She received her PhD in Ancient History at the University of Pisa, with a dissertation dealing with production and trade of roman stamped lamps. Her research interest focuses on production and trade pottery, from a technical and economic point of view. She recently published the volume “Lucerne bollate in Italia centrale e settentrionale (I-II sec. d.C.). Aspetti tecnici, epigrafici e commerciali”.
Valentina Limina, PhD
Valentina Limina graduated in Archaeology at the University of Pisa. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in History at the University of Pisa. Her dissertation focused on the integration of Etruscan elites into the Roman Empire, dealing with the case study of Volterra. Since 2010, she has joined surveys and archaeological projects in Italy and abroad. In 2017 she was visiting scholar at KU Leuven. She currently collaborates with the Ancient Topography Laboratory at the University of Pisa, studying archaeological materials from the Picenum Survey Project held by Prof. Simonetta Menchelli. Her research interests focus on Landscape, Elites, Production, Identity in the Roman Empire, Methodology in landscape archaeology. Among her recent publications the volume for BAR Publishing in the British International Series, Poteri e strategie familiari di Volterra, il caso di una comunità etrusca nel mondo romano (Oxford 2021).
Alberto Cafaro, PhD
Alberto Cafaro has been adjunct professor of Roman history at the University of Siena and post-doc researcher at the University of Pisa. He graduated in Roman Topography in 2011 and was awarded his PhD in 2017 at the University of Pisa. A book stemming from his PhD project has been recently published in the Historia. Einzelschriften series (Governare l’impero. La praefectura fabrum fra legami personali e azione politica (II sec. a.C. – III sec. d.C.), Stuttgart 2021). He is a member of research projects and archaeological excavations in Italy and Turkey. He is currently working on the economic resources of provincial élites in Italy and Gallia Lugdunensis in the 1st century AD. His research interests at the Vada Volaterrana Harbour Project include Latin epigraphy, Roman prosopography, social and economic history of the Roman world.
Domingo Belcari
Domingo Belcari graduated in Underwater Archaeology with a thesis on the seabed in front of Vada (LI). Specialised in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pisa, with a thesis on the evolution of coastal landscapes between Cecina and Fine Rivers. He took part in excavations and surveys in Tuscany, and underwater surveys in collaboration with the underwater nucleus of the Tuscan archaeological superintendence. He is certified as a recreational and technical diver and qualified to use sidemount system and rebreather, has also obtained a speciality in underwater archaeology. His research interests are: methodology of underwater research in low and shallow waters with operators, instrumental research and remote sensing, underwater geomorphology and coastal evolution, historical wreck and the history and evolution of steam navigation. He is also interested in the development of deep and shallow water survey methodologies with the help of operators and new diving technologies.
Giulia Saviano
Giulia Saviano is an archaeologist and anthropologist, graduated from the University of Pisa, both in the master’s degree in Archaeology and the Specialization School in Anthropology, with an extensive experience in Paleopatology. The goal of her work is on the reconstruction of lifestyle and state of health of population, adopting various study methods, such as Osteoarchaeology, Biological Anthropology and Funerary Archaeology, in order to have a more comprehensive interpretation of human skeletal data within archaeological context.