Our Research Centre
Rome-Caserta
Mary Anne Tafuri (Sapienza University of Rome) and Carmine Lubritto (University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli') lead our research team. MAReA is composed of young, motivated and qualified researchers with an international education.
Team
Mary Anne Tafuri
PI, Researcher
Mary Anne is a Professor at the Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome. She is head of the Laboratory of Isotopic Analysis and director of the "G. Sergi" Museum of Anthropology. Her research interests include human osteology, bioarchaeology and stable isotope investigations of human remains. She has worked for many years between Italy and the UK. She teaches human osteology and bioarchaeology for bachelor and master courses in Sapienza. Mary Anne is a member of several archaeological missions in Italy, Africa and the Near East. Her research projects have received funding from the European Union and various Italian institutions. She has published numerous articles in international journals, and edited and contributed to the editing of volumes and monographs.
Carmine Lubritto
Scientific Responsible, Researcher
Carmine is Full Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli". He carries out research in the fields of Applied Physics for Cultural Heritage, Environmental Physics and Energy. Carmine is head of the iCONa Laboratory in his Department, where he also carries out analyses in the field of Bioarchaeology using Conventional Mass Spectrometry (IRMS), and is involved in radiocarbon dating (AMS) of organic material and mortars. He is responsible for research projects funded by the European Union, Ministries (MIUR, MISE, etc.), Italian and foreign organisations, companies and institutions. Carmine has been President of AIAr (Italian Association of Archaeometry), is a member of the CHNet network on Cultural Heritage of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and is on the board of the Italian group of isotopic mass spectrometry.
Simona Altieri
Collaborator
Simona graduated in Sciences and Technologies for the Environment and the Landscape at the University of Campania, and subsequently obtained the title of PhD in Innovative Physical Methodologies for Environmental Research. Her researches, carried out in more than 15 years of experience, have concerned the application of isotopic methodologies in archaeometrical, environmental, food, ecological and dendroecological fields. Simona is specialized in samples preparation methodologies for isotopic analysis, development of measurement protocols for stable isotope mass spectrometry (with IRMS system), data analysis and interpretation.
Maria Rosa Di Cicco
Researcher
Trained in Sciences and Technologies for Environment and Territory, Maria Rosa is a Researcher at the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" in the Applied Physics disciplinary sector. Her first studies, which earned her a PhD in Environment Design and Innovation, focused on the Energy Optimization of Wastewater Treatment Plants. Within this project, the use of smart systems for the monitoring of energetic and environmental parameters was coupled with the development of innovative systems to recover matter and energy from wastewater using extremophilic microalgae. Successively, her research interests shifted towards the monitoring of microclimate in the context of Cultural Heritage and the application of isotopic methodologies (EA-IRMS) in the archaeometric, environmental and pharmaceutical fields.
Sara Bernardini
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Sara earned a PhD in Prehistory at the LAMPEA laboratory of Aix-Marseille Universitè, with a project in co-operation with the Department of Environmental Biology of Sapienza University of Rome. After graduating in Archaeology at Sapienza, she deepened her knowledge of stable isotope analysis protocols through a post-graduate internship at LAMPEA. Her research focuses on the study of Italian Copper Age contexts through multi-isotopic analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S and 87Sr/86Sr). As an archaeologist, Sara applies stable isotope analyses to explore the social, economic and cultural dynamics of past human groups. In her research, multi-proxy isotope analyses are equally employed to investigate groups intra- and inter- relationship on the territory, and to reconstruct life histories.
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Silvia Soncin
Research Fellow, PostDoc
Silvia is a Postdoc researcher for the Ancestors Project, based at the Department of Environmental Biology of Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests focus on the health and diet of populations lived in ancient contexts. During her training, Silvia has specialized in various techniques such as the classical analysis of stable isotopes in bulk, the metaproteomic analysis of human dental calculus, the proteomic analysis for the identification of archaeozoological samples (ZooMS) and the analysis stable amino acid isotopes of collagen (CSIA-AA). The latter became her main research focus during her doctoral career at the University of York, where she applied this method to the Herculaneum human skeletal collection of 79 AD.
Carlo Cocozza
Research Fellow, PostDoc
Carlo obtained a Master of Science in bioarchaeology from the University of York and a PhD at the LMU Munich. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher in Systems archaeology at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena. His main research focus is the spatio-temporal study of subsistence practices, child nutrition and spatial mobility in ancient and Medieval societies. This is achieved through the measurement of stable isotope ratios and via the collection and meta-analysis of previously published data. Carlo applies a multidisciplinary approach. His interests also span from research methodological advances within biomolecular archaeology, to 'Big Data' in archaeology and Bayesian data modelling. In addition to traditional bulk stable isotope analysis, he also employs incremental dentine analysis in his research.
Sofia Panella
Research Fellow
Sofia is currently a Research Fellow for the Ancestors Project at the Sapienza University of Rome. Her interests concern the study and conservation of ancient human remains. Her research work is in the field of Bioarchaeology, focusing on the study of metabolic stresses and therefore the dietary habits of ancient populations through palaeopathology and bulk stable isotope analysis (EA-IRMS), reconstructing the health status and more generally the lifestyle. Sofia is deepening new techniques of analysis, such as aminoacid compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA-AA) and Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS).
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Martina Farese
PhD student
Martina is a PhD student in Anthropology, at the Department of Environmental Biology of the Sapienza University of Rome. The focus of her PhD concerns the reconstruction of the Mediterranean diet in prehistory, from the beginning of the Neolithic to the end of the Iron Age, in Italy and more generally in the regions of southern Europe and North Africa bordering the Mediterranean. Martina uses carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopic data both through a meta-analysis of data already in the literature and through the acquisition of new data. Using statistical software, she observes how the Mediterranean diet has changed over the centuries and millennia. Through collaborations with national and international laboratories, she will deepen other methodologies: the study of single amino acids of collagen (CSIA-AA) and the metagenomic analysis of dental tartar.
Giulia Formichella
PhD student
Giulia is a Conservation Scientist. She obtained bachelor and master degree in “Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage” at “Sapienza University of Rome". Over the years she has become passionate about the different areas of Bioarchaeology, Human Evolution and diagnostic techniques applied to human remains. She is currently enrolled in the PhD in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at "Sapienza University of Rome". Her research focuses on the reconstruction, through paleopathological, isotopic and amelogenin analyses, of the children's diet and lifestyle during the transition from the classical to the post-classical age.
Noemi Mantile
PhD student
After graduating in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University "Suor Orsola Benincasa" in Naples, Noemi obtains her Master's Degree in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Pisa, developing a background in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. She is currently a PhD student in Environment, Design and Innovation at the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli". Her research interests are stable isotope analysis, data collection and sensoring systems for the assessing the impact of pollution on Cultural Heritage.