Curriculum Vitae

09.1996-04.2000    Ph.D. in Archaeology, University of London (United Kingdom)

Thesis title: Marine Molluscs and Human Palaeoecology: a Case Study of the Intertidal Gastropod Monodonta lineata (da Costa) 

10.1993-06.1996    B.Sc. in Archaeology (First Class Honours), UniversityCollegeLondon, University of London (United Kingdom)

10.1988-07.1993    Diploma di Maturità Classica, Liceo Ginnasio “Umberto I”, Palermo (Italy)    

Professional qualification

02.2014-02.2018    Habilitation for Associate Professor in Archaeology, awarded by the Ministero dell’Istruzione,

dell’Università e della Ricerca [Ministry of Education, University and Research], Italy.

The list of academics habilitated in 2014 is at the following website:

https://abilitazione.cineca.it/ministero.php/public/esitoAbilitati/settore/10%252FA1/fascia/2

Current position and affiliation

08.2015-present     Associate Professor [Lektor] at the Department of Archaeology, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Århus (Denmark)

08.2015-present     Associated Scientist at the Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany)

Employment history

09.2011-07.2015    Research Scientist at the Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany);

Project title: Multi-isotope investigation of human diet and subsistence in the Late Palaeolithic

09.2010-08.2011    Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of Human Evolution,            

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany)

09.2008-08.2010    Marie Curie Intra-European Research Fellow, Department of Human Evolution,

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany).

Project title: Stable Isotope Ecology of Hunter-Gatherers in Italy in the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene

05.2008-08.2008    Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of Human Evolution,            

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany)

04.2005-09.2007    Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom).

Project title: Becoming Insular? Human Responses to Past Global Warming and Rising Sea Levels

10.2002-03.2005    Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom).

Project title: Ecology of Prehistoric Shellfish Exploitation in the Coastal Zone of North-West Sicily

Past honorary and visiting positions

11.2013                  Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Excellence Cluster TOPOI of the Freie Universität, Berlin (Germany)

09.2007-08.2015    Honorary Senior Research Associate, Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom)

Grants and prizes

2014                Funding for teaching contract (Lehrauftrag) at the Bereich für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Philosophische Fakultät,

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena (Germany): € 750 (+ ca. € 400 for travel expenses). 

2013                Funding for visiting Senior Fellowship at the Excellence Cluster TOPOI of the Freie Universität, Berlin (Germany): € 2,500

2008-2010       Intra-European Fellowship (Call: FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF), People - Marie Curie Actions – Seventh Framework Programme, European Union: € 166,982.27

2002-2005       Leverhulme Trust, Research Grant no. F/07196/B:  £94,125; named post-doctoral research fellow for the research project:

“Ecology of prehistoric shellfish exploitation in the coastal zone of NW Sicily”. 

2003-2004       Natural Environment Research Council grants for stable isotope analyses (£16,000) and

AMS radiocarbon dates (£2,700) in support of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project F/07196/B (above)

2005                UCL Graduate School grant of £720 to attend the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) Archaeomalacology Working Group Meeting

at the Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida (U.S.A.)

2005                UCL Graduate School grant of £320 to attend the 7^th International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe at the Ulster Museum, Belfast (United Kingdom).

2005-2007       Leverhulme Trust, Research Grant no. F/07196/D:  £118,912; named post-doctoral research fellow for the research project:

“Becoming insular?  Human responses to past global warming and rising sea levels”

2005-2006       Natural Environment Research Council grants for stable isotope analyses (£24,000) and AMS radiocarbon dates (£3450)

in support of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project F/07196/D (above).

1996-2000       Natural Environment Research Council studentship in support of the Ph.D. project entitled: Marine Molluscs and Human Palaeoecology:

a Case Study of the Intertidal Gastropod Monodonta lineata (da Costa).

1997                W. F. Grimes Prize for the best dissertation in environmental archaeology in the academic year 1995-1996 at the Institute of Archaeology,

University College London, United Kingdom. Dissertation title: The Environmental Archaeology of a Mesolithic Shell Midden: Investigations at Culverwell, Isle of Portland (Dorset)

Teaching experience

2015                Co-ordinated and taught with Dr. Kornelius Kupczik (Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology) a Bachelor course on Morphology and Human Evolution [“Morphologie und Evolution des Menschen” Übung] at the Biologisch-Pharmazeutische Fakultät, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena (Germany).

2014                Co-ordinated and taught a Master’s course on Archaeological Science [“Archämetrie” Übung] at the Bereich für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Philosophische Fakultät, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena (Germany).

2011-2014       Taught Zooarchaeology and Isotope Analyses in Archaeology and Palaeo-Anthropology as part of the courses of “The Leipzig School of Human Origins”, an International Max Planck Research School by the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany).

2006-2007       Taught a Master’s course (with Prof. Kenneth D. Thomas, UCL) entitled Human Palaeoecology in Coastal Environments (code: G171) at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom).

2005                Held lectures and practicals on Archaeozoology for high school students of the Istituto Tecnico per il Turismo “Marco Polo” in Palermo within the remit of a school program on archaeology organized by the SYS (Servizi per l’Archeologia, Palermo) archaeological unit in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali di Trapani (Italy).

1996-1999              Delivered practical tuition on Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zooarchaeology, Archaeopedology and Taphonomy in undergraduate laboratory classes at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (United Kingdom).

laboratory experience and practical skills

• Thin section and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) sample preparation
• Sample preparation for strontium isotope analyses
• Sample preparation for oxygen isotope analyses of biogenic carbonates
• Collagen extraction for carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analyses
• Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)
• Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
• X-ray Diffractrometry (XRD)
• Identification of skeletal remains of mammals and molluscs

Professional services

• Member of the editorial board of the journal: Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary
• Guest editor (ongoing) of a special issue for the journal: Environmental Archaeology
• Referee for the following journals: American Antiquity, Archaeofauna, Archaeometry, Australian Archaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Human Evolution, Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, Marine Biology, Naturwissenschaften, PLoS ONE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Quaternary International, Quaternary Research. 
• Grant referee for National Geographic