Ricerc@Sapienza

I have recently completed with merits a PhD in Earth Sciences, curriculum Environment and Cultural Heritage at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) with a thesis titled “Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a Phoenician site: archaeobotany at Motya (Sicily, Italy)” under the supervision of Prof. Laura Sadori and Prof. Lorenzo Nigro. My project concerned the archaeobotanical analysis of materials found in the archaeological site of Motya, a small island (ca. 40 ha) located in the Stagnone di Marsala, a coastal lagoon of western Sicily. Due to its strategic, harbored position in the middle of the Mediterranean and the presence of fresh-water springs, the site was chosen by Phoenicians as a settlement in the 8th century BC until the siege of Motya in 397/6 BC. I focused on the analysis of two closed contexts: a votive deposit near the Temple of Melqart/Herakles, and a disposal pit in the area were the first Phoenician settlement is believed to have been found. My research involved a series of activities, including sampling, on-site flotation, separation, identification, and interpretation of plant remains. Whilst my main focus were macro-remains (both carpological and anthracological), I also performed palynological analyses of samples collected from the disposal pit, which provided complementary information. Finally, I spend a research period at the University of Montpellier (France) under the supervision of Dr. Laurent Bouby, to perform morphometric analyses of charred grape pips from Motya and compare them with pips collected in other Western Mediterranean sites and a modern reference collection.
Whilst my PhD project focused on Iron Age materials, I have also had the opportunity to study archaeobotanical remains from the Early Bronze Age (EBA) site of Tell es-Sultan, located in the Jericho oasis. Among the charred remains, I managed to identify a round fruit as a drupe of Nannorrhops ritchiana (Griff.) Aitch. thanks to the combination of classical archaeobotanical techniques and a CT-scan. Its presence in the EBA palace suggests the existence of an overland commercial track to the south-east, across the desert of Saudi Arabia, which only recent excavations and other finds have revealed.
Finally, my research experience in the field of archaeobotany also involved the analysis of Early Modern Age materials recovered from the Santi Quattro Coronati complex in Rome (Italy).