Roles and Responsibilities

Co-convenor of the Materiality, Artefacts & Technologies in Culture & History (MATCH) Faculty Research Group

Degree Programme Director for the Archaeology Research Students

Qualifications

2010         PhD in Archaeology, St. John's College, University of Cambridge (UK)
2003         Post-Graduate Diploma in European Prehistory, University of Milan (Italy)
1998         First Degree in Classics and Archaeology, University of Milan (Italy)

Previous Positions

2008-16    Lecturer in Later Prehistory, Newcastle University

2004-05    Lecturer in European Prehistory, Golden Age University, Milan (Italy)

Google Scholar

SCOPUS

Research Interests

• Prehistoric metallurgy (especially copper alloys) and metalwork wear analysis
• The later prehistory of Italy in its central Mediterranean context
• Prehistoric warfare and violence
• Experimental archaeology
• Technological change, invention and innovation
• The archaeology of death and burial

Recent and Current Projects

2019-21   Euro-Dag - The First European Daggers: Function, meaning, and social significance. Horizon2020 Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship investigating early lithic and metal daggers from Europe (Fellow: Dr Isabella Caricola)

2015-17   TEMPI - The Time of Early Metalwork in Italy. Horizon2020 Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship investigating the chronology and classification of early Italian metalwork (Fellow: Dr Cristiano Iaia)

2015-17   The First Halberds in Europe. Project investigating the chronology and function of early Italian halberds by radiocarbon dating and use-wear analysis (funding body: The Prehistoric Society)

2014-17   BATWEP - Bronze Age Tree-felling and Woodworking Experimental Project. Project investigating the use-value of Bronze Age axes by field and lab tests and wear analysis (with T. Joyce, J. Desrosier & L. Ansley)

2013-   Bronze Age Combat: An Experimental Approach. Project investigating Late Bronze Age sword, spear, axe and shield fighting through field experiments, combat tests, and wear analysis (with R. Crellin, R. Hermann, M. Uckelmann, Q. Wang and others; funding bodies: Newcastle University and the British Museum)

2013-   Case Bastione Archaeological Project. Excavation and analysis of a multi-stratified settlement site in Sicily, third-second millennia BC (with E. Giannitrapani, F. Ianni' and others)

In 2011-12 I also contributed (as a specialist advisor) to The Cutting Edge, an innovative online archive of archaeological and ethnographic objects with sharp edges held in the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM)

A broad selection of my research papers can be downloaded from my Academia.edu webpage.

Future Projects

I am due to start in January 2021 a new MSCA-IF project titled What this Awl Means: A functional and social analysis of prehistoric metal awls from Europe (Fellow: Dr Stefano Viola). 

Postgraduate Supervision

I am keen to supervise doctoral students working on any of my research areas; informal enquires are welcome. I am currently supervising the following students:

2019 - Alessandro Armigliato (NBDTP funded)

2018-   Eleonora Montanari (NBDTP funded)

2017-   Violeta Tsenova (NPIF funded)

2017-   Alicia Sawyer (REA funded)

2015-   Marco Romeo Pitone (NBDTP funded)

Undergraduate Teaching

ARA1001 - Stuff: Living in a Material World

ARA1026 - Introduction to Archaeological Science (module leader)

ARA1027 - Introduction to Archaeology

ARA2011 - Prehistoric Europe

ARA3100 - Archaeologies of the Middle Sea (module leader)

ARA3119 - You Are What You Make

Postgraduate Teaching

ARA8184 - Bodies in Prehistoric Europe

ARA8186 - Ancient Metals: Technology and Scientific Analysis (module leader)

ARA8190 - Research Themes, Theories and Skills in Archaeology

• Hermann R, Dolfini A, Crellin RJ, Wang Q, Uckelmann M. Bronze Age Swordsmanship: New Insights from Experiments and Wear Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 2020, 27, 1040-1083.
• Dolfini A, Angelini I, Artioli G. Copper to Tuscany – Coals to Newcastle? The dynamics of metalwork exchange in early Italy. PLoS ONE 2020, 15(1), e0227259.
• Dolfini A. From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Central Italy: Settlement, burial, and social change at the dawn of metal production. Journal of Archaeological Research 2020, 28, 503-556.
• Dolfini A, Crellin RJ, Horn C, Uckelmann M, ed. Prehistoric Warfare and Violence: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. New York: Springer, 2018.
• Dolfini A, Collins R. Modelling physical and digital replication: Bridging the gap between experimentation and experience. Open Archaeology 2018, 4, 36-49.
• Negroni-Catacchio N, Cardosa M, Dolfini A, ed. Paesaggi d’Acque. La Laguna di Orbetello e il Monte Argentario tra Preistoria ed Età Romana. Milan: Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeoologia, 2013.
• Dolfini A, Crellin RJ. Metalwork wear analysis: The loss of innocence. Journal of Archaeological Science 2016, 66, 78-87.
• Perucchetti L, Bray P, Dolfini A, Pollard AM. Physical barriers, cultural connections: Prehistoric metallurgy across the Alpine region. European Journal of Archaeology 2015, 18(4), 599-632.
• Dolfini A. Neolithic and Copper Age Mortuary Practices in the Italian Peninsula: Change of Meaning or Change of Medium?. In: J.R. Brandt, H. Ingvaldsen, M. Prusac, ed. Death and Changing Rituals: Function and Meaning in Ancient Funerary Practices. Oxford, UK: Oxbow, 2015, pp.17-44.
• Dolfini A. Early metallurgy in the central Mediterranean. In: Roberts, B., Thornton, C, ed. Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective. New York, USA: Springer, 2014, pp.473-506.
• Dolfini A. The Emergence of Metallurgy in the Central Mediterranean Region: A New Model. European Journal of Archaeology 2013, 16(1), 21-62.
• Dolfini A. The Gendered House: Exploring domestic space in later Italian prehistory. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 2013, 26(2), 131-157.
• Dolfini A. Early Metallurgy in the Central Mediterranean: Goals for the next decade. Historical Metallurgy 2013, 47(1), 33-50.
• Dolfini A. The Neolithic beginnings of metallurgy in the central Mediterranean region. Accordia Research Papers 2013, 13, 131-151.
• Dolfini A. The function of Chalcolithic metalwork in Italy: an assessment based on use-wear analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 2011, 38(5), 1037-1049.
• Dolfini A. The origins of metallurgy in central Italy: new radiometric evidence. Antiquity 2010, 84(325), 707-723.
• Dolfini A. Embodied inequalities: burial and social differentiation in Copper Age Central Italy. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 2006, 21(2), 58-77.
• Dolfini A, Malone C, Stoddart S. Searching for ritual in the Bronzo Finale: The example of Gubbio. In: Studi in onore di Renato Peroni. Florence: All'Insegna del Giglio, 2006, pp.663-665.
• Dolfini A. L’inumazione primaria come sistema simbolico e pratica sociale. In: Atti del VII Incontro di Studi Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria. 2006, Milan: Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia.
• Dolfini A. La necropoli di Rinaldone (Montefiascone, Viterbo): rituale funerario e dinamiche sociali di una comunità eneolitica in Italia centrale. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 2004, 95, 127-278.
• Dolfini A. Lo spazio abitativo come spazio sociale: le case di Sorgenti della Nova nel quadro della protostoria italiana. In: Papers in Italian Archaeology VI. 2005, Oxford: Archaeopress.
• Dolfini A. La fase di transizione Bronzo-Ferro nel territorio di Vulci: elementi di continuità e discontinuità nella cultura materiale. In: Atti del XXIII Convegno di Studi Etruschi ed Italici. 2005, Pisa-Rome: Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali.
• Negroni-Catacchio N, Miari M, Dolfini A. Rapporti tra area tirrenica ed adriatica durante l’Eneolitico alla luce della cultura di Rinaldone. In: Atti della 38a Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria. 2005, Florence: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria.
• Dolfini A. Distribuzione spaziale dei materiali all’interno di una struttura protostorica: il caso dell’abitazione 2 di Sorgenti della Nova. In: Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria. Atti del V Incontro di Studi. 2002, Milan: Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia.
• Dolfini A. Le abitazioni a pianta ellittica del settore III. Milan: Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, 2002.