Staff Profiles

I am a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019) at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, 09/2021-08/2023. I research the evolution of Copper Age and Early Bronze Age societies in the Alps and Northern Italy through the study of technologies and artefacts, with a focus on personal ornaments. I am especially interested in raw materials, technological systems, chaîne opératoire, tools, workshops, and issues of craft specialisation.

During my PhD (2009-2016) at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, I researched the manufacturing technology of late prehistoric stone jewellery through a multidisciplinary approach integrating technological, functional and typological methods of analysis. 

In the last 10 years, I have been leading archaeological surveys and excavations in the Italian Alps (e.g., Neolithic and Early Metal Age Colombare di Negrar, Verona, and Middle Bronze Age Grotta dell’Eremita, Vercelli).

I am currently working on a project titled “What this Awl Means: A functional and social analysis of prehistoric metal awls from Europe”. This is the first ever functional and social analysis of early European copper-alloy awls, c.5000-1600 BC. I am researching these objects through an innovative multidisciplinary approach integrating: (a) the microwear analysis of c.130 specimens from Britain, the Alps, and the Italian Peninsula, and of c.70 stone and shell objects worked with them; (b) the testing of purpose-built replica awls in crafts ranging from flint flaking to leather working; and (c) the contextual analysis of awl burials, focusing on gender and age associations and how they varied across space and time. The project will be transformational to the field of European prehistory as it will challenge orthodox narratives considering metallurgy a male-dominated skilled technology, and will bring to the fore unexplored social dynamics concerning the gender, status, skill, and specialisation of the craftspeople who made, used, and transformed early metal tools.