Phd in PHD SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

email: daria.montanari@uniroma1.it
phone:
building: Facoltà di Lettere e FIlosofia
room: 107

Associate Professor of Archaeology and Art History of Ancient Western Asia and Eastern Mediterranean (STAA/01-E) at the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies.
Since 2021 I have been directing the Italian-Palestinian archaeological mission in Bethlehem (https://sites.google.com/uniroma1.it/sapienzatobethlehem ), joint with the local Department of Antiquites and Cultural Heritage – Ministry of Tourism and Antiquites of Palestine, for the excavation of the site of Khalet al- Jam'a.
In the period from 2015 to 2020 I was the field director of the mission and in 2016 I supervised the emergency excavations of Jebel Dhaher, a necropolis dated from the end of the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age, following the graphic documentation, photography, 3D scanning with infrared camera, as well as the publication of the finds from the necropolis of Bardhaa and the Tomb of el-Atan (Bethlehem).
During 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2025 I conducted some surveys in the territory of the municipality of Bethlehem and in the areas to the east, up to Wadi Nar, to the south, in the village of Beth Sahur, and to the south of this, up to the border with Hebron, cataloguing and mapping the sites of archaeological, historical and cultural interest, the results of which have flowed into the QGIS in Bethlehem.
Since 2011 I have been coordinating the editing and publication of the class A journal Vicino Oriente (ISSN 0393-0300; 2724-587X; eISSN 2532-5159; https://www.vicino-oriente-journal.it), vols. XV-XXX, and the related series Quaderni di Vicino Oriente (ISSN 11276037; eISSN 25325175; https://www.vicino-oriente- journal.it/index.php/quaderni-di-vo), vols. VI-XVII. I also coordinated the publication of some volumes of the series Quaderni di Archeologia Fenicio-Punica/Colour Monograph and ROSAPAT. Since 2024 I have been a reviewer of the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (class A) and since 2025 I have been a reviewer of the journal Near Eastern Archaeology (scientific journal).
Since 2011 I have been studying and researching metallurgy and metal artifacts in the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Levant, with particular interest in the metallurgical productions of the Early and Middle Bronze Age, studying the technological and social aspects, and in the category of weapons, deepening the typological- functional and chronological-contextual issues, for a general historical reconstruction.
I coordinated the B.2-Innovative metallurgy research line within the PRIN 2017 project Prot. 2017EYZ727 “Peoples of the Middle Sea. Innovation and Integration in Ancient Mediterranean (1600-500 BC)” (PI Prof. Lorenzo Nigro), for which I authored two contributions that converged in the final volume of the project (https://www.vicino-oriente-journal.it/index.php/vicino-oriente/issue/view/45), coordinating the publication of the volume itself.
I am a member of the Scientific Board of the Sapienza PhD School of Archaeology, Oriental Curriculum from A.Y. 2023-2024 and a member of the Quality Assurance Management Commission (CGAQ) of the Sapienza PhD School of Archaeology from A.Y. 2024-2025.
In the period 2015-2025 I was the curator of the Museum of the Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean of Sapienza, after having contributed to the creation of the new layout, the organization of the exhibition path, the systematic cataloguing of the finds and their identification, organizing events and seminar and dissemination activities (conferences, educational workshops, internships, ministerial internships for the School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage, Notte dei Musei, Maggio Museale), as well as recent exhibitions, exhibitions and corresponding publications.

INCARICHI PRECEDENTI
2022-2025 Fixed-term researcher (art. 24 c.3-b L. 240/10; SSD L-OR/05) at the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies;
2020-2022 Fixed-term researcher (art. 24 c.3-a L. 240/10; SSD L-OR/05) at the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies;
2018-2020 Research grant category B Type II entitled “Scientific Curator of the Museum of the Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean”, at the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies - Sapienza University of Rome;
2017 individual assignment of coordinated and continuous collaboration for “Coordination of the activities of cataloguing, optical 3D scanning and musealization of the archaeological finds found in Mozia by the Mission of
Sapienza in the excavations of the Tophet (1964-1973)”, at the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies - Sapienza University of Rome;
2015-2016 Research grant category B Type II entitled “The birth and peculiarities of the city in the southern Levant and in the Mediterranean”, at the Department of Ancient Sciences - Sapienza University of Rome;
2014-2015 assignment of continuous coordinated collaboration for “Classification and referencing of the images of the excavations in Mozia in the four-year period 2008 - 2011”, at the Department of Ancient Sciences - Sapienza University of Rome.
Since 2005 I have been a member of the Archaeological Mission in Palestine and Jordan (ROSEPAJ) directed by Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, in the sites of Tell es-Sultan/Jericho (https://sites.google.com/uniroma1.it/sapienzatojericho), in Palestine, and Khirbet al-Batrawy (https://sites.google.com/uniroma1.it/sapienzatojordan), in Jordan, as responsible for the cataloguing and photography of material culture.
From 2009 to 2014 I was the excavation manager of Area A at the site of Tell es-Sultan, at the circuit of fortifications of the Middle Bronze Age city.
In the period 2004-2014 I participated in the Archaeological Mission in Mozia, directed by Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, where I was responsible for the excavation of the construction site of Zone C North, the documentation of the architecture and materials found, and, between 2012 and 2014, head of the objects laboratory.