Research: Bronze in Linear B and Cuneiform Writing: Circulation and Management in the Eastern Mediterranean between the 16th and 12th Centuries BC.
Currently PhD candidate in Philology and History of ancient world - curriculum Orientalistic studies (XXXVI ciclo) at Sapienza University of Rome.
Bachelor and Master in Classics (final grade 110 cum laude/110).
High-school Classic diploma (final grade 100/100).
I am interested in Mycenaean paleography and philology and Aegean and Mediterranean archaeology in the Late Bronze Age. For my BA thesis I focused on the Mycenaean land system with a thesis on the comparison between the cadastral systems documented by the tablets in Linear B of Pylos and Knossos and those of Egypt of the third millennium BC. For my MA thesis I continued my research in Mycenaean philology focusing on trade and exchanges involving the Mycenaeans between the 16th and 12th centuries B.C., by integrating the philological data coming from the tablets in Linear B and the archaeological ones of the Mycenaean contexts. Finally, for my doctoral research I am continuing philological and archaeological interests in the Aegean and Eastern Near with a project concerning the reconstruction of the bronze production chain for the Mycenaean centers through the analysis of tablets in Linear B and the combination with other contemporary written sources, i.e. the Hittite, Ugaritic and Amarnian texts, as well as with material evidence.
At the same time, I participate in paleographic and epigraphic projects concerning the investigation of documents written in Linear A and B through the use of photographic techniques of RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) and HDR (High Dynamic Range).
FUNDING AND ACADEMIC AWARDS:
September, 4th-December, 3th 2023: External collaboration for “Elaboration of acquisition protocols and reproduction of epigraphic documents (cuneiform, hieroglyphic and Linear A-B) at Sapienza University of Rome.
January, 1st-31st 2023: External collaboration for “Digital acquisition of tablets in Linear B by Knossos, through the photographic technology of RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging), related to the study of terminology related to pastoralism” at Sapienza University of Rome.
November, 1st 2022-2023: Research Project “Segni di viaggio: il caso dei potmarks del sito protostorico di Cannatello (AG, Sicilia) come testimonianza della circolazione dei beni nel Mediterraneo durante il II millennio a.C.” (Travel signs: the case of the potmarks of the protohistoric site of Cannatello (AG, Sicily) as evidence of the circulation of goods in the Mediterranean during the second millennium BC).
November, 1st-31st 2022: Bourse scientifique à l’École française d'Athènes. Projet « Le bronze entre l’écriture linéaire B et l’écriture cunéiforme : circulation et gestion en Méditerranée orientale entre le XVIe et le XIIe siècle avant J.-C ».
August, 1st - September, 30th 2022: Junior Scholarship at the Department of Antiquity Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome, as part of the project Grandi Scavi di Sapienza University of Rome, entitled “Cannatello (AG) - Excavations and integrated research on a key-site of Late Bronze Age Mediterranean connectivity: recovery and resilience / Scavi e ricerche integrate in un sito chiave per la connettività mediterranea della tarda età del bronzo: ripresa e resilienza”.
June, 15th – July 15th 2022: Visiting Fellowship within the CREWS (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems) Project, ERC project at Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge
December 2021 - March 2022: DAAD Scholarship - Research Grants - Short-Term Grants (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften – Lehrstuhl für Altorientalistik).
WORKSHOPS, INTERNSHIPS AND FIELD WORK:
January, 29th-February, 3rd. 2023: Cannatello excavation, Agrigento, Sicily. Sapienza University of Rome. Project directed by Prof A. Vanzetti (Associate professor of European Protohistory at Sapienza University of Rome) - Palaeographic and epigraphic research on the Late Bronze Age potmarks of the site.
March, 13th-17th 2023: The Linear A Pa-i-to Epigraphic Project – Sapienza University of Rome, University IULM of Milan, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) Digital Acquisition of the corpus of the Linear A tablets from Phaistos, under the direction of Alessandro Greco (Sapienza University of Rome) and Georgia Flouda (Head of the Department of Prehistoric & Minoan Antiquities at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum) with the cooperation of Erika Notti (University IULM of Milan), Rome (Italy).
April, 18th-July, 18th 2023: Participation in the organization of the exposition “All'alba della scrittura: le prime forme di amministrazione contabile nel mondo egeo”, at Sapienza University of Rome.
May, 15th-July, 15th 2023: Palace of Nestor, Pylos (GR). PRAP Project - American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Project directors Dr. Stocker S. and Prof. Davies J., Cincinnati University. Trench Supervisor and study centre assistant.
June, 22nd-23rd 2023: Organization of the doctoral seminar Semi di Sapienza. Seminario dei dottorandi della e dalla Sapienza. “Margini e marginalità. Un’analisi multidisciplinare delle figure e dei contesti”, at Sapienza University of Rome.
September, 9th-15th 2023: Archaeological Mission at the archaeological site of Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey), directed by Francesca Balossi (Full Professor of Prehistory and Protohistory of Near East at Sapienza University of Rome).
September, 16th-24th 2023: Archaeological Mission at the archaeological site of Phaistos (Crete, Greece), directed by Alessandro Greco (Associate professor of Aegean civilization at Sapienza University of Rome) and Fausto Longo (Associate professor of Classical Archaeology at University of the Study of Salerno). Epigraphic and palaeographic study with RTI acquisition of the so-called Masons’ Marks of the Phaistos palace.
September, 25th-30th 2023: The Linear A Pa-i-to Epigraphic Project – Sapienza University of Rome, University IULM of Milan, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) Digital Acquisition of the corpus of the Linear A tablets from Phaistos, under the direction of Alessandro Greco (Sapienza University of Rome) and Georgia Flouda (Head of the Department of Prehistoric & Minoan Antiquities at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum) with the cooperation of Erika Notti (University IULM of Milan), Rome (Italy).
October, 10th-16th 2022: Archaeological Mission at the archaeological site of Phaistos (Crete, Greece), directed by Alessandro Greco (Associate professor of Aegean civilization at Sapienza University of Rome) and Fausto Longo (Associate professor of Classical Archaeology at University of the Study of Salerno). Epigraphic and palaeographic study of the so-called Masons’ Marks of the Phaistos palace.
October, 17th-22nd 2022: The ku-do-ni-ja Epigraphic Project. Digital acquisition campaign through RTI of the Linear B tablets of Chania (Crete), under the direction of Alessandro Greco (Sapienza University of Rome) and Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki (General Secretary of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports).
From 2021: Collaboration with the project of “Scavi Archeologici” of Sapienza University of Rome entitled “Cannatello (AG) – Excavations and integrated research on a key-site of Late Bronze Age Mediterranean connectivity: recovery and resilience / Scavi e ricerche integrate in un sito chiave per la connettività mediterranea della tarda età del bronzo: ripresa e resilienza”, directed by Prof A. Vanzetti (Associate professor of European Protohistory at Sapienza University of Rome).
April 2021: Partecipation in the 12th ICAANE (International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East) with a coauthorship presentation intitled “From Urartu to the Orontids. Seven years (2013-2019) of Armenian-Italian excavations in the site of Solak-1 / Varsak (KSP016), Hrazdan River Valley, Armenia”, A. S. Bonfanti, A. Petrosyan, R. Dan, P. Vitolo, T. Saccone, M. delle Donne, L. Costantini, C. Zecchi, G. Moradi, L. Giorgi.
May, 15th-July, 16th 2021: Palace of Nestor, Pylos (GR). PRAP Project - American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Project directors Dr. Stocker S. and Prof. Davies J., Cincinnati University. Trench Supervisor and study centre assistant.
October, 3rd-24th 2021: Archaeological Mission at the archaeological site of Phaistos (Crete, Greece), directed by Alessandro Greco (Associate professor of Aegean civilization at Sapienza University of Rome) and Fausto Longo (Associate professor of Classical Archaeology at University of the Study of Salerno). Epigraphic and palaeographic study of the so-called Masons’ Marks of the Phaistos palace.
November, 1st-13th 2021: Cannatello excavation, Agrigento, Sicily. Sapienza University of Rome. Project directed by Prof A. Vanzetti (Associate professor of European Protohistory at Sapienza University of Rome). Study centre assistant.
From 2020: Collaboration with ONLUS “Gli amici di Minosse e Radamanto”, directed by A. Greco (Associate professor of Aegean civilization at Sapienza University of Rome) and F. Longo (University of Salerno). Publication of texts about Minoan and Mycenaean culture on official internet site of the ONLUS, www.festos.eu.
February, 18th-March, 2nd 2019: Cannatello excavation, Agrigento, Sicily. University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Project directed by Prof A. Vanzetti (Associate professor of European Protohistory at Sapienza University of Rome). Excavator and study centre assistant.
May, 18th-July, 13th 2019: Palace of Nestor, Pylos (GR). PRAP Project -American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Project directors Dr. Stocker S. and Prof. Davies J., Cincinnati University. Trench Supervisor assistant, excavator and study centre assistant.
March, 1st-April, 30th 2019: Mycenaean palaeography intensive course, Sapienza University of Rome. The course focused on the study of Linear B writing through the experimental reproduction of the writing signs on clay tablets. During the course also RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) technic was used for better investigating Linear B palaeography.
From 2018: Collaboration on THE PAITO/PHAISTOS EPIGRAPHIC PROJECT, under the scientific direction of professor A. Greco (Sapienza University of Rome), with the cooperation of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens (SAIA), the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion (Georgia Flouda) and the University IULM of Milan (Erika Notti).
April 12th 2018: The Linear B Pa-i-to Epigraphic Project – University La Sapienza of Rome, University IULM of Milan, National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum Luigi Pigorini of Rome. RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) Digital Acquisition of the corpus of Haghia Triada tablets, stored in the National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum Luigi Pigorini of Rome, under the direction of Alessandro Greco (Sapienza University of Rome) with the cooperation of Erika Notti (University IULM of Milan). Rome (Italy).
March, 1st-May 31st 2017: Workshop on RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) applied to the study of Mycenaean tablets.
March, 1st-May 31st 2016: Mycenaean philology intensive course, Sapienza University of Rome.
Pubblicazioni:
▪ Giorgi, L. (forthcoming). “Writing on smiths and deities: a comparative study between the Aegean and Anatolia”. Studia Hethitica, Hurritica et Urartaica 2 – Studies in Honour of Marie-Claude Trémouille.
▪ Cesaretti, A., L. Giorgi (forthcoming). “Rethinking an Aegean connection. Notes on the Middle Bronze Age Long Blades from Southern Caucasus”. Ancient West and East 2024.
▪ Giorgi, L., A. Bonfanti (forthcoming). “Adoption and adaptation of writing systems in ancient societies. The cases of Urartian and Mycenaean”. In Proceedings of the 66e Rencontre Assiriologique International - Cultural Contact – Cultures of Contact.
▪ Giorgi, L. (forthcoming). “Review to A.P. Judson, 2020, The Undeciphered signs of Linear B. Interpretation and Scribal Practices, Cambridge, pp. V-XIX; 1-352”, La Parola del Passato (2023).
▪ Greco, A., L. Giorgi, V. Cannavò, D. Gullì, S.T. Levi, A. Vanzetti e P.M. Day (forthcoming). “Segni cipro-minoici su anfore egee da Cannatello (AG): nuovi dati”. In Atti del convegno Periplous: il mare nella Preistoria mediterranea, Siracusa, 19-22 ottobre 2022. In memoria di Calogero Rizzuto e Sebastiano Tusa.
▪ Giorgi, L. (2021). “I Cimmeri tra classicità e territorio. Toponomastica degli antri della costa del Lazio meridionale”, Bollettino USEA, 53-61.
PRESENTATIONS
December 21st, 2023: Lecture for the MA University class of Aegean prehistory at Università IULM di Milano, entitled “Valorizzazione del bene culturale: l’archeologia tra lavoro sul campo e dissemination. I casi studio di Festòs a Creta e di Pilo in Messenia (Grecia)”.
December 16th, 2023: Presentation of the Bollettino della Unione Storia ed Arte. Miscellanea di Studi Umanistici, with a talk entitled “I Cimmeri tra classicità e territorio. Toponomastica degli antri della costa del Lazio meridionale”.
November 11th, 2023: Partecipation in the LVIII Riunione Scientifica Preistoria e Protostoria dell’Umbria Perugia, 8-11 novembre 2023 with a talk in collaboration with A. Vanzetti, S. Lopez, S. Casciarri, M.A. Turchetti, A. Greco, entitled “I dischi d’oro di Gualdo Tadino e il loro universo simbolico: una nuova documentazione per l’approfondimento delle interpretazioni sulla simbologia celeste protostorica”.
June 23rd, 2023: Talk entitled titolo “L’adattamento della Lineare A alla Lineare B secondo la teoria linguistica delle aree marginali” (The adaptation of Linear A to Linear B according to the linguistic theory of the marginal areas) at the seminar seminario Semi di Sapienza. Seminario dei dottorandi della e dalla Sapienza. “Margini e marginalità. Un’analisi multidisciplinare delle figure e dei contesti”.
June 20th, 2023: Talk entitled “How many Weapons for the Palace? An interpretation proposal for the use of ka-ko in the Pylos Linear B tablets” at the conference Sympozjum Egejskie. 9th Conference in Aegean Archaeology presso University of Warsaw, Poland, 19th-20th June 2023.
January 11th, 2023: Lecture for the MA University class of Aegean prehistory at Sapienza University of Rome. Title: “‘Non è tutto oro quel che luccica’. Le registrazioni dei metalli nei testi in Lineare B” (‘Non è tutto oro quel che luccica’. Metal records in Linear B texts).
October 21st, 2022: Talk co-authored with A. Greco, V. Cannavò, D. Gullì, S.T. Levi, A. Vanzetti and P.M. Day, entitled “Segni cipro-minoici su anfore egee da Cannatello (AG): nuovi dati” at the conference Periplous: il mare nella Preistoria mediterranea, Siracusa, 19-22 ottobre 2022. In memoria di Calogero Rizzuto e Sebastiano Tusa.
September 2nd, 2022: Talk entitled “Following the oxhide ingots within Linear B texts between Aegean and East Mediterranean” within the international conference The Connected Past – Heraklion 2022. Networks in the archaeology of the ancient Aegean.
July 28th, 2022: Talk with Dott. Annarita S. Bonfanti, entitled “Adoption and adaptation of writing systems in Ancient societies. The cases of Urartian and Mycenaean” at the 66e Rencontre Assiriologique International - Cultural Contact – Cultures of Contact, 25 July 2022 - 29 July 2022, Mainz.
July 12th, 2022: Lecture entitled “Recording the women of Phaistos: a new Palaeographical Approach to the word PA-I-TI-JA” within the seminar arranged by the CREWS (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems) project – Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University.
May 12th, 2022: Lecture for the MA University class of Aegean prehistory at Sapienza University of Rome. Title: “La classe E di Pilo: il regime fondiario di un regno miceneo” (The Pylos E-series: the land management of a Mycenaean kingdom).
February 15th, 2022: Lecture entitled “E-KE-A e PA-TA-JA: un esempio di filiera produttiva dai documenti micenei in Lineare B” (E-KE-A and PA-TA-JA: an example of a production chain from Mycenaean documents in Linear B) within the seminar “Semi di Sapienza. Seminario dei Dottorandi della e dalla Sapienza” at Sapienza University of Rome, 15th-17th February 2022.
April 29th, 2021: Lecture for the MA University class of Aegean prehistory at Sapienza University of Rome. Title: “La metallurgia nel mondo miceneo: le testimonianze dalle tavolette in Lineare B” (Metallurgy in the Mycenaean world: the evidence from the tablets in Linear B)
March 4th, 2021: Seminar organized by GAL (Gruppo Archeologico Latino – Bruno Martellotta), Grottaferrata (RM, Italy), with a presentation about the origin of writing entitled “Le origini della scrittura. Tra mito, leggenda e storia” (The origins of writing. Between myth, legend, and history).
May 15th, 2018: Lecture for the BA University class of Aegean prehistory at Sapienza University of Rome. Title: “La classe E di Pilo: il regime fondiario di un regno miceneo” (The Pylos E-series: the land management of a Mycenaean kingdom).