Associate Professor in Prehistory and Protohistory at the Department of Scienze dell'Antichità, University of Rome La Sapienza, since October 1, 2023.
In 2008, she completed her Ph.D. in African Studies (Prehistory ) at the University of Naples L'Orientale, with research on settlement patterns in middle Holocene sites in Eastern Sahara (Egypt) through the study of mobile camps. Since then, she has been actively involved in research projects in the Sahara region (Egypt and Libya), East Africa (central Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya), and the Arabian Peninsula (Sultanate of Oman). She directs and co-directs two projects in southern Ethiopia, one in Italy in Riparo Ranaldi (Filiano, PZ), and has recently started a project in Tanzania.
Her research interests include Neolithic, Pastoralism, Mobility Rock Art, Prehistoric Art, Gender Archaeology, Cultural Heritage Management, Digital humanities, and Postcolonial Archaeology.
In particular, his research focuses on the following themes:
- the interaction between humans and the environment in arid areas and the strategies humans have adopted to cope with climate change. In particular, the main interest is in the emergence and practice of pastoralism in Africa, including symbolic (rock art), ceremonial, and mobility aspects;
- rock art studied with an integrated approach combining contextual and landscape analysis, visual studies, digital humanities, and iconographic analysis;
- survey, study, and conservation of prehistoric rock art;
- the study of human representation in African and Mediterranean area prehistory;
- cultural heritage management and sustainable development.