Valentina Giuffra
Valentina Giuffra is Associate Professor of History of Medicine at the Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery of the University of Pisa. She was involved in the paleopathological study of relevant personages of the Italian history, such as the members of the Medici family of Florence, and in the study of Italian artificial and natural mummies; she coordinated several bioarchaeological projects on Italian archaeological populations. Her major lines of research have focussed on the paleopathology of Middle Ages and Renaissance, applying a broad bioarchaeological approach to the study of large skeletal series.
Alexandra Chavarría Arnau
Born in Barcelona (Spain), Alexandra Chavarría Arnau is a full professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Padua. Her scientific interests range from various themes related to late antique and medieval archaeology (settlements, churches, cemeteries), to the development of innovative methods in the study of architecture, rural and urban historical landscapes, in the field of bioarchaeology and public archaeology. She has directed archaeological excavations at the sites of Monselice (2021-2023); Castelseprio (2020-2023), Torba (2013-2019), Santa Maria di Lugo, Ve (2008-2010), Maguzzano, Bs (2005-2008), San Pietro di Limone, Bs (2013, 2014).
Antonio Fornaciari
Antonio Fornaciari is research fellow of History of Medicine at the Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery of the University of Pisa. His research have focussed on the paleopathology, funerary archaeology and bioarchaeology of Italian Middle Ages and Modern Age. He is the Director of the Field School Pozzeveri in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology, and has directed archaeological excavations at the Castle of Benabbio, LU, (2012-2014) and at the Abbey of Badia Pozzeveri, LU, (2012-2023).
Maurizio Marinato
Maurizio Marinato is a medieval archaeologist specialized in the study of funerary contexts. In this field, he has conducted multidisciplinary analyses to understand the social, economic, and political characteristics of Northern Italy in the post-classical era, through demographic, paleopathological, isotopic, and genetic analyses. He has held roles in site management and as a field anthropologist in numerous archaeological excavations in Italy and abroad (in collaboration with the University of Durham). He currently is contract professor at the university of Padova where he also takes part at the Biolalia thanks to a research grant funded by the PRIN project.
Bianca Casa
Bianca Casa is a human bioarchaeologist and graduate research assistant at the Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery of the University of Pisa. She is presently a PhD candidate at The Cyprus Institute. Bianca’s research uses archaeological skeletal assemblages to assess human-environment interactions in the past, particularly in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. She has used multidisciplinary approaches to human bioarchaeology, including synchrotron radiation-based techniques, as well as the development of new techniques involving 3D modelling for the assessment of pathologies, and their application to burials in situ for the study of funerary taphonomy and archaeothanatology.
Alessandra Mazzucchi
Alessandra Mazzucchi is a physical anthropologist, graduated in Natural Sciences at the University of Milan. From 2001 to 2015, she worked at Labanof (Laboratory of Anthropology and Forensic Odontology – University of Milan). Since 2001, she has been involved in methodological research for osteology, excavation, recovery, and study of buried and cremated archaeological skeletons, with skills in histology and digital technologies for osteology. She is the President of the ETS Osteoarc -APS Associations for the dissemination of osteology and the LabDig3A Academy for advanced training in Cultural Heritage and technology. She currently collaborates with the University of Padua thanks to a research grant funded by the PRIN project.
