Project Publications

Thompson, J.E., Panella, S., Soncin, S., Tafuri, M.A., Candilio, F., Muntoni, I., Sperduti, A., Robb, J. 2024. The use-life of ancestors: A rare example of Neolithic cranial retention and caching at Masseria Candelaro, Italy. European Journal of Archaeology: 10.1017/eaa.2024.43

Farese, M., Soncin, S., Robb, Tafuri, M.A. 2024. Prehistoric Italian foodways: Meta-analysis of stable isotope data from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Quaternary Science Reviews 345: 109056

Thompson, J.E., Robb, J., Panella, S., Booth, T.J., Soncin, S., Rajkovaca, T., Belcastro, M.G., Isetti, E., Mariotti, V., Muntoni, I.M., Radina, F., Sivilli, S., Traverso, A., Tafuri, M. 2024. Histotaphonomic analysis of bone bioerosion reveals a regional framework of diverse deathways in the Neolithic of Southeast Italy. PLOS ONE19(6): e0304058

Thompson, J.E., Robb, J., Scheib, C.L., Inskip, S., Bates, J., Ge, X., Griffith, S. J., Wohns, A. W. 2023. Test of the lateral angle method of sex estimation on Anglo‐Saxon and Medieval archaeological populations with genetically estimated sex. Archaeometry 66(2): 445-457

Farese, M., Robb, J.,Soncin, S., Fernandes, R., Tafuri, M. 2023. The Mediterranean archive of isotopic data, a dataset to explore lifeways from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Scientific Data 10: 917

Tafuri, M.A., Soncin, S., Panella, S., Thompson, J.E., Tiberi, I., Fabbri, P.F., Sivilli, S., Radina, F., Minozzi, S., Muntoni, I.M., Fiorentino, G., Robb, J. 2023. Regional long-term analysis of dietary isotopes in Neolithic southeastern Italy: new patterns and research directions. Scientific Reports13: 7914.

Fontanals-Coll, M., Soncin, S., Talbot, H.M., von Tersch, M., Gibaja, J.F, Colonese, A.C., Craig, O.E. 2023. Stable isotope analyses of amino acids reveal the importance of aquatic resources to Mediterranean coastal hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 290: 20221330.

Elliott, E., Saupe, T., Thompson, J.E., Robb, J.E. and Scheib, C.L. 2023. Sex bias in Neolithic megalithic burials. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1): 196-206.

Relevant works by project members:

Stoddart, S., Power, R. K., Thompson, J. E., Mercieca-Spiteri, B., McLaughlin, R., Parkinson, E. W., Pace, A., & Malone, C. (Eds.). 2022. Temple people: Bioarchaeology, resilience and culture in prehistoric Malta. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Saupe, T., Montinaro, F., Scaggion, C., Carrara, N., Kivisild, T., D’Atanasio, E., Hui, R., Solnik, A., Lebrasseur, O., Larson, G., Alessandri, L., Arienzo, I., De Angelis, F., Rolfo, M.F., Skeates, R., Silvestri, L., Beckett, J., Talamo, S., Dolfini, A., Miari, M., Metspalu, M., Benazzi, S., Capelli, C., Pagani, L. & Scheib, C.L. 2021. Ancient genomes reveal structural shifts after the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the Italian Peninsula. Current Biology 31(12).

Saag, L., Vasilyev, S.V., Varul, L., Kosorukova, N.V., Gerasimov, D.V., Oshibkina, S.V., Griffith, S.J., Solnik, A., Saag, L., D’Atanasio, E., Metspalu, E., Reidla, M., Rootsi, S., Kivisild, T., Scheib, C.L., Tambets, K., Kriiska, A. & Metspalu, M. 2021. Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain. Science Advances 7(4).

Bortolini, E., Pagani, L., Oxilia, G., Posth, C., Fontana, F., Badino, F., Saupe, T., Montinaro, F., Margaritora, D., Romandini, M., Lugli, F., Papini, A., Boggioni, M., Perrini, N., Oxilia, A., Cigliano, R.A., Barcelona, R., Visentin, D., Fasser, N., Arrighi, S., Figus, C., Marciani, G., Silvestrini, S., Bernardini, F., Menghi Sartorio, J.C., Fiorenza, L., Cecchi, J.M., Tuniz, C., Kivisild, T., Gianfrancesco, F., Peresani, M., Scheib, C.L., Talamo, S., D’Esposito, M. & Benazzi, S. 2021. Early Alpine occupation backdates westward human migration in Late Glacial Europe. Current Biology 31(11).

Colonese, A.C., Winter, R., Brandi, R., Fossile, T., Fernandes, R., Soncin, S., McGrath, K., Von Tersch M., & Bandeira, A.M., 2020. Stable isotope evidence for dietary diversification in the pre-Columbian Amazon. Scientific Reports 10(1): 1–11.

Robb, J., 2019. Beyond Individual Lives: Using Comparative Osteobiography to Trace Social Patterns in Classical Italy. Bioarchaeology International 3(1): 58–77.

Robb, J., Inskip, S., Cessford, C., Dittmar, J., Kivisild, T., Mitchell, P., Mulder, B., O’Connell, T., Price, M., Rose, A. & Scheib, C.L. 2019. Osteobiography: The History of the Body as Real Bottom-Line History. Bioarchaeology International 3(1): 16–31.

Robb, J. & Harris, O.J.T., 2018. Becoming gendered in European prehistory: Was Neolithic gender fundamentally different? American Antiquity 83(1): 128–47.

Thompson, J.E., Martín-Vega, D., Buck,L.T., Power, R.K.,Stoddart, S. & Malone, C. 2018. Identification of dermestid beetle modification on Neolithic Maltese human bone: Implications for funerary practices at the Xemxija tombs. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 22: 123–31.

Tafuri, M.A., Rottoli, M., Cupitò, M., Pulcini, M.L., Tasca, G., Carrara, N., Bonfanti, F., Salzani, L. & Canci, A. 2018. Estimating C4 plant consumption in Bronze Age Northeastern Italy through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 28(2): 131–42.

Soncin, S., Belli,M.L. & Manzi, G., 2017. The Museum of Anthropology at the Sapienza University, Rome. Nuova Museologia 37: 8–14.

Saponetti, S.S., Tafuri, M.A., O’Connell, T. & Robb, J.E. 2017. Evidenze isotopiche e paleodieta nel Neolitico Pugliese. Verso la globalizzazione? Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria - Protostoria e Protostoria della Puglia 4: 357–61.

Elster, E.S., Isetti, E., Rellini, I., Robb, J.E., Tafuri, M.A. 2017. Vedere il mondo da Scaloria. Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria - Protostoria e Protostoria della Puglia 4: 239–43.

Knüsel, C.J. & Robb, J.E. 2016. Funerary taphonomy: An overview of goals and methods. Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports 10: 655–73.

Traverso, A., Robb, J., E. Isetti E., Elster, E.S. 2016. The Archaeology of Grotta Scaloria: Ritual in Neolithic Southeast Italy. ULCA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.

Varalli, A., Moggi-Cecchi, J., Dori, I., Boccone, S., Bortoluzzi, S., Salzani, P. & Tafuri, M.A. 2016. Dietary continuity vs. discontinuity in Bronze Age Italy. The isotopic evidence from Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona, Italy). Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 7: 104–13.

Soncin, S., Hendy, J., Speller, C., Manzi G. & Tafuri, M.A. 2016. Diet and Health in Middle Bronze Age Italy: a metaproteomic analysis of human dental calculus in two case-studies. IMEKO International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Proceedings. Turin, Italy.

Tafuri, M.A., Fullagar, P.D., O’Connell, T.C., Belcastro, M.G., Iacumin, P., Conati Barbaro, C., Sanseverino R. & Robb, J.E. 2016. Life and death in Neolithic southeastern Italy: The strontium isotopic evidence: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26(6): 1045–57.

Robb, J., Elster, E.S., Isetti, E., Knusel, C.J., Tafuri, M.A. & Traverso, A. 2015. Cleaning the dead: Neolithic ritual processing of human bone at Scaloria Cave, Italy. Antiquity 89(343): 39–54.

Tafuri, M.A., Craig O.E. & Canci, A. 2009. Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 139(2): 146–53.

Robb, J. 2007. The Early Mediterranean Village: Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change in Neolithic Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Robb, J., Bigazzi, R., Lazzarini, L., Scarsini, C., & Sonego, F, 2001. Social ‘status’ and biological ‘status’: a comparison of grave goods and skeletal indicators from Pontecagnano. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 115(3), 213–22.

Robb, J. 1997. International tooth removal in Neolithic Italian women. Antiquity 71(273): 659–69.