Alfredo Coppa
Biographic Data
| ID | 76011 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alfredo Coppa |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alfredo |
| FAMILY NAME | Coppa |
| SIGNATURE | COPPA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sapienza University of Rome |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7708-2484 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 51 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 290 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 51 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Multi-parametric μMRI and Synchrotron radiation-based XPCT for studying human bone tissue in archaeological contexts
In this study, the microporosity and the microstructural topology of archaeological cortical bones from a Roman necropolis, dated to the 1st-3rd century CE, were investigated using two approaches: a direct method based on Synchrotron radiation-based X-ray phase contrast tomography (SXPCT) images and an indirect method, based on a model to extract pore size utilizing data derived from Magnetic Resonance micro-imaging (μMRI) weighted in T2 relaxati…
NOthing goes to WAste (Nowa)
Advancements in archaeological sciences through innovative scientific techniques applied to ancient human remains have increasingly been transforming the study of the past. Destructive analyses of bioarchaeological or palaeontological specimens such as dental histology, isotopic or elemental analysis of dental mineralised tissues, 14C dating, proteomic analysis or ancient DNA are increasingly being applied to obtain ever more refined past life hi…
Exploring prenatal and neonatal life history through dental histology in infants from the Phoenician necropolis of Motya (7th–6th century BCE)
Histomorphometry of deciduous teeth from the Phoenician Motya (Sicily, Italy) • Sex of the infants has been assessed through proteomic analysis of dental enamel. • Stillborn presence excluded by the presence of the birth marker in all the teeth. • Stress markers in prenatal life inversely correlate with individuals’ survivorship. • Enamel growth rates are at the lower limit of the known variability. The biological life history of infants from arc…
A new methodology to estimate flat foot in skeletal remains – the example of Mediterranean collections
has been well-studied in clinical literature and paleoanthropology but has not been approached extensively in bioarchaeology. The main difficulty is related to the diagnosis of this pathology based exclusively on bone remains. In this work, we propose a metric and morphological method to discriminate flat foot in dry bones. Thus, we studied 390 pairs of adult feet in a fair state of preservation from archaeological contexts from Spain, Italy, and…
Cartagine
Dans le cadre de la coopération scientifique entre l’Institut National du Patrimoine et l’Université de Rome « La Sapienza », une première campagne de fouille a eu lieu dans un secteur de la nécropole punique de Dermech à Carthage, dans l’enceinte du parc des thermes d’Antonin et aux abords de la colline de Borj-Jedid, du 17 octobre au 10 novembre 2021.Sous les vestiges romains et byzantins, neuf tombes –à fosse et à chambre unique avec puits d’a…
Skeletal lesion assessment of a Neolithic fishing community
Pathological and normal variability of foot bones in osteological collections from Catalonia (Spain) and Lazio (Italy)
A wide number of factors can affect the structure of the bones in the foot. In bioarchaeology, few studies about foot anomalies include population comparisons and changes across time. We aimed to identify normal and pathological variability that affected the foot in the recent history of West Mediterranean populations. Thus, we analyzed change in occurrence of rare variants, pathological lesions, entheseal morphology, and their probable causes. W…
Economic access influences degenerative spine disease outcomes at rural Late Medieval Villamagna (Lazio, IT )
OBJECTIVES: Degenerative joint disease in the spine is heavily influenced by genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors, as well as exacerbated by physical activity and injury. The objective of this study was to investigate the multivariate relationship between known predictors of degenerative joint disease in the spine, such as age and sex, with mortuary indicators of economic access such as grave inclusions, burial location, and burial type…
Social Dynamics and Resource Management Strategies in Copper Age Italy
Although the amount of data on the Italian Copper Age has increased significantly in the last decades, little is known about the relationship between humans and the environment. Material culture suggests the occurrence of significant social interactions throughout the Italian Peninsula, while the funerary practices indicate that Copper Age groups were strongly rooted in their territories. Here, we attempt to define the relations within Copper Age…
An assessment of the Arabic RH5 Neolithic fishing community’s mortuary practices by examining human rib cross-sections for bioerosion patterns
Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb
The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as…
Home Is the Sailor
This study focuses on the origins and diet of the seafarers on Columbus's second voyage, individuals whose mortal remains were buried in the churchyard of the settlement of La Isabela. This was the very first European town in the Americas, founded by Columbus in the present-day Dominican Republic in early January 1494. Historical sources indicate that most of the crew came from the region of Andalucía, while the remainder came from a range of oth…
The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia
Ancient human movements through Asia Ancient DNA has allowed us to begin tracing the history of human movements across the globe. Narasimhan et al. identify a complex pattern of human migrations and admixture events in South and Central Asia by performing genetic analysis of more than 500 people who lived over the past 8000 years (see the Perspective by Schaefer and Shapiro). They establish key phases in the population prehistory of Eurasia, incl…
Maternal Mortality in 19th- and Early 20th-century Italy
Although dramatically reduced in Western and developed countries, maternal mortality is still today one of the most relevant social and health scourges in developing countries. This is the reason why high levels of maternal mortality are always interpreted as a sign of low living standards, ignorance, poverty and woman discrimination. Maternal mortality represents, therefore, a very peculiar characteristic of demographic systems of ancien regime.…
Making sense of medieval mouths
OBJECTIVES: Bioarchaeological investigations of sex-based differences in the prevalence of dental pathological lesions, particularly caries, have drawn considerable attention, and out of this work, two dominant models have emerged. Traditionally, the first model interprets sex-related patterns in caries as a product of gendered differences in diet. A more recent model interprets a generally higher propensity for caries prevalence in females in li…
Stress Impact in Central Italy During the Iron Age
Social reorganization and biological change
Human skeletal development and feeding behavior
La sépulture au début du Néolithique (VIemillénaire et première moitié du Vemillénaire cal BC) en France méridionale et en Italie
Les pratiques funéraires au début du Néolithique en Méditerranée nord-occidentale ont longtemps été considérées comme une question réglée. Elles seraient caractérisées par une grande homogénéité et une norme funéraire : le défunt serait systématiquement inhumé en dépôt primaire individuel, dans une « simple » fosse, en position fléchie sur le côté, sans ou avec peu de mobilier d'accompagnement. Une analyse archéothanatologique mise en œuvre sur l…
Geographical and temporal changes of anthropometric traits in historical Yemen
The endocast of the one‐million‐year‐old human cranium from Buia (UA 31), Danakil Eritrea
The endocast of UA 31 shows a general plesiomorphic phenotype, with some individual features (e.g., dolichocephaly and rounded lower parietal areas) which confirm a remarkable degree of morphological variability within the H. erectus/ergaster hypodigm. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:458-468, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Scurvy‐related Morbidity and Death among Christopher Columbus' Crew at La Isabela, the First European Town in the New World (1494–1498)
This article explores the living conditions and specifically the possible etiologies of subperiosteal reactions among those seafarers who did not survive Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas and died at La Isabela, the first permanent European settlement in the New World, which is located in the present‐day Dominican Republic. The town was founded in 1494 by Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) and occupied for only 4 years. This study…
Exposure to Cadmium and Lead in an Agropastoral Iron Age Population
Metals present in the environment (soil, water and atmosphere) can affect food safety and human health through bio-accumulation and bio-magnification phenomena. Human exposure to the metals may take place through the environment and by ingesting contaminated food (including water), determining harmful effects usually detectable over the long term. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, local occurrence and concentration of metallic contaminants…
First preliminary evidence for basketry and nut consumption in the Capsian culture (ca. 10,000–7500BP)
A bioarchaeological approach to the reconstruction of changes in military organization among I ron A ge S amnites ( V estini) From A bruzzo, C entral I taly
The Samnites were an Iron Age population that shifted from warlike mountain dwellers to the largest sociopolitical unit of central Italy, able to dispute with Rome the domination over the peninsula. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that this major shift in the scale of conflict may have involved a reorganization of the military system, which changed from an elite militia to a conscript or standing army from the Orientalizing‐Archai…
The late Early Pleistocene human dental remains from Uadi Aalad and Mulhuli-Amo (Buia), Eritrean Danakil
The consilience of historical and isotopic approaches in reconstructing the medieval Mediterranean diet
Newly recognized Pleistocene human teeth from Tabun Cave, Israel
Seven human teeth from Tabun Cave, Israel, curated at the Natural History Museum London since 1955, are of uncertain provenance and identity. They are all from the upper dentition, without duplications, and are characterized by a similar preservation. The Catalogue of Fossil Hominids (1975) suggested that they might have derived from Tabun Layer A (Bronze Age to Recent). However, one of us (AC) noted some distinctive features of these teeth that …
Changes in skeletal robusticity in an iron age agropastoral group
Cross‐sectional geometrical (CSG) properties of an Iron Age Samnite group from the Alfedena necropolis (Abruzzo, Italy, 2600–2400 B.P.) are compared with a Ligurian Neolithic sample (6000–5500 B.P.). In the period under examination, Samnites were organized in a tribal confederation led by patrilinear aristocracies, indicating incipient social stratification. In comparison, Neolithic society lacked clear signs of social hierarchy. The subsistence …
Cranial trauma in iron age Samnite agriculturists, Alfedena, Italy
The Samnites are an Iron Age protohistoric people from the central region of Italy. The skeletal remains are from the Alfedena necropolis, 6th through 5th centuries B.C. Macchiarelli et al. (Antropologia Contemporanea 4 ( 1981 ) 239–243) were the first to report on cranial trauma for this population, presenting four cases with extreme injuries. We re‐examined this well documented skeletal population for additional examples of trauma. Previously u…
Origins and spread of agriculture in Italy
Dental morphological traits were employed in this study as direct indicators of biological affinities among the populations that inhabited the Italian peninsula from the Upper Paleolithic‐Mesolithic to Medieval times. Our analysis aims at contributing to the ongoing debate regarding the origin and spread of agriculture in the peninsula by contrasting the dental evidence of archaeological and modern molecular samples. It is not possible to general…
The endocast of the one‐million‐year‐old human cranium from Buia (UA 31), Danakil Eritrea
The endocast of UA 31 shows a general plesiomorphic phenotype, with some individual features (e.g., dolichocephaly and rounded lower parietal areas) which confirm a remarkable degree of morphological variability within the H. erectus/ergaster hypodigm. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:458-468, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Human skeletal development and feeding behavior
The necropolis of Vallerano (Rome, 2nd-3rd century AD)
The present study investigates the skeletal remains of individuals who were part of a Roman suburban community, in order to assess lifestyle and living conditions in the town's outskirts during the Roman Imperial age. The existence of the community was linked to the functioning of one of the many villas that surrounded the town of Rome at that time. In order to assess health, several indicators were explored, including mortality, oral pathologies…
A bioarchaeological approach to the reconstruction of changes in military organization among I ron A ge S amnites ( V estini) From A bruzzo, C entral I taly
The Samnites were an Iron Age population that shifted from warlike mountain dwellers to the largest sociopolitical unit of central Italy, able to dispute with Rome the domination over the peninsula. Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that this major shift in the scale of conflict may have involved a reorganization of the military system, which changed from an elite militia to a conscript or standing army from the Orientalizing‐Archai…
A one-million-year-old human pubic symphysis
The maxillary dentition of the iron-age population of alfedena (Middle-Adriatic area, Italy)
Changing Plant-based Subsistence Practices among Early and Middle Holocene Communities in Eastern Maghreb
The eastern Maghreb is a key area for understanding environmental and cultural dynamics during the early and middle Holocene. Capsian populations from around 10000–7500 cal BP were among the last foragers in the region. Capsian sites are known as escargotières (land shell middens), and locally called rammadiyat (meaning ashy mound). As taphonomic conditions in Capsian open-air sites generally favour the preservation of resistant materials such as…
Maternal Mortality in 19th- and Early 20th-century Italy
Although dramatically reduced in Western and developed countries, maternal mortality is still today one of the most relevant social and health scourges in developing countries. This is the reason why high levels of maternal mortality are always interpreted as a sign of low living standards, ignorance, poverty and woman discrimination. Maternal mortality represents, therefore, a very peculiar characteristic of demographic systems of ancien regime.…
First preliminary evidence for basketry and nut consumption in the Capsian culture (ca. 10,000–7500BP)
Making sense of medieval mouths
OBJECTIVES: Bioarchaeological investigations of sex-based differences in the prevalence of dental pathological lesions, particularly caries, have drawn considerable attention, and out of this work, two dominant models have emerged. Traditionally, the first model interprets sex-related patterns in caries as a product of gendered differences in diet. A more recent model interprets a generally higher propensity for caries prevalence in females in li…
La sépulture au début du Néolithique (VIemillénaire et première moitié du Vemillénaire cal BC) en France méridionale et en Italie
Les pratiques funéraires au début du Néolithique en Méditerranée nord-occidentale ont longtemps été considérées comme une question réglée. Elles seraient caractérisées par une grande homogénéité et une norme funéraire : le défunt serait systématiquement inhumé en dépôt primaire individuel, dans une « simple » fosse, en position fléchie sur le côté, sans ou avec peu de mobilier d'accompagnement. Une analyse archéothanatologique mise en œuvre sur l…
Stratigraphic context and paleoenvironmental significance of minor taxa (Pisces, Reptilia, Aves, Rodentia) from the late Early Pleistocene paleoanthropological site of Buia (Eritrea)
Social Dynamics and Resource Management Strategies in Copper Age Italy
Although the amount of data on the Italian Copper Age has increased significantly in the last decades, little is known about the relationship between humans and the environment. Material culture suggests the occurrence of significant social interactions throughout the Italian Peninsula, while the funerary practices indicate that Copper Age groups were strongly rooted in their territories. Here, we attempt to define the relations within Copper Age…
Exploring prenatal and neonatal life history through dental histology in infants from the Phoenician necropolis of Motya (7th–6th century BCE)
Histomorphometry of deciduous teeth from the Phoenician Motya (Sicily, Italy) • Sex of the infants has been assessed through proteomic analysis of dental enamel. • Stillborn presence excluded by the presence of the birth marker in all the teeth. • Stress markers in prenatal life inversely correlate with individuals’ survivorship. • Enamel growth rates are at the lower limit of the known variability. The biological life history of infants from arc…
Scurvy‐related Morbidity and Death among Christopher Columbus' Crew at La Isabela, the First European Town in the New World (1494–1498)
This article explores the living conditions and specifically the possible etiologies of subperiosteal reactions among those seafarers who did not survive Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas and died at La Isabela, the first permanent European settlement in the New World, which is located in the present‐day Dominican Republic. The town was founded in 1494 by Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) and occupied for only 4 years. This study…
Home Is the Sailor
This study focuses on the origins and diet of the seafarers on Columbus's second voyage, individuals whose mortal remains were buried in the churchyard of the settlement of La Isabela. This was the very first European town in the Americas, founded by Columbus in the present-day Dominican Republic in early January 1494. Historical sources indicate that most of the crew came from the region of Andalucía, while the remainder came from a range of oth…
Dental anthropology and paleodemography of the precolumbian populations of hispaniola from the third millennium B.C. to the Spanish conquest
Stress Impact in Central Italy During the Iron Age
Exposure to Cadmium and Lead in an Agropastoral Iron Age Population
Metals present in the environment (soil, water and atmosphere) can affect food safety and human health through bio-accumulation and bio-magnification phenomena. Human exposure to the metals may take place through the environment and by ingesting contaminated food (including water), determining harmful effects usually detectable over the long term. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, local occurrence and concentration of metallic contaminants…
The maxillary dentition of the iron-age population of alfedena (Middle-Adriatic area, Italy)
A comparison of dental enamel defects in Christian and Meroitic populations from Geili, central Sudan
El Geili, located in the region of the Middle Nile, was occupied successively by Neolithic, Meroitic, and Christian populations at betweenn 3,500 BC and 1,500 AD. The scant archaeological evidence suggests that the Meroitic and Christian populations at Geili were patoral nomads. Dental enamel hypoplasias, indicators of general stress (malnutrition/disease), were studied in order to characterize and compare the health of these groups. A total of 1…
Problems of an aquatic diet in trace element analysis
Dental anthropology and paleodemography of the precolumbian populations of hispaniola from the third millennium B.C. to the Spanish conquest
Biological Relationships of Etruscan-Culture Communities
Paleodata for different geographical areas
Dental anthropology of Central‐Southern, Iron Age Italy
Discrete and metric dental traits are used to assess biological similarities and differences among 13 bioarchaeological populations located on each side of the Apennine mountains in central-southern Italy and dated to the first millennium BC. An initial hypothesis, that the mountain chain might provide a significant geographical barrier for population movement (resulting in greater biological affinities among those groups on the same side), is no…
Dental anthropology of Central-Southern, Iron Age Italy
Discrete and metric dental traits are used to assess biological similarities and differences among 13 bioarchaeological populations located on each side of the Apennine mountains in central-southern Italy and dated to the first millennium BC. An initial hypothesis, that the mountain chain might provide a significant geographical barrier for population movement (resulting in greater biological affinities among those groups on the same side), is no…
Dental evidence of biological affinity and environmental conditions in prehistoric Trentino (Italy) samples from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age
The use of teeth in anthropological analyses has always provided valuable information on the subsistence patterns of human communities, as well as the biological relationships among them. The present study analyses the permanent dentition of several diachronically continuing samples from the Trentino alpine region of Italy from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The study of both metric and non-metric dental traits show a strong level of homo…
Natality and the Changing Pattern of Seasonality of Births in the Province of Teramo (Abruzzo, Italy
Reconstruction of human ecosystems and their stability over time provides knowledge of the processes of adaptability developed by isolated communities. Seasonality of vital events is a good indicator of the effects of different ‘traditional’ lifestyles, which in turn depend on the ecological context in which a population developed specific subsistence models. Seasonality of births reflects the cultural attitude towards the best time to conceive, …
Where West Meets East
Subsistence patterns as regulators of vital events. The case study
Newly recognized Pleistocene human teeth from Tabun Cave, Israel
Seven human teeth from Tabun Cave, Israel, curated at the Natural History Museum London since 1955, are of uncertain provenance and identity. They are all from the upper dentition, without duplications, and are characterized by a similar preservation. The Catalogue of Fossil Hominids (1975) suggested that they might have derived from Tabun Layer A (Bronze Age to Recent). However, one of us (AC) noted some distinctive features of these teeth that …
A one-million-year-old human pubic symphysis
The necropolis of Vallerano (Rome, 2nd-3rd century AD)
The present study investigates the skeletal remains of individuals who were part of a Roman suburban community, in order to assess lifestyle and living conditions in the town's outskirts during the Roman Imperial age. The existence of the community was linked to the functioning of one of the many villas that surrounded the town of Rome at that time. In order to assess health, several indicators were explored, including mortality, oral pathologies…
A health assessment of high status Christian burials recovered from the Roman–Byzantine archeological site of Elaiussa Sebaste, Turkey
Cranial trauma in iron age Samnite agriculturists, Alfedena, Italy
The Samnites are an Iron Age protohistoric people from the central region of Italy. The skeletal remains are from the Alfedena necropolis, 6th through 5th centuries B.C. Macchiarelli et al. (Antropologia Contemporanea 4 ( 1981 ) 239–243) were the first to report on cranial trauma for this population, presenting four cases with extreme injuries. We re‐examined this well documented skeletal population for additional examples of trauma. Previously u…
Origins and spread of agriculture in Italy
Dental morphological traits were employed in this study as direct indicators of biological affinities among the populations that inhabited the Italian peninsula from the Upper Paleolithic‐Mesolithic to Medieval times. Our analysis aims at contributing to the ongoing debate regarding the origin and spread of agriculture in the peninsula by contrasting the dental evidence of archaeological and modern molecular samples. It is not possible to general…
Evidence for new Neanderthal teeth in Tabun Cave (Israel) by the application of self-organizing maps (SOMs)
The consilience of historical and isotopic approaches in reconstructing the medieval Mediterranean diet
Italian Populations During the Copper Age
The Copper Age (3rd millennium BC) was characterized by considerable socioeconomic transformations and coincided with the discovery of metallurgy. In this study we reconstruct the peopling of Italy during this period on the basis of dental morphology traits. Dental remains from 41 sites throughout Italy were analyzed; only three of the sites (Laterza and two from Sicily) span from the late Copper Age to the early Bronze Age. To work with adequate…
Abstracts of AAPA poster and podium presentations
Changes in skeletal robusticity in an iron age agropastoral group
Cross‐sectional geometrical (CSG) properties of an Iron Age Samnite group from the Alfedena necropolis (Abruzzo, Italy, 2600–2400 B.P.) are compared with a Ligurian Neolithic sample (6000–5500 B.P.). In the period under examination, Samnites were organized in a tribal confederation led by patrilinear aristocracies, indicating incipient social stratification. In comparison, Neolithic society lacked clear signs of social hierarchy. The subsistence …
Microgeographic Differentiation in Historical Yemen Inferred by Morphometric Distances
This study analyzed the variations in space of 8 body dimensions and 11 measures of the head of 1,244 adult Yemenite males, collected in 1933/34 by Coon in Yemen and in Hadhramawt. The aim was to evaluate the presence of geographic microdifferentiation of the populations settled in the different regions of Yemen at the time. Coon sub-divided the sample into six geographical areas according to birthplace and ethnicity of the individuals: Tihamah, …
Stratigraphic context and paleoenvironmental significance of minor taxa (Pisces, Reptilia, Aves, Rodentia) from the late Early Pleistocene paleoanthropological site of Buia (Eritrea)
Geography (38 works) · Archaeology (36 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (34 works) · Biology (26 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Population (18 works) · Demography (17 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (16 works) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (15 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (12 works)