Anita Radini
Biographic Data
| ID | 85501 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anita Radini |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anita |
| FAMILY NAME | Radini |
| SIGNATURE | RADINI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2099-2639 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 239 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
The Oral Microbiome of King Richard III of England
Cuisine and culture-contact
Diet and material culture are interlinked, and examination of organic residues in ceramic vessels permits the simultaneous study of both; exemplified here in the analysis of early-medieval pottery from England and Denmark for biomarkers indicative of fish processing, a possible dietary indicator of Scandinavian migration during the Viking Age ( c . AD 793–1066). While almost a quarter of sampled Danish pots were used to cook fish, diagnostic aqua…
From Food to Environments
Dental calculus in the industrial age
The analysis of dental calculus (mineralised dental plaque) has become an increasingly important facet of bioarchaeological research. Although microscopic analysis of microdebris entrapped within dental calculus has revealed important insights into the diet, health, and environment of multiple prehistoric populations, relatively few studies have examined the contributions of this approach to more recent historical periods. In this study, we analy…
More than what we eat
Starch granules and other plant tissues are commonly found as part of the microdebris assemblage analysed within dental calculus. These are often interpreted as evidence of past diets. However, many of the starch granules extracted from dental calculus are intact, and do not show evidence of alterations as a result of being processed for consumption. This research examines if plant material can accidently enter the mouth while being processed for…
Beyond dirty teeth
The study of ancient human dental calculus (mineralized dental plaque, also known as tartar) is becoming increasingly important in osteoarchaeology, human palaeoecology and environmental archaeology. Microremains of different origin (e.g. starch granules, pollen, phytoliths, feather barbules) as well as biomolecules and chemical compounds retrieved from its mineral matrix may represent an important link between past humans and their physical, bio…
Isotopic evidence for human mobility in late antique Bulla Regia (Tunisia)
This paper represents the first isotopic study on late antique human mobility in North Africa, using the urban site of Bulla Regia in Tunisia as a case study. We also present the first values for bioavailable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr in northern Tunisia, analysing 63 plant and snail samples, as well as a simple method for the pre-processing of plants in the field to facilitate their export. Bulla Regia was a prominent Roman and late antique town situated on …
Bulla Regia II
This paper reports the preliminary results from three seasons of excavations in the Christian cemetery by the Tunisian-British Bulla Regia Archaeological Project. In 2017–2019, excavations in, and around, the Late Antique church in the western cemetery uncovered a complex funerary landscape with a variety of different tomb types, including mosaic caisson tombs, simple masonry tombs, amphora tombs, and earthen graves and multiple funerary mensae .…
Occupational patterns in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval East Midlands, England
This paper examines five assemblages from the East Midlands, England, assessing activity-related skeletal changes with the aim of exploring differences in labor-linked social divisions between the Anglo-Saxon (5th-11th century) and medieval periods (11th-15th century). The Anglo-Saxon assemblages come from Empingham and Southwell, while all three medieval assemblages originate from Leicester (St Michael's cemetery, St Peter's cemetery, Austin Fri…
Exploring late Paleolithic and Mesolithic diet in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy through multiple proxies
Objectives The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene …
Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire
Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a signif…
First direct evidence of wild plant grinding process from the Holocene Sahara
The application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of groundstones used in wild plants processing
In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked materials. In particular, the combination of surface morphometry with a systematic experimental framework an…
Multidisciplinary investigations of the diets of two post-medieval populations from London using stable isotopes and microdebris analysis
Lives before and after Stonehenge
Osteobiographies of four individuals whose skeletal remains were recovered in 2015–16 from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are constructed, drawing upon evidence from funerary taphonomy, radiocarbon dating, osteological study, stable isotope analyses, and microscopic and biomolecular analyses of dental calculus. The burials comprise an adult from the Middle Neolithic period, immediately prior to the building of Stonehenge, and two adults and a…
Social food here and hereafter
The identification of archaeological eggshell using peptide markers
Avian eggshell survives well in alkaline and neutral soils, but its potential as an archaeological resource remains largely unexplored, mainly due to difficulties in its identification. Here we exploit the release of novel bird genomes and, for the first time on eggshell, use MALDI-ToF (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight) mass spectrometry in combination with peptide sequencing by LC-MS/MS. The eggshell proteome is reveale…
Beyond food
Dental calculus (mineralized dental plaque) was first recognised as a potentially useful archaeological deposit in the 1970s, though interest in human dental calculus as a resource material has increased sharply in the past few years. The majority of recent research has focused on the retrieval of plant microfossils embedded in its matrix and interpretation of these finds as largely the result of deliberate consumption of plant‐derived food. Howe…
Ancient lipids document continuity in the use of early hunter–gatherer pottery through 9,000 years of Japanese prehistory
Significance Pottery has had a central role in human society for many millennia, but the reasons for the emergence and spread of this technology are poorly understood. First invented by groups of hunter–gatherers living in East Asia during the last glacial period, production only began to flourish with rising global temperatures in the Holocene, but the reasons for its uptake and spread are unknown. Through chemical analysis of their contents, we…
The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa. Use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya
Lithic Residue Survival and Characterisation at Star Carr
A modern burial experiment was devised to test microscopic residue survival in acidic peat and slightly acidic clay soils at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr (North Yorkshire, UK), and at nearby control location. The experiment addresses concerns regarding the applicability of residue analysis in varied burial environments, and particularly in highly acidic archaeological conditions. Flint flakes (n= 78, including blank controls) were used …
Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus
Dental calculus reveals potential respiratory irritants and ingestion of essential plant-based nutrients at Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave Israel
Dental Calculus Reveals Unique Insights into Food Items, Cooking and Plant Processing in Prehistoric Central Sudan
Accessing information on plant consumption before the adoption of agriculture is challenging. However, there is growing evidence for use of locally available wild plants from an increasing number of pre-agrarian sites, suggesting broad ecological knowledge. The extraction of chemical compounds and microfossils from dental calculus removed from ancient teeth offers an entirely new perspective on dietary reconstruction, as it provides empirical res…
Pathogens and host immunity in the ancient human oral cavity
Dental calculus reveals potential respiratory irritants and ingestion of essential plant-based nutrients at Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave Israel
Desert Migrations
The Desert Migrations Project is a new interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional collaborative project between the Society for Libyan Studies and the Department of Antiquities. The geographical focus of the study is the Fazzan region of southwest Libya and in thematic terms we aim to address the theme of migration in the broadest sense, encompassing the movement of people, ideas/knowledge and material culture into and out of Fazzan, along with evid…
DMP V
The ‘Burials and Identity’ team of the Desert Migrations Project carried out two main excavations in the 2009 season, at the monumental Garamantian cemeteries of TAG001 and TAG012, by the Taqallit headland. In addition, a detailed survey was made of cemeteries and other sites on the west side of the Taqallit headland, to set the two main cemetery excavations in context. A total of over 2,100 individual burials was recorded in this small area of a…
Beyond food
Dental calculus (mineralized dental plaque) was first recognised as a potentially useful archaeological deposit in the 1970s, though interest in human dental calculus as a resource material has increased sharply in the past few years. The majority of recent research has focused on the retrieval of plant microfossils embedded in its matrix and interpretation of these finds as largely the result of deliberate consumption of plant‐derived food. Howe…
DMP X
Survey by the DMP Burials and Identity team around the Tāqallit headland in 2009–2010 has revealed in exceptional detail a well-preserved Garamantian landscape, comprising extensive cemeteries, foggara irrigation systems and numerous oasis settlements. However, this remarkable survival of the Garamantian landscape was found in 2010 to be under direct and imminent threat of destruction. This report describes the landscape features recorded and the…
Social food here and hereafter
Lithic Residue Survival and Characterisation at Star Carr
A modern burial experiment was devised to test microscopic residue survival in acidic peat and slightly acidic clay soils at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr (North Yorkshire, UK), and at nearby control location. The experiment addresses concerns regarding the applicability of residue analysis in varied burial environments, and particularly in highly acidic archaeological conditions. Flint flakes (n= 78, including blank controls) were used …
Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus
DMP Ix
The fourth season of the Burials and Identity component of the Desert Migrations Project in 2010 focused on completion of excavation work at two main cemeteries (TAG001 and TAG012) and smaller-scale sampling work at a number of nearby cemeteries. The investigation of a number of burials in a semi-nucleated escarpment cemetery TAG063 produced interesting new information on Proto-Urban Garamantian funerary rites, dating to the latter centuries BC. …
DMP Xii
Survey and excavation by the Burials and Identity team of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focused in 2011 on the so-called Royal Cemetery of the Garamantes close to the Jarma escarpment, a few km south of Old Jarma. This Late Garamantian cemetery contains two distinct zones (GSC030 and GSC031) of monumental rectangular stepped tombs, which were plaster-coated and fronted by massive offering tables and stelae. Previous dating evidence has sugg…
First direct evidence of wild plant grinding process from the Holocene Sahara
Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire
Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a signif…
Multidisciplinary investigations of the diets of two post-medieval populations from London using stable isotopes and microdebris analysis
The application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of groundstones used in wild plants processing
In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked materials. In particular, the combination of surface morphometry with a systematic experimental framework an…
Exploring late Paleolithic and Mesolithic diet in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy through multiple proxies
Objectives The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene …
Lives before and after Stonehenge
Osteobiographies of four individuals whose skeletal remains were recovered in 2015–16 from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are constructed, drawing upon evidence from funerary taphonomy, radiocarbon dating, osteological study, stable isotope analyses, and microscopic and biomolecular analyses of dental calculus. The burials comprise an adult from the Middle Neolithic period, immediately prior to the building of Stonehenge, and two adults and a…
Bulla Regia II
This paper reports the preliminary results from three seasons of excavations in the Christian cemetery by the Tunisian-British Bulla Regia Archaeological Project. In 2017–2019, excavations in, and around, the Late Antique church in the western cemetery uncovered a complex funerary landscape with a variety of different tomb types, including mosaic caisson tombs, simple masonry tombs, amphora tombs, and earthen graves and multiple funerary mensae .…
Occupational patterns in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval East Midlands, England
This paper examines five assemblages from the East Midlands, England, assessing activity-related skeletal changes with the aim of exploring differences in labor-linked social divisions between the Anglo-Saxon (5th-11th century) and medieval periods (11th-15th century). The Anglo-Saxon assemblages come from Empingham and Southwell, while all three medieval assemblages originate from Leicester (St Michael's cemetery, St Peter's cemetery, Austin Fri…
Desert Migrations
The Desert Migrations Project is a new interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional collaborative project between the Society for Libyan Studies and the Department of Antiquities. The geographical focus of the study is the Fazzan region of southwest Libya and in thematic terms we aim to address the theme of migration in the broadest sense, encompassing the movement of people, ideas/knowledge and material culture into and out of Fazzan, along with evid…
DMP V
The ‘Burials and Identity’ team of the Desert Migrations Project carried out two main excavations in the 2009 season, at the monumental Garamantian cemeteries of TAG001 and TAG012, by the Taqallit headland. In addition, a detailed survey was made of cemeteries and other sites on the west side of the Taqallit headland, to set the two main cemetery excavations in context. A total of over 2,100 individual burials was recorded in this small area of a…
DMP Ix
The fourth season of the Burials and Identity component of the Desert Migrations Project in 2010 focused on completion of excavation work at two main cemeteries (TAG001 and TAG012) and smaller-scale sampling work at a number of nearby cemeteries. The investigation of a number of burials in a semi-nucleated escarpment cemetery TAG063 produced interesting new information on Proto-Urban Garamantian funerary rites, dating to the latter centuries BC. …
DMP X
Survey by the DMP Burials and Identity team around the Tāqallit headland in 2009–2010 has revealed in exceptional detail a well-preserved Garamantian landscape, comprising extensive cemeteries, foggara irrigation systems and numerous oasis settlements. However, this remarkable survival of the Garamantian landscape was found in 2010 to be under direct and imminent threat of destruction. This report describes the landscape features recorded and the…
DMP Xii
Survey and excavation by the Burials and Identity team of the Desert Migrations Project (DMP) focused in 2011 on the so-called Royal Cemetery of the Garamantes close to the Jarma escarpment, a few km south of Old Jarma. This Late Garamantian cemetery contains two distinct zones (GSC030 and GSC031) of monumental rectangular stepped tombs, which were plaster-coated and fronted by massive offering tables and stelae. Previous dating evidence has sugg…
Dental Calculus Reveals Unique Insights into Food Items, Cooking and Plant Processing in Prehistoric Central Sudan
Accessing information on plant consumption before the adoption of agriculture is challenging. However, there is growing evidence for use of locally available wild plants from an increasing number of pre-agrarian sites, suggesting broad ecological knowledge. The extraction of chemical compounds and microfossils from dental calculus removed from ancient teeth offers an entirely new perspective on dietary reconstruction, as it provides empirical res…
Pathogens and host immunity in the ancient human oral cavity
Dental calculus reveals potential respiratory irritants and ingestion of essential plant-based nutrients at Lower Palaeolithic Qesem Cave Israel
Ancient lipids document continuity in the use of early hunter–gatherer pottery through 9,000 years of Japanese prehistory
Significance Pottery has had a central role in human society for many millennia, but the reasons for the emergence and spread of this technology are poorly understood. First invented by groups of hunter–gatherers living in East Asia during the last glacial period, production only began to flourish with rising global temperatures in the Holocene, but the reasons for its uptake and spread are unknown. Through chemical analysis of their contents, we…
The exploitation of wild plants in Neolithic North Africa. Use-wear and residue analysis on non-knapped stone tools from the Haua Fteah cave, Cyrenaica, Libya
Lithic Residue Survival and Characterisation at Star Carr
A modern burial experiment was devised to test microscopic residue survival in acidic peat and slightly acidic clay soils at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr (North Yorkshire, UK), and at nearby control location. The experiment addresses concerns regarding the applicability of residue analysis in varied burial environments, and particularly in highly acidic archaeological conditions. Flint flakes (n= 78, including blank controls) were used …
Neanderthals, trees and dental calculus
The identification of archaeological eggshell using peptide markers
Avian eggshell survives well in alkaline and neutral soils, but its potential as an archaeological resource remains largely unexplored, mainly due to difficulties in its identification. Here we exploit the release of novel bird genomes and, for the first time on eggshell, use MALDI-ToF (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight) mass spectrometry in combination with peptide sequencing by LC-MS/MS. The eggshell proteome is reveale…
Beyond food
Dental calculus (mineralized dental plaque) was first recognised as a potentially useful archaeological deposit in the 1970s, though interest in human dental calculus as a resource material has increased sharply in the past few years. The majority of recent research has focused on the retrieval of plant microfossils embedded in its matrix and interpretation of these finds as largely the result of deliberate consumption of plant‐derived food. Howe…
Lives before and after Stonehenge
Osteobiographies of four individuals whose skeletal remains were recovered in 2015–16 from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are constructed, drawing upon evidence from funerary taphonomy, radiocarbon dating, osteological study, stable isotope analyses, and microscopic and biomolecular analyses of dental calculus. The burials comprise an adult from the Middle Neolithic period, immediately prior to the building of Stonehenge, and two adults and a…
Social food here and hereafter
First direct evidence of wild plant grinding process from the Holocene Sahara
The application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of groundstones used in wild plants processing
In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked materials. In particular, the combination of surface morphometry with a systematic experimental framework an…
Multidisciplinary investigations of the diets of two post-medieval populations from London using stable isotopes and microdebris analysis
Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire
Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a signif…
Exploring late Paleolithic and Mesolithic diet in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy through multiple proxies
Objectives The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene …
From Food to Environments
Dental calculus in the industrial age
The analysis of dental calculus (mineralised dental plaque) has become an increasingly important facet of bioarchaeological research. Although microscopic analysis of microdebris entrapped within dental calculus has revealed important insights into the diet, health, and environment of multiple prehistoric populations, relatively few studies have examined the contributions of this approach to more recent historical periods. In this study, we analy…
More than what we eat
Starch granules and other plant tissues are commonly found as part of the microdebris assemblage analysed within dental calculus. These are often interpreted as evidence of past diets. However, many of the starch granules extracted from dental calculus are intact, and do not show evidence of alterations as a result of being processed for consumption. This research examines if plant material can accidently enter the mouth while being processed for…
Beyond dirty teeth
The study of ancient human dental calculus (mineralized dental plaque, also known as tartar) is becoming increasingly important in osteoarchaeology, human palaeoecology and environmental archaeology. Microremains of different origin (e.g. starch granules, pollen, phytoliths, feather barbules) as well as biomolecules and chemical compounds retrieved from its mineral matrix may represent an important link between past humans and their physical, bio…
Archaeology (22 works) · Geography (22 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (18 works) · Biology (10 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (10 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (10 works) · Geology (9 works) · Ecology (8 works) · History (8 works) · Medicine (8 works)