M A Tafuri
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 9175 |
|---|---|
| NOME | M A Tafuri |
| PRENOMES | M A |
| SOBRENOME | Tafuri |
| ASSINATURA | TAFURI M A |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Sapienza University of Rome |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2913-7225 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 36 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 98 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 36 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2005 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
Lifestyle Impacts the Oral Microbiome of Classical and Post‐Classical Societies in Italy
Between land and rivers
This study investigates patterns of mobility and human-animal-environment interactions in the Sumerian city of Abu Tbeirah, located in southern Iraq and dated to the second half of the third millennium BCE. The research represents the first extensive strontium isotope investigation of a population from southern Mesopotamia. It integrates 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios measured on human and animal dental enamel with δ 13 C and δ 18 O data presented in an ear…
New radiocarbon dates from early medieval cemeteries in central and northern Italy
This paper presents 56 AMS radiocarbon dates from three early medieval sites in Italy: nine from the Roman Villa of Vacone in Vacone (RI), Lazio, 29 from the Roman Villa of Selvicciola in Ischia di Castro (VT), Lazio, and 18 from the necropolis of Povegliano Veronese (VR), Veneto. These results more than double the number of previously published radiocarbon dates from early medieval Italy and are therefore a substantial contribution to the absolu…
A strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isoscape of Southern Ethiopia
Tracing human and animal mobility behavior, land use, and exploitation strategies through strontium (Sr) isotope analysis is critical for archaeological and palaeoecological research. The development of an 87 Sr/ 86 Sr bioavailable baseline map, often termed isoscape, is a prerequisite for interpreting the Sr isotope composition of animal and human remains from an archaeological context. Despite the wealth of archaeological records dispersed acro…
Datamesop
DATAMESOP is one of the first comprehensive isotopic datasets aimed at supporting bioarchaeological studies in ancient Mesopotamia. The dataset compiles radiogenic strontium and stable carbon, and oxygen isotope measurements from both archaeological (human and animal remains and plant and soil samples) and nonarchaeological sources (surface rocks, soil, dust, water, and rainwater) in South-West Asia. The data have been collected, ensuring the qua…
Exploring the use of Wild Cereals at Takarkori (Central Sahara, Southwestern Libya) Through Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis of Prehistoric Desiccated Seeds
Stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant material have increased in the last few decades with questions arising about climate, environment, and subsistence strategies. While the available studies are of great interest in the field, they are still a minority compared to other types of organic material, especially from African contexts. Desiccated plant material in particular has only sporadically been investigated, partly because archaeolog…
The medieval burial assemblage from Koudiet er Rammadiya, Northern Tunisia. An interdisciplinary bioarchaeological investigation
The osteological analysis of human skeletal assemblages offers crucial osteobiographical insights into ancient populations, yet remains largely unexplored in past Tunisia. This paper presents the first archaeological investigation of Tunisian medieval burials, unearthed during excavations between 2016–2017 and 2021–2022. This interdisciplinary study, combining archaeology, bioarchaeology, and paleopathology, examines skeletons from Koudiet er Ram…
Archaeorganics 2019. The First Italian Workshop on the Analysis of Archaeological Organic Remains
Neolithic Lifeways at the Microlevel
Characterization of prehistoric lifeways tends to work at the level of generalization, but can we investigate microvariation? For example, it is common to discuss the “Neolithic diet”, but how much did what people ate vary, not only between individuals but from year to year or from place to place? Similarly, discussions of mobility tend to focus either on large‐scale population movements or on lifelong changes in residence, implying that people r…
Inserting the dead in living spaces in Bronze Age Southern Italy
Disability and care in Western Europe during Medieval times
This Special Issue has its foundation in presentations delivered in the symposium Disability and Care in Medieval Times: a Bioarchaeological Perspective into Health-related Practices held at the 2019 European Association of Archaeologists conference in Switzerland. It comprises 12 papers, all relevant to aspects of pathology experience and/or care provision in Western Europe during the Early to Late Middle Ages (500 - 1500 CE). Reflecting the 100…
Diet in high mediaeval Florence through stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur
Dietary pattern of a mediaeval Florence population reconstructed through stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes. • Diet was mainly composed of C 3 cereals and terrestrial animal products. • The input of animal products was high compared to other published mediaeval Italian sites. In this paper, we aim to reconstruct the dietary habits of supposedly lower rank nobles or middle-class High Middle Ages individuals recovered from the cloister ar…
The Use-Life of Ancestors
When archaeologists discuss ‘ancestor cults’ or ‘ancestor veneration’, what this might entail in practice usually remains vague, leading to charges that the concept of ‘ancestors’ is often applied generically. In this article, the authors combine bioarchaeological, taphonomic, radiocarbon, and isotopic studies to explore the ritual practice of the selective retention, curation, and deposition of a group of human crania and mandibles. Between 5500…
A Longobard osteobiography. A multi-proxy life history of an elderly woman from Castel Trosino (Italy)
The Longobard cemetery of Castel Trosino (Central Italy, c. 6th-8th CE) was excavated at the end of the 19th century, with more than two hundred burials recovered. Currently only 19 crania and a few mandibles are preserved. Among these crania, a case of trepanation is documented on an elderly woman (c. 50 y.o.): the medical treatment, or the condition that led to it, likely influenced her life history. A multidisciplinary investigation of the onl…
Stabbed to death
Here we report the reconstruction of the osteobiography of an adult male buried in the Longobard cemetery of Povegliano Veronese (Northern Italy, late 6th - early 8th century CE), who shows signs of interpersonal violence. The palaeopathological investigation reveals sharp force traumas on the body of the fourth lumbar vertebra and on two right ribs. The absence of signs of healing or bone remodelling indicates that the defects were perimortem. T…
Growing up in an Italian Copper Age community
The study of children’s role in past communities is difficult to face in archaeology. An active contribution of the children in everyday life varies within societies and cultures, as well as the social and biological definition of childhood. In Central Italy, specific funerary customs for subadults are documented in the Copper Age (4th-3rd millennia BCE) according to age classes. Here we propose to investigate childhood in an Italian Copper Age h…
An unprecedented case of cranial surgery in Longobard Italy (6th-8th century) using a cruciform incision
The Longobard necropolis of Castel Trosino dates from the 6th to the 8th century CE. Among the tombs excavated, the skull of an older female shows the first evidence of a cross-shaped bone modification on a living subject. Macroscopic, microscopic, and CT scan analyses revealed signs of at least two sets of scraping marks. Specifically, SEM analysis shows that perimortem bone-scraping traces are present on the skull. Both healed and non-healed de…
Multi-isotope analysis of primary and secondary dentin as a mean to broaden intra-life dietary reconstruction. A case from Longobard Italy
This exploratory study proposes an original intra-life history investigation through sequential analysis of the isotopic composition of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur (CNS) on both primary and secondary dentin of a tooth (M1). We focus on an elderly woman from Longobard Italy (6th to 8th c. CE), who showed an unprecedented case of cranial surgery, presented in a companion paper by Micarelli and colleagues. Sequential stable CNS isotope composition …
Stable isotope reconstruction of the "Mediterranean" diet throughout the millennia
Human and animal bones, as well as botanical remains recovered from archaeological sites, preserve the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) signatures of their last years of life. These isotope ratios are connected to the protein portion of the diet and can be used to investigate the dietary strategies of past populations. Several studies have already been undertaken on this topic across the Mediterranean basin. This paper aims at reco…
Gastrointestinal infection in Italy during the Roman Imperial and Longobard periods
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…
Digital imaging techniques applied to a case of concha bullosa from an early medieval funerary area in central Italy
A possible case of mycosis in a post-classical burial from La Selvicciola (Italy)
Medical imaging as a taphonomic tool
Purpose Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Medical radi…
Isotopic evidence of diet variation at the transition between classical and post-classical times in Central Italy
Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on human and animal bones from four inland Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in Northern and Southern Italy. The main aims of the investigation were to explore the contribution of plant foods to the human diet and to examine any dietary differences between and within each of the sites. At two of the sites in Northern Italy, human and animal bones were significantly enriched in 13 C. This…
Cleaning the dead
First Strontium Isotope Evidence of Mobility in the Neolithic of Southern France
This study presents the first 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope results obtained on Neolithic humans from Southern France. These analyses aimed at exploring patterns of mobility in the Languedoc and Garonne areas, at sites dated to the Middle Neolithic ( c . 4500–3500 cal BC). Strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel and bone are a useful geochemical tracer to investigate the origin and residential mobility of ancient people. Strontium isotope ratios ( 87 S…
Estimating C4 plant consumption in Bronze Age Northeastern Italy through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen
The application of biomolecular techniques for the study of food practices in the Italian Bronze Age has revealed an interesting complexity. This is particularly true for the Po plain, in northern Italy, where the use of "alternative" grains (i.e., the millets) has been assessed isotopically through the measurement of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios in human and animal bone collagen at the site of Olmo di Nogara (Verona). …
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…
Isotopic evidence of diet variation at the transition between classical and post-classical times in Central Italy
Δ13C and δ15N variations in terrestrial and marine foodwebs of Beagle Channel in the Holocene. Implications for human paleodietary reconstructions
The Use-Life of Ancestors
When archaeologists discuss ‘ancestor cults’ or ‘ancestor veneration’, what this might entail in practice usually remains vague, leading to charges that the concept of ‘ancestors’ is often applied generically. In this article, the authors combine bioarchaeological, taphonomic, radiocarbon, and isotopic studies to explore the ritual practice of the selective retention, curation, and deposition of a group of human crania and mandibles. Between 5500…
Stabbed to death
Here we report the reconstruction of the osteobiography of an adult male buried in the Longobard cemetery of Povegliano Veronese (Northern Italy, late 6th - early 8th century CE), who shows signs of interpersonal violence. The palaeopathological investigation reveals sharp force traumas on the body of the fourth lumbar vertebra and on two right ribs. The absence of signs of healing or bone remodelling indicates that the defects were perimortem. T…
Multi-isotope analysis of primary and secondary dentin as a mean to broaden intra-life dietary reconstruction. A case from Longobard Italy
This exploratory study proposes an original intra-life history investigation through sequential analysis of the isotopic composition of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur (CNS) on both primary and secondary dentin of a tooth (M1). We focus on an elderly woman from Longobard Italy (6th to 8th c. CE), who showed an unprecedented case of cranial surgery, presented in a companion paper by Micarelli and colleagues. Sequential stable CNS isotope composition …
Life and Death in Neolithic Southeastern Italy
There is a strong relation between people's structured identities and their chemical biographies: these can reflect the way individuals choose to reside and/or move. The strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) of skeletal remains is considered a useful proxy to assess residential mobility and social practices in past populations; however, so far, it has only occasionally been applied to prehistoric contexts in the Mediterranean. In this paper, we pre…
Tracing Mobility and Identity: Bioarchaeology and bone chemistry of the Bronze Age Sant’Abbondio cemetery (Pompeii, Italy)
Focusing on the Bronze Age Sant'Abbondio Cemetery at Pompeii, the author shows that the use of trace element analysis in a non-paleonutritional approach represents a new, tangible method of investigating the social dynamics of past communities, offering a level of reliability and consistency that is not always to be found in the material culture.
Mobility and kinship in the prehistoric Sahara
Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on human and animal bones from four inland Early and Middle Bronze Age sites in Northern and Southern Italy. The main aims of the investigation were to explore the contribution of plant foods to the human diet and to examine any dietary differences between and within each of the sites. At two of the sites in Northern Italy, human and animal bones were significantly enriched in 13 C. This…
Persistent deathplaces and mobile landmarks
First Strontium Isotope Evidence of Mobility in the Neolithic of Southern France
This study presents the first 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope results obtained on Neolithic humans from Southern France. These analyses aimed at exploring patterns of mobility in the Languedoc and Garonne areas, at sites dated to the Middle Neolithic ( c . 4500–3500 cal BC). Strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel and bone are a useful geochemical tracer to investigate the origin and residential mobility of ancient people. Strontium isotope ratios ( 87 S…
Cleaning the dead
Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the ‘long’ 4th millennium BC
This paper explores the possible links between rapid climate change (RCC) and social change in the Near East and surrounding regions (Anatolia, central Syria, southern Israel, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and eastern and central Sahara) during the ‘long’ 4th millennium (∼4500–3000) BC. Twenty terrestrial and 20 marine climate proxies are used to identify long-term trends in humidity involving transitions from humid to arid conditions and vice versa. The f…
Dietary continuity vs. discontinuity in Bronze Age Italy. The isotopic evidence from Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona, Italy)
Life and Death in Neolithic Southeastern Italy
There is a strong relation between people's structured identities and their chemical biographies: these can reflect the way individuals choose to reside and/or move. The strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) of skeletal remains is considered a useful proxy to assess residential mobility and social practices in past populations; however, so far, it has only occasionally been applied to prehistoric contexts in the Mediterranean. In this paper, we pre…
Δ13C and δ15N variations in terrestrial and marine foodwebs of Beagle Channel in the Holocene. Implications for human paleodietary reconstructions
Isotopic evidence of diet variation at the transition between classical and post-classical times in Central Italy
Estimating C4 plant consumption in Bronze Age Northeastern Italy through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen
The application of biomolecular techniques for the study of food practices in the Italian Bronze Age has revealed an interesting complexity. This is particularly true for the Po plain, in northern Italy, where the use of "alternative" grains (i.e., the millets) has been assessed isotopically through the measurement of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios in human and animal bone collagen at the site of Olmo di Nogara (Verona). …
A possible case of mycosis in a post-classical burial from La Selvicciola (Italy)
Medical imaging as a taphonomic tool
Purpose Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Medical radi…
Digital imaging techniques applied to a case of concha bullosa from an early medieval funerary area in central Italy
Gastrointestinal infection in Italy during the Roman Imperial and Longobard periods
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…
A Longobard osteobiography. A multi-proxy life history of an elderly woman from Castel Trosino (Italy)
The Longobard cemetery of Castel Trosino (Central Italy, c. 6th-8th CE) was excavated at the end of the 19th century, with more than two hundred burials recovered. Currently only 19 crania and a few mandibles are preserved. Among these crania, a case of trepanation is documented on an elderly woman (c. 50 y.o.): the medical treatment, or the condition that led to it, likely influenced her life history. A multidisciplinary investigation of the onl…
Stabbed to death
Here we report the reconstruction of the osteobiography of an adult male buried in the Longobard cemetery of Povegliano Veronese (Northern Italy, late 6th - early 8th century CE), who shows signs of interpersonal violence. The palaeopathological investigation reveals sharp force traumas on the body of the fourth lumbar vertebra and on two right ribs. The absence of signs of healing or bone remodelling indicates that the defects were perimortem. T…
Growing up in an Italian Copper Age community
The study of children’s role in past communities is difficult to face in archaeology. An active contribution of the children in everyday life varies within societies and cultures, as well as the social and biological definition of childhood. In Central Italy, specific funerary customs for subadults are documented in the Copper Age (4th-3rd millennia BCE) according to age classes. Here we propose to investigate childhood in an Italian Copper Age h…
An unprecedented case of cranial surgery in Longobard Italy (6th-8th century) using a cruciform incision
The Longobard necropolis of Castel Trosino dates from the 6th to the 8th century CE. Among the tombs excavated, the skull of an older female shows the first evidence of a cross-shaped bone modification on a living subject. Macroscopic, microscopic, and CT scan analyses revealed signs of at least two sets of scraping marks. Specifically, SEM analysis shows that perimortem bone-scraping traces are present on the skull. Both healed and non-healed de…
Multi-isotope analysis of primary and secondary dentin as a mean to broaden intra-life dietary reconstruction. A case from Longobard Italy
This exploratory study proposes an original intra-life history investigation through sequential analysis of the isotopic composition of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur (CNS) on both primary and secondary dentin of a tooth (M1). We focus on an elderly woman from Longobard Italy (6th to 8th c. CE), who showed an unprecedented case of cranial surgery, presented in a companion paper by Micarelli and colleagues. Sequential stable CNS isotope composition …
Stable isotope reconstruction of the "Mediterranean" diet throughout the millennia
Human and animal bones, as well as botanical remains recovered from archaeological sites, preserve the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) signatures of their last years of life. These isotope ratios are connected to the protein portion of the diet and can be used to investigate the dietary strategies of past populations. Several studies have already been undertaken on this topic across the Mediterranean basin. This paper aims at reco…
Disability and care in Western Europe during Medieval times
This Special Issue has its foundation in presentations delivered in the symposium Disability and Care in Medieval Times: a Bioarchaeological Perspective into Health-related Practices held at the 2019 European Association of Archaeologists conference in Switzerland. It comprises 12 papers, all relevant to aspects of pathology experience and/or care provision in Western Europe during the Early to Late Middle Ages (500 - 1500 CE). Reflecting the 100…
Diet in high mediaeval Florence through stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur
Dietary pattern of a mediaeval Florence population reconstructed through stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes. • Diet was mainly composed of C 3 cereals and terrestrial animal products. • The input of animal products was high compared to other published mediaeval Italian sites. In this paper, we aim to reconstruct the dietary habits of supposedly lower rank nobles or middle-class High Middle Ages individuals recovered from the cloister ar…
Archaeology (26 obras) · Geography (26 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (22 obras) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (16 obras) · History (16 obras) · Biology (13 obras) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (12 obras) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (11 obras) · Chemistry (9 obras) · Ecology (9 obras)