Carla Figus

Education

• 2021- Ph.D in Biological Anthropology, University of Bologna as part of the ERC n.724046 – SUCCESS project
• 2016 - MSc in Bioarcheology, Paleopathology and Forensic Anthropology, University of Bologna
• 2015 - MA in Archeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, University of  Bologna.
• 2013 - BA in Modern Literature, University of Cagliari.

Research Appointments

• 01/03/2024 – 28/02/2027 MSCA Global Postoctoral Fellow
• 01/03/2023 – 28/02/2024 Postdoctoral Researcher
• 01/11/2021 – 30/09/2022 Research Fellow

Experience

• Lecturer of the summer school “Acquiring and Post-processing 3D data in Archaeology and Anthropology”.
• 09/10/2023 – 11/10/2023: Lecturer at the training school “An introduction to geometric morphometric methods for the study of human remains”, University of Bologna – Ravenna Campus

Grants and Awards

• Project: “Hip at what cost? How the human pelvis adapted to bipedalism and childbirth”, under the European’s Union Horizon Europe research and innovation program - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions,  HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, type of action: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF (grant agreement: n.101108385 – RISEN). Funding: 265,099.19 euro. Period: 01/03/2024 – 28/02/2027. Supervisor: Prof. Stefano Benazzi

• CA19141 – Integrating Neandertal Legacy: From Past to Present. Short-Term ScientificMission contribution: 1,200 euro

Academic Appointments

• Thesis supervisor, MA dissertation, University of Bologna, Dept. Cultural Heritate (Ginevra di Bernardo, Title: "Attribuzione tassonomica della prima falange distale proveniente dalla grotta di Obłazowa, Polonia, utilizzando approcci di morfometria geometrica"). Primary supervisor: Stefano Benazzi (University of Bologna). From July 2023 to March 2024.
  
  
• Thesis supervisor, MA dissertation, University of Bologna, Dept. Cultural Heritage (Valentina Costa, Title: Studio dei cambiamenti morfologici di ischio e pube durante l’ontogenesi tramite approcci digitali (EN: The study of the morphological changes of ischium and pubis during ontogeny through virtual approaches); primary supervisor: Stefano Benazzi (University of Bologna). Final grade: 110/110 Summa cum Laude). From March 2020 to March 2021

• Thesis supervisor, MA dissertation, University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage (Arianna Lazzari, Title: Patologie infantile e resti scheletrici non-adulti: il caso studio della necropoli di Forlì Campus (EN: Childhood disease and non-adult skeletal remains: the case study of the Forlì Campus necropolis); primary supervisor: Stefano Benazzi (University of Bologna). Final grade: 110/110 Summa cum Laude). From September 2019 to March 2021.

• Thesis supervisor, BA dissertation, University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage. (Valentina Costa, Title: Studio antropologico dei non-adulti inumati nella necropoli di Valdaro (VII-VIII secolo d.C. (EN: Anthropological studies of the non-adults buried in the necropolis of Valdaro – VII – VIII Centuries), primary supervisor: Stefano Benazzi (University of Bologna). Final grade: 110/110). From March 2018 to November 2018.
  
  

OTHER ACTIVITIES

• Scientific reviewer for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology

• Scientific reviewer for Archives of Oral Biology

• Scientific reviewer for Scientific Reports

• Scientific reviewer for Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

• Member of the ERC n.724046 – SUCCESS

• 2017- 2019: Member AAPA - American Association of Physical Anthropology

• 2018 – 2025: Member ESHE - European Society for the study of Human Evolution

• 2023 – present: Member EAA – European Association of Archaeologists

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS

• 2023 – to present: Necropolis of Kafir Kala, Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Director: Dr. Simone Mantellini - Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.
• 2018: Grotta di Santa Maria, Camerota (Campania), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
• 2018: Grotta di Uluzzo C (Apulia), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna. Directors: Dr E. Spinapolice, Dr S. Benazzi, Dr A. Curci
• 2016: Necropolis of Badia Pozzeveri (Tuscany), University of Pisa. Director: Dr. Antonio Fornaciari.
• 2014: Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina (Sicily). University of Rome 1 - La Sapienza. Director: Prof Patrizio Pensabene
• 2014: Basilica di San Severo in Classe (Emilia-Romagna). Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. Director: Prof A. Augenti.
  

CONFERENCES (selection of the most relevant international conferences)

• Carla Figus; Kristian J Carlson; Rita Sorrentino; Eugenio Bortolini; Mario Novak; Fabio Baruffaldi; Federico Bernardini; Igor Erjavec; Anna Festa; Claudio Tuniz; Maria Giovanna Belcastro; Emma Pomeroy; Markus Bastir; Jean-Jacques Hublin; Timothy M Ryan; Stefano Benazzi.
  The developing morphology of a juvenile Neanderthal:preliminary morphometric results of the Roc de Marsal infant talus., in: 13th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution Abstracts Aarhus, 21-22 September 2023, 2023, pp. 1 - 135 (atti di: 13th Annual ESHE Conference, Aarhus, Denmark, 20-24 September)
  
  
• Rita Sorrentino, Kristian J. Carlson, Caley M. Orr, Annalisa Pietrobelli, Carla Figus, Shuyuan Li, Michele Conconi, Nicola Sancisi, Claudio Belvedere, Mingjie Zhu, Luca Fiorenza, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Tea Jashashvili, Mario Novak, Biren A. Patel, Thomas C. Prang, Scott A. Williams, Jaap P. P. Saers, Jay T. Stock, Timothy Ryan, Mark Myerson, Alberto Leardini, Jeremy DeSilva, Damiano Marchi, Stefano Benazzi, Maria Giovanna Belcastro.
  Morphological variation of the hominin navicular bone from past to present: implications for the evolution of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot, in: 13th Annual ESHE Conference, 2023, pp. 119 - 120 (atti di: 13th Annual ESHE Conference, Aarhus, 21st to 23rd of September 2023)
  
  
• Carla Figus, Kristian J Carlson, Rita Sorrentino, Eugenio Bortolini, Mario Novak, Fabio Baruffaldi, Federico Bernardini, Igor Erjavec, Anna Festa, Claudio Tuniz, Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Emma Pomeroy, Markus Bastir, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Timothy M Ryan, Stefano Benazzi.
  The developing morphology of a juvenile Neanderthal: preliminary morphometric results of the Roc de Marsal infant talus, in: ESSERI UMANI, 2023(atti di: XXV Congresso Nazionale dell’Associazione Antropologica Italiana, Torino, 6-8 settembre 2023)
  
  
• Rita Sorrentino, Michele Conconi, Kristian J. Carlson, Annalisa Pietrobelli, Claudio Belvedere, Carla Figus, Jaap P. P. Saers, Jay T. Stock, Damiano Marchi, Timothy M. Ryan, Alberto Leardini, Nicola Sancisi, Stefano Benazzi, Maria Giovanna Belcastro.
  Looking for the morpho-functional meaning of the Neanderthal talar uniqueness: morphological and kinematic investigations, in: ESSERI UMANI, 2023, pp. 6 - 6 (atti di: XXV Congresso Nazionale dell’Associazione Antropologica Italiana, Torino, 6-8 Settembre 2023)
  
  
• Sorrentino R, Carlson KJ, Orr CM, Pietrobelli A, Figus C, Jashashvili T, Saers JPP, Guarnieri T, Fiorenza L., Novak M, Stock JT, Williams SA, Patel BA, Marchi D, Belcastro MG, Benazzi S. Morphological variation of the hominid navicular bone: Implications for behavioral driven divergence [https://cris.unibo.it/handle/11585/840862] (atti di: 11th Symposium on Morphometrics and Evolution of Shape, Online, 30th June-2nd July 2021)

• Figus C, Stephens NB, Bortolini E, Sorrentino R, Arrighi S, Badino F, Lugli F, Marciani G, Oxilia G, Romandini M, Scalise LM, Silvestrini S, Belcastro MG, Ryan TM, Benazzi S. The ontogeny of bipedalism: insights from trabecular changes during growth., in: Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 8, 2019, pp. 60 - 60 (atti di: European Society for the study of Human Evolution ESHE 9th Annual Meeting, Liège, Belgium, 19th-21st September, 2019)

• Figus C, Stephens NB, Sorrentino R, Bortolini E, Scalise LM, Gabanini G, Romandini M, Lugli F, Arrighi S, Badino F, Marciani G, Oxilia G, Panetta D, Belcastro MG, Harcourt-Smith W, Ryan TM, Benazzi S. Exploring age-related variations during talar growth. 88th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Cleveland (Ohio, USA), March 27-30, 2019

• Gabanini G, Figus C, Sorrentino R, Stephens NB, Belcastro MG, Harcourt-Smith W, Ryan TM, Benazzi S. Exploring age-related variations during calcaneal growth. 88th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Cleveland (Ohio, USA), March 27-30, 2019

• Figus C; Stephens NB; Sorrentino R; Panetta D; Belcastro MG; Ryan TM; Benazzi S, Unravelling morphological changes of the human talus during growth (8TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE European Society for the study of Human Evolution, Faro, Portugal, 13-15 Settembre 2018)

• Benazzi S, Bortolini E, Arrighi S, Aureli D, Badino F, Figus C, Romandini M, Boscato P, Cipriani A, Feeney R, Moroni A, Negrino F, Peresani M, Pini R, Ravazzi C, Ryan TM, Spinapolice EE, Ronchitelli A. The earliest migration of Homo sapiens in southern Europe: an ERC grant to understand the biocultural processes that define our uniqueness. XVIII° CONGRES UISPP PARIS, 4-9 JUIN 2018

• Figus C; Traversari M; Scalise LM.; Buti L; Vazzana A; Sorrentino R; Oxilia G; Benazzi S, Neonatal and postnatal mortality in Roccapelago through the study of human skeletal remains and parish records (87th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Austin (TX, USA), April 11-14, 2018)

• Serrangeli MC, Sorrentino R, Figus C, Belcastro MG, Benazzi S, Feeney RNM, Exploring sexual dimorphism in calcaneal shape through GMM: Preliminary results of the modern human skeletal collection of the Certosa Cemetery (Bologna, Italy), in: IAI, 2018, pp. 10 - 11 (Annual Conference 2018 –Institute of Archaeologist of Ireland, Sligo (Ireland), March 23-24)

• Figus C, Traversari M, Vazzana A, Sorrentino R, Buti L, Scalise LM, Oxilia G, Gruppioni G, Benazzi S, Neonatal and postnatal mortality in Roccapelago through the study of human skeletal remains and parish records, in: AAI - Destinazione Uomo, 2017, pp. 3 - 3 (atti di: 22° CONGRESSO dell’Associazione Antropologica Italiana, Roma, 6-8 Settembre 2017)

• Invited speaker at “Le Mummie di Roccapelago 3.0: la rinascita degli antichi abitanti attraverso cinque anni di studi”. 24 March 2017. Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna (Ravenna Campus).

• Traversari M, Figus C, Vazzana A, Gruppioni G, Galassi FM, Vellone VG, Fulcheri E, Neonatal and postnatal mortality in Roccapelago through the study of parish records and histological evidence, in: Pathologica (atti di: 7° Congresso Triennale di Anatomia Patologica SIAPEC-IAP 2016, Genova, 26-novembre-2016)