I work as postdoctoral researcher at DSE since April 2024 within the framework of the ORIGINS project, coordinated by. C. Guerriero. I am an ancient world scholar with formal training in digital humanities, data-driven archaeology and quantitative social sciences. I received my PhD (2014) in History/Archaeology from University of Turin. My dissertation explored the rise of bureaucratic governance in early Mesopotamia through an economic archaeological approach. My postdoctoral career can be divided in three stages, carried out in three different countries.
(I) First, between 2015 and 2020 I worked as postdoctoral fellow at the Department of History and Cultures (DISCI) of the University of Bologna (UNIBO). During this period, I investigated topics related to the emergence of urbanization and governance in ancient societies, I experimented with digital, spatial, and computational methods, and I published more than 15 papers in leading archaeology/history journals and collective books. Furthermore, I participated to several archaeological and externally funded projects (e.g. EuropeAid, PRIN projects with UNIBO, Al-Hiba project with UPenn). I was also funded to conduct academic stays at top international research centers (e.g. UPENN, Stanford, UPF Barcelona), and I received numerous awards and bursaries. At UNIBO I taught seminars and laboratories for BA and MA degrees of anthropology and history. Between 2018 and 2020 I coordinated two projects (funding >26k €) as PI and co-PI, targeting the origins of political institutions in ancient Mesopotamia through an approach combining archaeology, Assyriology, and econometrics. These projects already generated high-impact publications (e.g. PNAS, J. Archaeol. Sci.) and promoted the integration between economics, geoscience and historical disciplines. This work allowed me to not only familiarize with applied social scientific methods and economic theories, but also to acquire experience in compiling large datasets, develop competitive grant proposals, and manage projects. Ultimately, this allowed me to start developing a research agenda that links different knowledge domains, easing my transition to a social scientific working environment.
(II) In 2020 I took a position at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Tübingen. In Tübingen I joined as team member the SFB1070 [https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/core-research/collaborative-research-centers/sfb-1070/] project funded by the German Science Foundation (>10m €). The project analyzes the use of resources in the ancient world through a collaborative approach linking archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and economists. This work allowed me to further develop my interdisciplinary approach, expanding my knowledge of quantitative methods and my capacity to work in multidisciplinary teams, generating high impact publications (Nat. Hum. Behav.). Furthermore, I taught economic history courses for MA degrees in Economics, and I coordinated the research internships for the Economic History chair, tutoring >20 students. Notably, in 2021 the European Commission awarded me the Seal of Excellence for a MSCA project that received excellent evaluation (>85%) but that was not funded due to budget limits. In 2021 I joined the editorial board of the Cambridge U. Press journal, Cambridge Elements in Law, Economics and Politics as Associate Editor.
(III) Between April 2022 and March 2024 I worked at the Department of Economic History, Institutions, Politics and World Economy (UB) thanks to a Maria Zambrano grant (90k €). At UB I became part of the research hub on historical state capacity, encompassing the IPERG [http://www.ub.edu/iperg/] group, the Econ. Hist. and Pol. Sci. [https://www.ub.edu/portal/web/dp-cpdcfd-en] Depts. I am also a member of the research group on Economic History and Development, and of the project State capacity in Latin America (1870-2020), funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia (86k €). I contributed to the research portfolio of these groups by investigating topics such as: (i) climate change, culture, and political institutions in ancient and developing societies, (ii) the formation of trading networks in the past, (iii) violence and standards of living in the pre-industrial world. In addition to promoting a tighter integration with ancient world studies, my activity generated high-quality publications (3 Q1 articles), and expanded the teaching offer of the MIPE program.
