LS8_2 Biodiversity
LS8_4 Population biology, population dynamics, population genetics
SH6_4 Prehistory, palaeoanthropology, palaeodemography, protohistory, bioarchaeology
The research activities are carried out in the field of Evolutionary Anthropology, which studies the biological variability of past and modern humans from an evolutionary perspective.
The central questions are origin, evolution, phylogeny, and variability of humans with their distinctive attributes (bipedalism, cognitive abilities and language, culture and technology). Skeletons, fossil record document the human evolution and their study contributes to reconstruct biology and behaviour of past humans and the interaction between them and the environment (physical and socio-cultural) over time, highlighting the humankind's place in the natural world.
Topic of the research: human skeletal variability troughout a morphometrical approach (classic and geometric). Application in forensics. Ethics and study of human remains. Human remains and cultural heritage.
Specific lines:
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Skeletal variability in modern humans and Neandeartals
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Funerary behaviour from prehistory to modern periods
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Paleopathology
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Methods for the reconstruction of human biological profile
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Ethics, study and managment of human remains, cultural heritage
Researches are conducted on the documented (for sex, age, disease, cause of death) modern (19°-20° c.) museum osteological collections and fossils (Neandertals, Holocenic samples).
Collaborators:
Dr. RITA SORRENTINO, PhD, RTDa BiGeA (UNIBO)
Dr. DAVIDE MAMELI, Master degree, contract of research (Project: CATA)
Dr. TERESA NICOLOSI, PhD student (UNIBO)
Dr. ANNALISA PIETROBELLI, PhD, post doc, Max Planck Institut (Evolutionary Anthropology)
Dr. VALENTINA MARIOTTI, PhD, external collaborator
