The project Science @ Tarquinia aims to provide the complementary scientific support for the long-standing study of the ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinia by the University of Milan. This Unesco World Heritage site is well known for its magnificent painted tombs, its city walls, the Temple of Ara Regina and the monumental zone where the University of Milan has worked for over 30 years. The collaborative work (which started in September 2019) includes flotation, micromorphology, AMS dating, isotopic analysis and aDNA. The sedimentary geology of Tarquinia has proved very beneficial in providing good preservation of the chemical signatures, leading to striking new information on the diet, mobility and biological character of the ancient populations of this coastal city. The work is supported by the University of Milan, international funds of the University of Cambridge and the McDonald Institute.
The Tarquinia @ Science project is closely integrated with the E4 Project (comparing Etruria, SW Germany and Denmark in the first millennium BC) of the CRC1266 at the University of Kiel, bringing the following scholars into collaboration: Oliver Nakoinz (Kiel), Cheryl Makarewicz (Kiel), John Meadows (Kiel), Victoria Alliata (Kiel), Camilla Zeviani (Cambridge).
Team Members
Project lead for Milan and overall director
Giovanna Bagnasco
Simon Stoddart (Cambridge)
Giovanna Bagnasco (Milan)
Matilde Marzullo (Milan)
Cristina Cattaneo (Milan)
Giulia Brioschi (Milan)
Ornella Prato (UCL)
Frijda Schmidt (Cambridge)
Rachel Ballantyne (Cambridge)
Charly French (Cambridge)
Federica Sulas (Cambridge)
Molly Sheldrake (Cambridge)
Laura Motta (Michigan)
Fanny Gaveriaux (Rome)
Angela Trentacoste (Kiel)
Wolfgang Müller (Frankfurt)
Paula Reimer (Queen’s Belfast)
Carmen Esposito (Queen’s Belfast)
Rowan McLaughlin (British Museum)
Caroline Malone (Queen’s Belfast)
Dan Bradley (Trinity College, Dublin)
Emily Breslin (Trinity College, Dublin)
Valeria Mattiangeli (Trinity College, Dublin)
Funder
McDonald Institute
AHSS International Research Strategy Working Group (IRSWG) (Matching funding from the University of Milan and the University of Cambridge) 2019-2022
Cambridge Humanities Grant
Recent Publication
2023
Stoddart, S. 2023. Science@Tarquinia. Notootto 6: 34-5.https://issuu.com/valentino.albini/docs/notootto_tarquinia_project
2024
Stoddart, S. 2024. Science@Tarquinia: Applying methods towards an understanding of site formation processes, mobility, diet, biology and human infrastructure in the early stages of Tarquinia. In Bagnasco Gianni, G. and Pernigotti, A.P. (eds.) 40 anni di scavi, ricerche e attività dell'Università degli Studi di Milano a Tarquinia, Atti del convegno in omaggio a Maria Bonghi Jovino, Tarquinia 17-18 settembre 2022, Milano: Milano University Press, 33-44.
Bagnasco, G., Marzullo, M., Cattaneo, C., Biehler-Gomez, L., Mazzarelli, D., Ricciardi, V., Müller, W., Coppa, A., McLaughlin, R., Motta, L., Prato, O., Schmidt, F., Gaveriaux, F., Marras, G. B., Millet, M. A., Madgwick, R., Ballantyne, R., Makarewicz, C. A., Trentacoste, A., Reimer, P., Mattiangeli, V., Bradley, D. G., Malone, C., Esposito, C., Breslin, E. M. & Stoddart, S. 2024. Bioarchaeology aids the cultural understanding of six characters in search of their agency (Tarquinia, ninth–seventh century BC, central Italy). Scientific Reports 14 (1): 11895.
2025
Stoddart, S. 2025. Matching the cultural uniqueness of the Etruscan world with the comparative approach of Natural Science; perceiving Tarquinia through a new lens. In Arizza, M. (ed.) Atti Cerveteri, Roma e Tarquinia. Seminario di studi in ricordo di Mauro Cristofani e Mario Torelli. Roma: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 439-44.
Stoddart, S., Breslin, E. M., Esposito, C., Gavériaux, F., Marras, G., McLaughlin, R., Motta, L., Prato, O., Schmidt, F. & Zeviani, C. 2025. The process of nucleation amongst the early cities of central Italy in the first millennium BC. Frontiers in Human Dynamics (Institutions and Collective action) 7 doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2025.1569997; https://short-link.me/1bUIr
