Biography
Born and bred in the mountainous district of Central Italy, I left my beloved peaks for a greater good and I earned a bachelor’s degree in Western Archaeology at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, with a dissertation on the first phases of the Etruscan site of Veii in 2014. In 2017 I obtained my master’s degree in Archaeology and soon after that I attended the first year of the School of Specialization in Archaeology at “La Sapienza”, before starting a PhD in Cambridge. Meantime I worked (and partially I still do!) on the iron slags from the Etruscan settlement of La Castellina del Marangone (Rome) and on the materials coming from the cemeteries of Veio – Casale del Fosso, Ficana and Caporciano – Cinturelli. I dug in many different fieldwork, experiencing different methodologies (among the others: Veii, Populonia, Piazza Armerina and Bisceglie).
Research
My main focus is the interaction between landscape and identity in non-urban and peripherical societies. I am currently focussed on Pre-Roman Central-Italy, roughly between 9th and 4th century BC. My other interests involve material culture, funerary archaeology, archaeology of war and weapons and trade and mobility.
My PhD project aims to draw a picture of the dynamics of structuring power in the harsh Mediterranean mountains of modern Abruzzo. My approach to the subject combines multiple scales of interaction, from the local to the interregional, and put them in the wider framework of the longue durée.
I am currently working on the publication of the cemeteries of Ficana (Latium Vetus) and Caporciano – Cinturelli (Abruzzi).
Key Publications
1. Scarsella, E. 2020. War and warriors in the Archaic Aterno Valley (Central-Italy). In World Archaeology , vol. 52.2, DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2020.1741440.
2. Scarsella, E. & Bruni, V. in press. Parcere subiectis, debellare superbos: The romanization of inner Abruzzo (Central Italy). In Cobb, M. & Haeussler, R. (eds.), Re-Thinking Globalisation in the Ancient World, Acts of the Conference held in Lampeter, 8-10 May 2018.
3. Ruzza, S. & Scarsella, E. 2017. Changes and Burial Practices: Social interactions in Cyprus between LC IIC and LC IIIB. In Bombardieri, L. & Amadio, L. (eds.), Ancient Cyprus, an Unexpected Journey. Rome: Artemide Editori, 105-116.
4. Scarsella, E. 2015. Cipro tra produzione e controllo ideologico: la circolazione del metallo tra il TC IIC e il TC IIIA. in Jasink A.M. and Bombardieri L: (eds.) AKROTHINIA. Contributi di giovani ricercatori italiani agli studi egei e ciprioti. Florence: Firenze University Press, 241-256. http://www.fupress.com/archivio/pdf/2952_7251.pdf *
5. Benvenuti, M., Ferro, D., Drago, L., Bellafiore, C. & Scarsella, E. 2015. Desde el Mar Tirreno a la Penìnsula Ibérica: Proyecto de investigaciòn y datos preliminares sobre el hierro, cobre, plombo y plata. In López Ballesta, J. M. (ed) Minería y metalurgia en el Mediterráneoy su periferia oceánica, III Encuentros Internacionales del Mediterraneo: PHICARIA, Mazarrón, 7, 8 y 9 de March 2013. Mazarrón (Murcia): Universidad Popular de Mazarrón, 102-111.
6. Benvenuti, M., Drago, L., Gnade, M., Bellafiore, C. & Scarsella, E. 2014. Between West and East, Metal trade in Etruria and central Tyrrhenian sea from early Iron Age to Romanization. Research and perspectives for an interdisciplinary research. In García-Pulido, L. J. (ed) Libro de Preactas del VIII Congreso Internacional sobre Minería y Metalurgia Históricas en el Sudoeste Europeo. Granada 11-14 June 2014, 91-95.
Talks and Lectures delivered:
1. Munich (Germany) 2019: (Cambridge LMU Strategic Partnership Doctoral Student Workshop in Prehistoric Archaeology, 16th December 2019) Warrior mountaineers: violence and landscape in Archaic Abruzzo (Italy);
2. Cambridge (England) 2019: (Feeding Communities International Conference, 1st -2nd November 2019) Dining with the Dead: Food and Burial Practices in Adriatic Central-Italy;
3. Turin (Italy) 2019: (VII Incontro Annuale dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria: Preistoria e Protostoria in ambiente Montano, 7th June 2019) Un’analisi Comparativa della vita montana (jointly with S. Stoddart and C. Malone);
4. Cambridge (England) 2019: (Late European Prehistory Annual Symosium, 4th May 2019) Green Grass and Gloomy Graves: the Funerary Landscape of Pre-Roman Abruzzo (Italy);
5. Santa Severa (Italy) 2018: (XXII Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology (SOMA), Santa Severa 22-25 November 2018). Rap’ānu and the others: The Private Agency in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean;
6. Barcelona (Spain) 2018: (24th Annual Meeting of the European Archaeologists Association (EAA), Barcelona 5-8 September 2018). Facing Changing Times: The Eurota Valley Between 15th And 12th Century BC (jointly with S. Ruzza);
7. Paris (France) 2018: (XVIII° Congrés de l’Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques, Paris 4-9 June) From violence to warfare: arrows and archers in southern Italy between the late 4th and 2nd millennia BC (jointly with G. Recchia, V. Mironti, S. Ruzza);
8. Lampeter (Wales) 2018: (Conference held in Lampeter, 8-10 May 2018) Parcere subiectis, debellare superbos: The romanization of inner Abruzzo (Central Italy (jointly with V. Bruni);
9. Turin (Italy) 2015: (15th Meeting of Postgraduate Cypriot Archaeology, 25-27 November 2015) Changes and Burial Practices: Social interactions in Cyprus between LC IIC and LC IIIB (jointly with S. Ruzza);
10. Granada (Spain) 2014: (VIII Congreso Internacional de Mineria Historicas en el sudoeste europeo, Granada 11-14 June 2014). Between West and East, Metal trade in Etruria and central Tyrrhenian sea from early Iron Age to Romanization. Research and perspectives for an interdisciplinary research, (jointly with M. Benvenuti, L. Drago, M. Gnade and C. Bellafiore,);
11. Mazarrón (Spain) 2013: (Phicaria III Encuentros Internacionales del Mediterraneo, Minería y metalurgia en el Mediterráneoy su periferia oceánica, Mazarrón, 7, 8 y 9 de March 2013) Desde el Mar Tirreno a la Penìnsula Ibérica: Proyecto de investigaciòn y datos preliminaries sobre el hierro, cobre, plombo y plata (jointly with . Benvenuti, D. Ferro, L. Drago and C. Bellafiore).
Teaching and Supervisions
Supervisor: Dr Simon Stoddart
Advisors: Dr Alessandro Launaro; Dr Vincenzo D’Ercole
Other Professional Activities
- Member of Darwin College
- Co-coordinator of the Later European Prehistory Group (2019-present)
-Member of the Eauropean Association of Archaeologists (2018-present)
-Member of the Arms and Armour Society (2019-present)
- Member of the Accademia Romana D’Armi (2016-present)
