Not only by genes: aDNA and new methods in bioarchaeology

28-30 May 2025 

Online

In recent decades, the development of bioarchaeological sciences has produced a main re-evaluation of the scientific methods applied to the study of osteological remains. This has provided the possibility of investigating human behavior from different stand points: from the study of populations to the reconstruction of the life histories of individuals. This seventh edition of the School AMARCH 2025 presents an overview on approaches, like the reconstruction of phylogeny and lineages through the analysis of ancient DNA, the definition of eating habits thanks to residues incorporated into dental calculus, and the identification of macro- and microscopic bones features. These and other topics will be treated through the presentation of archaeological case studies coming from chronologically and geographically heterogeneous contexts useful to provide a broad perspective and introductory knowledge of increasingly important topics in archaeological sciences.

AMARCH 2025 is jointly organized by the three laboratories of the University of Trento: the Laboratorio Bagolini Archeologia, Archeometria e Fotografia (Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia), the Laboratorio Beni Culturali (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale), and the Laboratorio di Struttura e Dinamica dei Sistemi Complessi (Dipartimento di Fisica).

The School is conceived for students and young researchers working in archaeological research and cultural heritage, with a special focus on Ph.D., Master's students and researchers from Museums and Superintendencies. A technical-scientific background at an academic level is not required to attend lectures, but a basic knowledge of the principles of chemistry and physics can be useful

Speakers
Maria Giovanna Belcastro – Università di Bologna (Italy)
Valentina Coia - Eurac Research (Italy)
Diego Dreossi - ELETTRA - Trieste (Italy)
Elena Fiorin - Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy)
Omar Larentis - Università di Trento (Italy) 
Simone Anna Maria Lemmers - ELETTRA - Trieste (Italy)
Frank Maixner - Eurac Research (Italy) 
Marcello Mannino - Aarhus Universitet (Denmark)
Claudio Ottoni - Università di Roma "Tor Vergata" (Italy)
Nicola Segata - Università di Trento (Italy)

Scientific Committee
Diego E. Angelucci - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Giacomo Capuzzo - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Stefano Gialanella - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Trento
Stefano Grimaldi - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Omar Larentis - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Annaluisa Pedrotti - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Fabio Santaniello - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Maurizio Zambaldi - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Marco Zanatta - Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento

Organizing Committee
Martina Andreoli - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Giacomo Capuzzo - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Stefano Gialanella - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Trento
Omar Larentis - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Fabio Santaniello - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Maurizio Zambaldi - Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Trento
Marco Zanatta - Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento

Registration and participation fee
Registration is open link. No more than 100 participants will be accepted, at the discretion of the Scientific Committee.
The School will take place via Zoom. Lectures will be held in English.
The participation fee is € 30 and includes the streaming of lectures and teaching materials.
UNITN members and the students Participants from UNITN and students of the Master Quaternario, Preistoria e Archeologia are exempted from the registration fee.

Program

School Opening - 28.05.2025

• 2:30 pm

Welcome to Participants: Stefano Gialanella, Stefano Grimaldi, Marco Zanatta
School presentation: Fabio Santaniello

Session 1 - Entering the Bioarchaeology World - 28.05.2025 – Chairperson: Fabio Santaniello

• 3:00 pm

Frank Maixner – Eurac Research (Italy) – Unveiling individual dietary profiles and culinary practices of the past: a multidisciplinary analysis of paleofeces.
Q&A

• 4:00 pm

Nicola Segata – University of Trento (Italy) – Computational metagenomics to study the human microbiome across time.
Q&A

• 5:00 pm  

General Discussion & Closing of the Session

Session 2 - Ancient DNA - 29.05.2025 - 9:00 am - Chairperson: Giacomo Capuzzo

• 9:00 am

Valentina Coia – Eurac Research (Italy) – Genetic analysis of ancient human remains: the case study of Alpine prehistoric groups in the Eastern Italian Alps.
Q&A

• 10:00 am  

Claudio Ottoni – University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Italy) – Origins and spread of domestic cats in Europe through the lens of Ancient DNA.
Q&A

• 11:00 am  

General Discussion & Closing of the Session

Session 3 - Diet & Medical Treatments 29.05.2025 - Chairperson: Omar Larentis

•  3:00 pm 

Marcello Mannino – Aarhus University (Denmark) – Reconstructing past human diets: an interdisciplinary perspective.
Q&A

Marcello Mannino – Aarhus University (Denmark) – Applications of stable isotope analyses. 
Q&A

• 4:45 pm

Coffee Break

• 5:00 pm

Elena Fiorin – Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) – Tracing healing remedies through time: dental calculus analysis and medical practices. 
Q&A

• 6:00 pm  

General Discussion & Closing of the Session

Session 4 - Morphometric and histological analysis - 30.05.2025 - Chairperson: Maurizio Zambaldi

• 9:00 am

Maria Giovanna Belcastro – University of Bologna (Italy) – Morphological and morphometric approach to the study of human skeletal remains.
Q&A

• 10:00 am

Omar Larentis – University of Trento (Italy) – Histomorphometry of hard tissues for the study of human skeletal remains. 
Q&A

• 11:00 am  

General Discussion & Closing of the Session

Session 5 -Methodologies - 30.05.2025 - Chairperson: Marco Zanatta

• 3:00 pm

Diego Dreossi – ELETTRA - Trieste (Italy) - Computed micro-Tomography - Fundamentals.
Q&A 

Simone Anna Maria Lemmers – ELETTRA - Trieste (Italy) - Computed micro-Tomography   - Applications. 
Q&A

Interactive microCT Laboratory - Virtual hands on

• 6:00 pm  

General Discussion & Closing of the School

The School is organized within the national project of Dipartimento di Eccellenza 2023-2027 of the Department of Humanities UNITN and it is supported PRIN project “Pyro-Transitions - Prehistoric cultural changes in the use of fire from foraging to the earliest farming societies” e dal CARITRO project “Ge.Ra.Ni - La gestione delle risorse animali nella Preistoria del Trentino: evoluzione del rapporto uomo territorio economia”.