Umberto Albarella

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Umberto Albarella
Nationality Italian-British
Alma mater
Occupations
Notable work

Umberto Albarella is an Italian-British archaeologist, prehistorian, and activist. He is professor of Zooarchaeology at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield. Albarella's previous work has been based in Britain, Italy, Armenia, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Portugal.

Contents

Education

Albarella graduated from the University of Naples in the 1980s with a degree in Natural Science but became interested in anthropology and archaeology since being undergraduate student in 1982. [1] [2] In 2004, he received a PhD from the University of Durham, with a thesis titled The archaeology of pig domestication and husbandry : approaches and case studies, supervised by Peter Rowley-Conwy. [3]

Career

Between 1993 and 1995 Albarella worked at the London branch of English Heritage. He was then an archaeologist at the University of Birmingham from 1995 to 2000, and the University of Durham from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, Albarella joined the Department of Archaeology as a Research Officer to expand and develop the zooarchaeology lab. [1] On the 15th June 2021, Albarella gave his professorship inaugural lecture at the University of Sheffield.

Albarella has written numerous journal articles, book chapters and edited volumes. Pigs and humans: 10,000 years of interaction, published in 2007, was the first major attempt at synthesising archaeological studies of pigs. [4] The 2011 volume, EthnoZooArchaeology: The Past and Present of Human-Animal Relationships, was described as "important collection of papers for both ethnoarchaeologists and zooarchaeologists". [5] Albarella and colleagues edited the Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology, published in 2017 and noted for its international breadth and thematic diversity. [6]

He has supervised numerous PhD students, including Richard Thomas, Angelos Hadjikoumis, Angela Trentacoste, Lizzie Wright. [1] Albarella has served on the editorial boards of the journals Anthropozoologica, Environmental Archaeology and Medieval Archaeology. [7] In 2002, he was elected onto the International Committee of ICAZ, and served as General Secretary of ICAZ from 2006 to 2012. [2]

Albarella is a member of the ICAZ Committee of Honor, recognising individuals who have made a major contribution to archaeozoology. [2] He is noted for his " keen sense of social responsibility" and is "much loved in the global community of zooarchaeologists". [2]

Selected publications

Articles

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zooarchaeology</span> Archaeological sub-discipline

Zooarchaeology, also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, proteins and DNA. Bones and shell are the best preserved at archaeological sites. Most of the time, faunal remains do not survive. They may decompose or break because of various circumstances. This can cause difficulties in identifying the remains and interpreting their significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durrington Walls</span> Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure

Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banquet</span> Large meal or feast

A banquet is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes include a charitable gathering, a ceremony, or a celebration. They often involve speeches in honor of the topic or guest of honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palawan (island)</span> Island in the Philippines

Palawan is the largest island of the province of Palawan in the Philippines and fifth-largest by area and tenth-most populous island of the country, with a total population of 994,101 as of 2020 census. The north west coast of the island is along the South China Sea, while the south east coast forms part of the northern limit of the Sulu Sea. Much of the island remains traditional and is considered by some as under-developed. Abundant wildlife, jungle mountains, and some white sandy beaches attract many tourists, as well as international companies looking for development opportunities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pig</span> Domesticated omnivorous even-toed ungulate

The pig, often called swine, hog, or domesticpig when distinguishing from other members of the genus Sus, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of Sus scrofa or a distinct species. The pig's head-plus-body length ranges from 0.9 to 1.8 m, and adult pigs typically weigh between 50 and 350 kg, with well-fed individuals even exceeding this range. The size and weight of hogs largely depends on their breed. Compared to other artiodactyls, a pig's head is relatively long and pointed. Most even-toed ungulates are herbivorous, but pigs are omnivores, like their wild relative. Pigs grunt and make snorting sounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Brothwell</span>

Donald Reginald Brothwell, was a British archaeologist, anthropologist and academic, who specialised in human palaeoecology and environmental archaeology. He had worked at the University of Cambridge, the British Museum, and the Institute of Archaeology of University of London, before ending his career as Professor of Human Palaeoecology at the University of York. He has been described as "one of the pioneers in the field of archaeological science".

Andrew Sherratt's model of a secondary products revolution involved a widespread and broadly contemporaneous set of innovations in Old World farming. The use of domestic animals for primary carcass products (meat) was broadened from the 4th–3rd millennia BCE to include exploitation for renewable 'secondary' products: milk, wool, traction, riding and pack transport.

Professor Anthony James Legge. was a British archaeologist and academic, who specialised in zooarchaeology.

Peter Rowley-Conwy, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of Archaeology at Durham University from 2007 to 2020, having joined the university as a lecturer in 1990: he is now professor emeritus. He had previously taught and researched at Clare Hall, Cambridge and the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danubian corridor</span>

In paleontology and archaeology, the Danubian corridor or Rhine-Danube corridor refers to a route along the valleys of the Danube River and Rhine River of various migrations of Eastern cultures from Asia Minor, the Aegean region, the Pontic–Caspian steppe, etc., into the north and northwest of Europe.

Archaeobiology, the study of the biology of ancient times through archaeological materials, is a subspecialty of archaeology. It can be seen as a blanket term for paleobotany, animal osteology, zooarchaeology, microbiology, and many other sub-disciplines. Specifically, plant and animal remains are also called ecofacts. Sometimes these ecofacts can be left by humans and sometimes they can be naturally occurring. Archaeobiology tends to focus on more recent finds, so the difference between archaeobiology and palaeontology is mainly one of date: archaeobiologists typically work with more recent, non-fossilised material found at archaeological sites. Only very rarely are archaeobiological excavations performed at sites with no sign of human presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gumelnița–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI complex</span> Neolithic culture

The Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI complex was a Chalcolithic cultural complex of the fifth millennium BC located in the eastern Balkans, comprising the Gumelnița, Kodžadermen and Karanovo cultures. It is also aggregated with the Varna culture. It formed part of the broader cultural complex known as Old Europe. Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI evolved out of the earlier Boian culture and phase V of the Karanovo culture. From c. 4000 BC Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI was replaced by the Cernavodă culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palawan bearded pig</span> Species of mammal

The Palawan bearded pig is a pig species in the genus Sus endemic to the Philippines, where it occurs on the archipelago of islands formed by Balabac, Palawan, and the Calamian Islands. It is 1 to 1.6 m in length, about 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gumelnița culture</span> Neolithic culture

The Gumelniţa culture was a Chalcolithic culture of the 5th millennium BC, named after the Gumelniţa site on the left (Romanian) bank of the Danube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banded pig</span>

The banded pig also known as the Indonesian wild boar is a subspecies of wild boar native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula and many Indonesian islands, including Sumatra, Java, and the Lesser Sundas as far east as Komodo. It is known as the wild boar in Singapore. It is the most basal subspecies, having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, and unspecialised cranial structure. It is a short-faced subspecies with a white band on the muzzle, as well as sparse body hair, no underwool, a fairly long mane, and a broad reddish band extending from the muzzle to the sides of the neck. It is much smaller than the mainland S. s. cristatus subspecies, with the largest specimens on Komodo weighing only 48 kg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese boar</span>

The Japanese boar, also known as the white-moustached pig, nihon-inoshishi (ニホンイノシシ), or yama kujira, is a subspecies of wild boar native to all of Japan, apart for Hokkaido and the Ryukyu Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Reitz</span> Zooarchaeologist

Elizabeth Jean "Betsy" Reitz is a zooarchaeologist and Professor Emerita in the Georgia Museum of Natural History and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Georgia. She was born in 1946 in Lake Alfred, Florida. She attended Florida Presbyterian College from 1966 to 1967. She received her BA (1969), MA (1975), and her PhD (1979) in Anthropology from the University of Florida. Her dissertation was directed by Elizabeth Wing. In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2014, she was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the recipient of the 2016 Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary Research in Archaeology, given by the Society for American Archaeology. The Fryxell Award is given to scholars who have made significant contributions in the application of the zoological sciences in archaeology. She is a member of the Committee of Honor of the International Council for Zooarchaeology (ICAZ). In 2019, Reitz was awarded the Southeastern Archaeological Conference's Lifetime Achievement Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Gifford-Gonzalez</span> American archaeologist

Diane Gifford-Gonzalez is an American archaeologist who specializes in the field of zooarchaeology. Her research has included fieldwork near Lake Turkana, northwestern Kenya, and her research often touches on the question of animal domestication and the origins and development of African pastoralism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqui Mulville</span> Field archaeologist and academic

Jacqueline Mulville is a British bioarchaeologist and Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University. Mulville is a field archaeologist whose research focuses on osteoarchaeology, human and animal identities, and island archaeologies concentrated on Britain.

Keith M. Dobney is a British archaeologist and academic, specialising in bioarchaeology and palaeopathology of human and animal remains. Since 2020, he has been Head of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiries at the University of Sydney. He previously worked at the Institute of Archaeology, the University of York, the University of Durham, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Liverpool.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Professor Umberto Albarella | Archaeology | The University of Sheffield". www.sheffield.ac.uk. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "ICAZ". alexandriaarchive.org. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  3. Albarella, Umberto (2004). The archaeology of pig domestication and husbandry : approaches and case studies (Ph.D. thesis). Durham University.
  4. "The Prehistoric Society - Book Review". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  5. Broderick, Lee (1 March 2012). "EthnoZooArchaeology: The Past and Present of Human-Animal Relationships, by Umberto Albarella and Angela Trentacoste, editors". Ethnoarchaeology. 4 (1): 108–110. doi:10.1179/eth.2012.4.1.108. ISSN   1944-2890. S2CID   178150573.
  6. "The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology. Oxford handbooks in archaeology – Bryn Mawr Classical Review". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  7. "Medieval Archaeology Editorial Board". www.tandfonline.com. Retrieved 19 June 2021.