University of Gothenburg
University of Gothenburg
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Serena Sabatini

Researcher

Department of Historical
Studies
Telephone
+46 31-786 52 17
+46 766-18 52 17
Mail
serena.sabatini@archaeology.gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Room number
J618
Postal address
Box 200
40530 Göteborg

About Serena Sabatini

Serena is Associate Professor of Archaeology and a scholar of European and Mediterranean Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Studies. Her research focuses on, but it is not limited to, the study of production and long distance trade and exchange of metal, wool and textiles; she is also extensively working with mobility and aDNA of both humans and animals. Through the years she has been working in various ways with burial practices, issues of social complexity, and identity; in 2018 she initiated the Understanding Urban Identity project (see below) which includes the archaeological excavation at the Etruscan town of Vulci, in Italy, and an innovative interdisciplinary approach to the study of the early urban phenomenon in southern Europe.

Serena received a Master Degree in European Protohistory (1999) from the University of Rome La Sapienza and a PhD in Archaeology (2007) from the University of Gothenburg. The PhD dissertation (House urns. A European Late Bronze Age Trans-cultural Phenomenon) provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the so-called Late Bronze Age North European house urns, discussing at the same time issues of transculturality and of the impact of long-distance relations on local burial practices.

Serena has been working as researcher at the University of Gothenburg since 2012. She has been involved in several international research projects (see below) and became Associate Professor in 2017. Beside research, Serena has substantial teaching experience as lecturer in Archaeology, Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, and History courses (see below).

Current Research Projects

2023-2026 Before the Romans. Addressing the interplay between genetic and cultural variation in Pre-Roman Italy (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant P22-0641), Principal investigator.

2022-2026 Corex From Correlations to Explanations: towards a new European Prehistory (ERC Synergy grant 951385; principal investigators: Kristian Kristiansen, Mark Thomas, Kurt Kjaer), Project manager.

2020-2025 The missing link? Sardinia and the Bronze Age Metal Trade between Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean (Swedish Research Council, grant F22-0123), Principal investigator.

2020-2024 EuroWeb COST action CA19131 - Europe through Textiles: Network for an integrated and interdisciplinary Humanities, Swedish representative at the Management Committee.

2017-2022 The Rise II Towards a new European Prehistory. Integrating aDNA, isotopic investigations, language and archaeology to reinterpret key processes of change in the prehistory of Europe (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant M16-0455:1; principal investigator: Kristian Kristiansen), Researcher.

2018-today Understanding Urban Identities (UUI) project, Scientific director.

Past Research Projects

2016-2019 THESP Bronze Age wool economy: production, trade, environment, husbandry and society (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant F15-0591:1; principal investigator: Sophie Bergerbrant) co-aplicant and researcher.

2014-2016 Provenance investigation of aDNA and strontium isotope analyses. aDNA and Strontium of sheep bones from the Bronze Age (Berit Wallenbergs Stiftelse, grant BWS 2014.0083), Principal investigator.

2012-2016 The Rise I The Rise of Bronze Age societies (ERC advanced grant 269442; principal investigator: Kristian Kristiansen), Researcher.

Teaching

List of courses in which Serena works/worked as course coordinator (including teaching, examinations, coordination of seminars, and of student excursions):

  • Archaeological fieldwork internship in research project (AE2023)
  • Nordic and European Bronze Age (AE2018)
  • European and Mediterranean Bronze Age (AE2016)
  • Introduction to archaeology (AE1050)
  • Archaeology: Intermediate course - Archaeology and society (AE1222)
  • Mobility, migration and society from Stone Age to Viking Age for teacher and museum educators (AE1011)
  • Children and Archaeology (AE1009)
  • Scandinavian prehistory and the natural science revolution in archaeology (AE1012)
  • Children, Youth and Archaeology (AE1010)
  • Mediterranean Prehistory (AN1070)
  • Archaeology: Introductory course - Nordic Prehistory and Early history (AE1111)
  • Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: Intermediate course - Individual scientific assignment (AE1222)

List of courses to which Serena is/has been contributing as teacher:

  • The Ethics of Research in the Humanities (HUM3102)
  • Archaeological essay (AE2021)
  • Archaeological perspectives and assistive sciences (AE1444)
  • Textiles in pre-modern societies (AN2085)
  • Archaeological fieldwork in the Mediterranean regions (AN1076)
  • Archaeology: Introductory course (AE1111)
  • Archaeology: Intermediate course: Individual Student essays (AE1222)
  • Archaeology: Advanced course (AE1333)
  • Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: Intermediate course - Ancient Art and Archaeology (AN1222)
  • Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: Intermediate course - Individual Student essays (AN1222)
  • Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: Introductory course - Italic and Roman culture and society (AN1111)
  • Fashion and clothing history: from prehistory to 1900 (HI1640)
  • Man and Sea: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives (AE1094)