Maria Elena Bertoli

m.bertoli.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Research title: The fibre revolution in Bronze Age northern Italy: investigating textile economies in transition from plant fibres to wool

Research Summary

My project is focused on the fibre revolution in Bronze Age (c.2200-1200 BCE) northern Italy and aims to investigate these textile economies in transition from plant fibres to wool.

The transition from plant to wool fibre textile economies during the Bronze Age is an important economic juncture and would have affected many aspects of daily life. Using functional analysis of textile tools, pXRF, C14 dating and GIS this research will focus on the textile tools discovered in the main pile-dwelling settlements and Terramare in northern Italy. The results will investigate how the adoption of wool affected the social organization of textile production within these sites.

The research will shine new light on the transition from plant fibres to wool textile in the Bronze Age settlements in northern Italy through the following research questions: 

  • When did the transition from plant fibre to wool textile production occur in northern Italy?
  • How did the adoption of wool affect the organization of textile production, previously based on plant fibres?
  • What is the relationship between textiles tools and fibre?
  • What impact did the adoption of wool have on the transition from a household textile production to a community-based specialized textile economy within these sites?

 

Publications

Articles 

 

BERTOLI M. E., MARTINOIA V. 2021, Studio preliminare di alcuni contesti funerari nel territorio della Provincia di Udine dal Neolitico al III secolo d.C., Gortania. Geologia, Paleontologia, Paletnologia, 43 (2021), Udine, 30.IX.2021, pp. 143-156.

http://www.civicimuseiudine.it/it/musei-civici/museo-friulano-di-storia-naturale/biblioteca-bibliografie-e-pubblicazioni/gortania

 

Conference Proceedings

BERTOLI M. E., MARTINOIA V. 2022, Analisi preliminare della totalità dei contesti funerari nel territorio dell’attuale ex Provincia di Udine dal Neolitico al III secolo d.C., in: “Le lenti del passato. Approcci multiscalari all’archeologia, Padua, Italy, 21-22 December 2021, pp. 13-20.

https://www.torrossa.com/it/resources/an/5410961

 

BERTOLI M. E., BUSATO R., GAROSI G. A. 2022, La Provincia di Ferrara dal Bronzo Medio agli albori della Prima età del Ferro. Proposta di ricostruzione delle dinamche di popolamento e dell’organizzazione territoriale, in: “Le lenti del passato. Approcci multiscalari all’archeologia, Padua, Italy, 21-22 December 2021, pp. 21-33.

https://www.torrossa.com/it/resources/an/5410961

Supervisors

Grants

This research is funded through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, Doctoral Training Program

Additional Information

Qualifications

Undergraduate Degree

Archaeology, University of Padova (Italy)

Dissertation title: "The Late Bronze Age coarse pottery from the archaeological site of San Martino di Venezze (RO). Typology and chronology of the materials from the stratigraphic units 650 and 667"

Date of award: 17/10/2018

Degree classification: 110/110 cum laude

Master's Degree

Archaeological Sciences, University of Padova (Italy)

Dissertation title: "The last phases of the Final Bronze Age between Polesine and Low Verona plain. Hypothesis for a chronological framework based on the pottery productions for settlements"

Date of award: 04/12/2020

Degree classification: 110/110 cum laude

Postgraduate School

Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, University of Padova (Italy)

Dissertation title: "The funerary hypogea "dei Bronzi" and "degli Avori" of Trinitapoli (BT). Review of the chronology and of the ways of use in GIS for a reinterpretation of the social structures in Northern Apulia during the Bronze Age! ​

Date of award: 30/03/2023

Degree classification: 70/70 cum laude