Publications
Sardella, R., Nicolaci, M., Borrelli, L., Mazzini, I., Pieruccini, P., Galbusera, A., Iannucci, A., Lembo, G., Bona, F., Forti, L., Calcagnile, L., D’Elia, M., Carbone, G., Quarta, G., Manzi G. & Nava, A. (2026) Direct radiocarbon dating reveals medieval reuse at the prehistoric site of Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Apulia, Italy). Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 104. DOI
Magri, S., Higgins, O. A., Figus, C., Sassoni, E., Graziani, G., Graziani, G., Philiotis, B. M., Vazzana, A., Romandini, M., Anczkiewicz, R., Mianowski, S., Bondioli, L., Nava, A. & Benazzi, S. (2026). Early-life stress at the time of the plague in Northern Italy (17th century): The case of two individuals with severe hypoplastic defects from Lazzaretto Vecchio (Venice). Archives of Oral Biology, 191, 106706. DOI
Capasso, G., Prillo, V. G., Beck de Lotto, O’Brien Butler, M. A. C., Nederbragt, A. J., Nava, A., Bondioli, L., Gigante, M., Vidale, M., Leonardi, G. & Madgwick, R. (2026). Dietary perspectives on social asymmetry in a full Iron Age community of northern Italy: stable isotope evidence from the Patavine CUS-Piovego necropolis. Scientific Reports, 16, 15208. DOI
Stuart, E., Di Renzoni, A., Esposito, C., Bondioli, L., Cipriani, A., Nava, A., Lugli, F., Vanzetti, A. (2026). Walking through the landscape: A different approach to mobility through 87Sr/86Sr isoscapes. Journal of Archaeological Science, 190, 106561. DOI
Galbusera, A., Magri, S., Higgins, O. A, Trevisan, M., Prillo, V. G., Vidale, M., Torrieri, V., Benazzi, S., Bondioli, L., Nava, A. & Gigante, M. (2026). Macroscopic and histological analyses of cremated remains from the Imperial Roman necropolis of La Cona (1st cent. BCE-1st cent. CE, Teramo, Italy). PLoS One, 21, 4. DOI
Capasso, G., Sperduti, A., Habab Idriss A., Cipriani, A., Bondioli, L., Nava, A., Lugli, F. & Manzo, A. (2026). Oscillating diachronic mobility patterns in prehistoric Eastern Sudan revealed by 87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis. Scientific Reports, 16, 8800. DOI
Germano, R., Higgins, O. A, Cristiani, E., Galbusera, A., Esposito, C., Neves, D., Pellegrino, C., Sperduti, A., Manzi, G., Bondioli, L. & Nava, A. (2026). Health and lifestyle in the Iron Age Italian community of Pontecagnano (Campania, Italy, 7th-6th century BCE). PLoS One, 21, 1. DOI
Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Barnard, P., Pitfield, R., O’Hara, M. C., Coppa, A., Esposito, C., Sperduti, A., Deter, C., Nava, A., & Loch, C. (2025). Variation in Modern Human Deciduous Molar Enamel Formation Time. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 188, e70156. DOI
Higgins, O. A., Fontani, F., Lugli, F., Silvestrini, S., Vazzana, A., Latorre, A., Sericola, M., Cipriani, A., Quarta, G., Calcagnile, L., Bondioli, L., Nava, A., Cilli, E., Luiselli, D. & Benazzi, S. (2025). Reconstructing life history and ancestry from poorly preserved skeletal remains: A bioanthropological study of a Copper Age infant from Faenza (RA, Italy). Journal of Archaeological Science, 180, 106291. DOI
Gigante, M., Esposito, C., Lugli, F., Sperduti, A., Cinquantaquattro, T. E., d’Agostino, B., Nava, A., Müller, W., & Bondioli, L. (2025). Where Typhoeus Lived. 87Sr/86Sr Analysis of Human Remains in the First Greek Site in the Western Mediterranean (Pithekoussai, Italy). iScience, 28, 111927. DOI
Magri, S., Higgins, O. A., Lugli, F., Silvestrini, S., Vazzana, A., Bondioli, L., Nava, A., & Benazzi, S. (2024) Enamel histomorphometry, growth patterns and developmental trajectories of the first deciduous molar in an Italian early medieval skeletal series. PLoS One, 19, e0304051. DOI
Esposito, C., Higgins, O. A., Galbusera, A., Gigante, M., Lugli, F., Müller, W., Madgwick, R., Coppa, A., Benazzi, S., Bondioli, L., & Nava, A. (2024). NOthing goes to Waste (NOWA): A protocol to optimise sampling of ancient teeth. Journal of Archaeological Science, 171, 106087. DOI
Müller, W., Lugli, F., McCormack, J., Evans, D., Anczkiewicz, R., Bondioli, L. & Nava, A. (2025). Human life histories. Treatise on Geochemistry, 3rd edition, pp. 281-328. DOI
Higgins, O. A., Modi, A., Cannariato, C., Diroma, M. A., Lugli, F., Ricci, S., Zaro, V., Vai, S., Vazzana, A., Romandini, M., Yu, H., Boschin, F., Magnone, L., Rossini, M., Di Domenico, G., Baruffaldi, F., Oxilia, G., Bortolini, E., Dellù, E., Moroni, A., Ronchitelli, A., Talamo, S., Müller, W., Calattini, M., Nava, A., Posth, C., Lari, M., Bondioli, L., Benazzi S. & Caramelli D. (2024) Life history and ancestry of the late Upper Palaeolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura, Italy. Nature Communications, 15, 8248. DOI
Nava, A., Lugli, F., Lemmers, S., Cerrito, P., Mahoney, P., Bondioli, L. & Müller, W. (2024). Reading children’s teeth to reconstruct life history and the evolution of human cooperation and cognition: the role of dental enamel microstructure and chemistry. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 105745. DOI
Nava, A. (2024). Understanding the maternal-infant nexus from dental histology and high-resolution compositional biogeochemistry: implications for bioarchaeological research. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, 36, 1. DOI
Peripoli, B., Gigante, M., Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Coppa, A., Lugli, F., Lauria, G., Bondioli, L., Sconzo, P., Sineo, L. & Nava, A. (2023). Exploring prenatal and neonatal life history through dental histology in infants from the Phoenician necropolis of Motya (7th–6th century BCE). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 49, 104024. DOI
Essential bibliography
Mutin, B., Zazzo, A., Bondioli, L., Coppa, A., Garbé, L., Wolfgang, M., Nava, A., Quivron, G., Tombret, O., Vidale, M. & Didier, A. (2025). New radiocarbon dates of human tooth enamel reveal a late appearance of farming life in the indus Valley. Scientific Reports, 15, 11345. DOI
Cecconi, V., Nava, A., Lugli, F., Mittnik, A., Sawyer, S., Gadeyne, J., Brouillard, C., Pinhasi, R., Reich, D. & Sperduti, A. (2025). A short and sickly life. Multi-indicator analysis of an infant from a late antique Italian burial site (Piano della Civita, Artena, 3rd-5th cent CE). International Journal of Paleopathology, 49, 93-103. DOI
Lipson, M., Ringbauer, H., Lucarini, G., Aouadi, N., Aoudia, L., Belhouchet, L., Cheronet, O., Dahmani, A.-R., Genchi, F., La Pastina, F., Lucci, M., de Lumley, H., Mansouri, N., Nava, A., Touj, F., Mallick, S., Rohland, N., Coppa, A., Pinhasi, R. & Reich, D. (2025). High continuity of forager ancestry in the Neolithic period of the eastern Maghreb. Nature, 641, 925-931. DOI
Anczkiewicz, R., Nava, A., Bondioli, L., Müller, W., Spötl, C., Koziarska, M., Boczkowska, M., Wojtal, P. & Wilczyński, J. (2023). High spatial resolution Sr isotope and trace element record of dental enamel mineralization in a woolly mammoth tooth: Implications for paleoecological reconstructions. Quaternary Science Reviews, 313, 108191. DOI
Antonio, M. L., Weiß, C. L., Gao, Z., Sawyer, S., Oberreiter, V., Moots, H. M., Spence, J. P., Cheronet, O., Zagorc, B., Praxmarer, E., Özdoğan, K. D., Demetz, L., Gelabert, P., Fernandes, D., Lucci, M., Alihodžić, T., Amrani, S., Avetisyan, P., Baillif-Ducros, C., Bedić, Ž., Bertrand, A., Bilić, M., Bondioli, L., Borówka, P., Botte, E., Burmaz, J., Bužanić, D., Candilio, F., Cvetko, M., De Angelis, D., Drnić, I., Elschek, K., Fantar, M., Gaspari, A., Gasperetti, G., Genchi, F., Golubović, S., Hukeľová, Z., Jankauskas, R., Vučković, K. J., Jeremić, G., Kaić, I., Kazek, K., Khachatryan, H., Khudaverdyan, A., Kirchengast, S., Korać, M., Kozlowski, V., Krošláková, M., Špalj, D. K., La Pastina, F., Laguardia, M., Legrand, S., Leleković, T., Leskovar, T., Lorkiewicz, W., Los, D., Silva, A. M., Masaryk, R., Matijević, V., Cherifi, Y. M. S., Meyer, N., Mikić, I., Miladinović-Radmilović, N., Zakić, B. M., Nacouzi, L., Natuniewicz-Sekuła, M., Nava, A., Neugebauer-Maresch, C., Nováček, J., Osterholtz, A., Paige, J., Paraman, L., Pieri, D., Pieta, K., Pop-Lazić, S., Ruttkay, M., Sanader, M., Sołtysiak, A., Sperduti, A., Pesterac, T. S., Teschler-Nicola, M., Teul, I., Tončinić, D., Trapp, J., Vulović, D., Waliszewski, T., Walter, D., Živanović, M., el Mostefa Filah, M., Čaušević-Bully, M., Šlaus, M., Borić, D., Novak, M., Coppa, A., Pinhasi, R. & Pritchard J. K. (2024). Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility. eLife ,13, e79714. DOI
Kubat, J., Nava, A., Bondioli, L., Dean, M. C., Zanolli, C., Bourgon, N., Bacon, A. M., Demeter, F., Peripoli, B., Albert, R., Lüdecke, T., Hertler, C., Mahoney, P., Kullmer, O., Schrenk, F. & Müller, W. (2023). Dietary strategies of Pleistocene Pongo sp. and Homo erectus on Java (Indonesia). Nature Ecology & Evolution, 7, 279-289. DOI
Kowalik, N., Anczkiewicz, R., Müller, W., Spötl, C., Bondioli, L., Nava, A., Wojtal, P., Wilczyńsk, J., Koziarska, M. & Matyszczak, M. (2023). Revealing seasonal woolly mammoth migration with spatially-resolved trace element, Sr and O isotopic records of molar enamel. Quaternary Science Reviews, 306, 108036. DOI
Vazzana, A., Higgins, O. A., Oxilia, G., Lugli, F., Silvestrini, S., Nava, A., Bondioli, L., Bortolini, E., Di Domenico, G., Bernardini, F., Tuniz, C., Mancini, L., Bettuzzi, M., Morigi, M. P., Piperno, M., Collina, C., Romandini, M. & Benazzi, S. (2022). High-accuracy methodology for the integrative restoration of archaeological teeth by using reverse engineering techniques and rapid prototyping. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 44, 103511. DOI
Nava, A., Mahoney, P., Bondioli, L., Coppa, A., Cristiani, E., Fattore, L., McFarlane, G., Dreossi, D. & Mancini, L. (2022). Virtual histology of archaeological human deciduous prenatal enamel through synchrotron X-ray computed microtomography images. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, 29(1), 247-253. DOI
Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Loch, C., White, S., Floyd, B., Dunn, E. C., Pitfield, R., Nava, A. & Guatelli-Steinberg, D. (2022). Dental biorhythm is associated with adolescent weight gain. Communications Medicine, 2, 99. DOI
Lugli, F., Nava, A., Sorrentino, R., Vazzana, A., Bortolini, E., Oxilia, G., Silvestrini, S., Nannini, N., Bondioli, L., Fewlass, H., Talamo, S., Bard, E., Mancini, L., Müller, W., Romandini, M. & Benazzi, S. (2022). Tracing the mobility of a Late Epigravettian (~ 13 ka) male infant from Grotte di Pradis (Northeastern Italian Prealps) at high-temporal resolution. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-13. DOI
Cerrito, P., Nava, A., Radovčić, D., Borić, D., Cerrito, L., Basdeo, T., Ruggiero, G., Frayer, D. W., Kao, A., Bondioli, L., Mancini, L. & Bromage, T. G. (2022). Dental cementum virtual histology of Neanderthal teeth from Krapina (Croatia, 130–120 kyr): an informed estimate of age, sex and adult stressors. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 19(187):20210820. DOI
McFarlane, G., Loch, C., Guatelli-Steinberg, D., Bayle, P., Le Luyer, M., Sabel, N., Nava, A., Floyd, B., Skinner, M., White, S., Pitfield, R. & Mahoney, P. (2021). Enamel daily secretion rates of deciduous molars from a global sample of children. Archives of Oral Biology, 132, 105290. DOI
Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Smith, B.H., Miszkiewicz, J. J., Cerrito, P., Liversidge, H., Mancini, L., Dreossi, D., Veneziano, A., Bernardini, F., Cristiani, E., Behie, A., Coppa, A., Bondioli, L., Frayer, D. W., Radovčić, D. & Nava, A. (2021). Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120–130 ka), Croatia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288, 20212079. DOI
Hodgkins, J., Orr, C. M., Gravel-Miguel, C., Riel-Salvatore, J., Miller, C.E., Bondioli, L., Nava, A., Lugli, F., Talamo, S., Hajdinjak, M., Cristiani, E., Romandini, M., Meyer, D., Drohobytsky, D., Kuester, F., Pothier-Bouchard, G., Buckley, M., Mancini, L., Baruffaldi, F., Silvestrini, S., Arrighi, S., Keller, A. M., Belén Griggs, R., Peresani, M., Strait, D. S., Benazzi, S. & Negrino, F. (2021). An infant burial from Arma Veirana in northwestern Italy provides insights into funerary practices and female personhood in early Mesolithic Europe. Scientific reports, 11, 1-13. DOI
Gigante, M., Nava, A., Paine, R. R., Fiore, I., Alhaique, F., Esposito, C. M., Sperduti, A., Bonetto, J., Cinquantaquattro, T. E. & d’Agostino, B. (2021). Who was buried with Nestor’s Cup? Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of the cremated remains from Tomb 168 (second half of the 8th century BCE, Pithekoussai, Ischia Island, Italy). PloS one, 16(10), e0257368. DOI
Nava, A., Fiorin, E., Zupancich, A., Carra, M., Ottoni, C., Di Carlo, G., Vozza, I., Brugnoletti, O., Alhaique, F., Grifoni Cremonesi, R., Coppa, A., Bondioli, L., Borić, D. & Cristiani, E. (2021). Multipronged dental analyses reveal dietary differences in last foragers and first farmers at Grotta Continenza, central Italy (15,500–7000 BP). Scientific Reports, 11, 4261. DOI
Nava, A., Lugli, F., Romandini, M., Badino, F., Evans, D., Helbling, A. H., Oxilia, G., Arrighi, S., Bortolini, E., Delpiano, D., Duches, R., Figus, C., Livraghi, A., Marciani, G., Silvestrini, S., Cipriani, A., Giovanardi, T., Pini, R., Tuniz, C., Bernardini, F., Dori, I., Coppa, A., Cristiani, E., Dean, C., Bondioli, L., Peresani, M., Müller, W. & Benazzi, S. (2020). Early life of Neanderthals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,117(46) 28719-28726. DOI
Lugli, F., Figus, C., Silvestrini, S., Costa, V., Bortolini, E., Conti, S., Peripoli, B., Nava, A., Sperduti, A., Lamanna, L., Bondioli, L. & Benazzi, S. (2020). Sex-related morbidity and mortality in non-adult individuals from the Early Medieval site of Valdaro (Italy): the contribution of dental enamel peptide analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 34, 102625. DOI
Romandini, M., Oxilia, G., Bortolini, E., Peyrégne, S., Delpiano, D., Nava, A., Panetta, D., Di Domenico, G., Martini, P., Arrighi, S., Badino, F., Figus, C., Lugli, F., Marciani, G., Silvestrini, S., Menghi Sartorio, J. C., Terlato, G., Hublin, J. J., Meyer, M., Bondioli, L., Higham, T., Slon, V., Peresani, M. & Benazzi, S. (2020). A late Neanderthal tooth from northeastern Italy. Journal of Human Evolution, 147, 102867. DOI
Li, Q., Nava, A., Reynard, L., Thirlwall, M., Bondioli, L. & Müller, W. (2020). Spatially-Resolved Ca Isotopic and Trace Element Variations in Human Deciduous Teeth Record Diet and Physiological Change. Environmental Archaeology, 27(5), 474-483. DOI
Kowalik, N., Anczkiewicz, R., Wilczyński, J., Wojtal, P., Müller, W., Bondioli, L., Nava, A. & Gasparik, M. (2020). Tracing human mobility in central Europe during the Upper Paleolithic using sub-seasonally resolved Sr isotope records in ornaments. Scientific Reports,10, 10386. DOI
Frayer, D.W., Nava, A., Tartaglia, G., Vidale, M., Coppa, A. & Bondioli, L. (2020). Evidence for Labret Use in Prehistory. Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology,14(1), 1-23. DOI
Antonio, M. L., Gao, Z., Moots, H. M., Lucci, M., Candilio, F., Sawyer, S., Oberreiter, V., Calderon, D., Devitofranceschi, K., Aikens, R.C., Aneli, S., Bartoli, F., Bedini, A., Cheronet, O., Cotter, D. J., Fernandes, D. M., Gasperetti, G., Grifoni, R., Guidi, A., La Pastina, F., Loreti, E., Manacorda, D., Matullo, G., Morretta, S., Nava, A., Fiocchi Nicolai, V., Nomi, F., Pavolini, C., Pentiricci, M., Pergola, P., Piranomonte, M., Schmidt, R., Spinola, G., Sperduti, A., Bondioli, L., Pinhasi, R. & Pritchard, J. K. (2019). Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean. Science, 366(6466), 708-714. DOI
Nava, A., Frayer, D. & Bondioli, L. (2019). Longitudinal analysis of the microscopic dental enamel defects of children in the Imperial Roman community of Portus Romae (necropolis of Isola Sacra, 2nd to 4th century CE, Italy). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 23, 406-415. DOI
Müller, W., Nava, A., Evans, D., Rossi, P. F., Alt, K. W. & Bondioli, L. (2019). Enamel mineralization and compositional time-resolution in human teeth evaluated via histologically-controlled LA-ICPMS profiles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 255,105-126. DOI
Nava, A., Coppa, A., Coppola, D., Mancini, L., Dreossi, D., Zanini, F., Bernardini, F., Tuniz, C. & Bondioli, L. (2017). Virtual histological assessment of the prenatal life history and age at death of the Upper Paleolithic fetus from Ostuni (Italy). Scientific Reports, 7(1), 9427. DOI
Nava, A., Bondioli, L., Coppa, A., Dean, C., Rossi, P. F. & Zanolli, C. (2017). New regression formula to estimate the prenatal crown formation time of human deciduous central incisors derived from a Roman Imperial sample (Velia, Salerno, Italy, I-II cent. CE). PLoS ONE, 12(7), e0180104. DOI
Bondioli, L., Nava, A., Rossi, P. F. & Sperduti, A. (2016). Diet and health in Central‐Southern Italy during the Roman Imperial time. ACTA IMEKO, 5, 19-25. DOI