Emma Stuart

Emma Stuart (M.A. 2025, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) is an archaeologist and currently PhD student in Archaeology at the same university.

Her PhD project, entitled “Mobility and cultural interactions in the Ofanto Valley between the Middle and Recent Bronze Age: a biogeochemical and territorial analysis of funerary contexts”, will be mostly carried out at the BIOANTH Lab, in collaboration with the Geochronology and Isotope Geochemistry Research Group, within the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Kraków, Poland). During her master’s studies, she conducted research training at the same institute, focusing on her experimental thesis project aimed at detecting diagenesis and contamination in cremated human bones in relation to strontium isotope analyses (87 Sr/ 86 Sr). Her bachelor’s thesis also addressed this topic, with an emphasis on geostatistical modeling of isotopic ratios. She has also participated in several archaeological excavations of protohistoric contexts, including the site of Cannatello (Agrigento, Sicily). Her PhD research aims to investigate human mobility dynamics in the Ofanto Valley (Italy) from the Middle to the early Recent Bronze Age (ca. 1700–1250 BCE) through biogeochemical analyses of strontium isotopes (87 Sr/ 86 Sr) on mineralised human tissues from both inhumation and cremation funerary contexts. The goal is to provide an accurate and context-based evaluation of the permeability of local communities, characterised by marked cultural heterogeneity.