Serena D'AMICO
Tutor: Pietro Maria MILITELLO
Serena D'Amico obtained a Bachelor's degree in Cultural Heritage and a Master's degree in Archaeology at the University of Catania; she then obtained a Diploma from the Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici at the same University. The theses written during her academic career have focused on the study and reconstruction of prehistoric cave contexts in Sicily (with particular regard to the site of Villafrati, PA), which have yielded materials belonging to the European Campaniform phenomenon. She has also investigated issues related to the history of prehistoric collections in Sicily between the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, as well as the methodologies of ethnoarchaeological research applied to cave sites.
She has carried out internships with the Soprintendenza per i BB.CC.AA of Catania, the Catania Regional Pole for Cultural Sites, and the Photographic Archive of the Cretan Archaeology Centre (CEARC). In 2018, she held a didactic workshop aimed at students of the three-year degree courses in Cultural Heritage and master's degree in Archaeology at the University of Catania concerning the analysis of traces of use on ceramic materials. She also supports the teaching of Prehistory and Protohistory. She has gained experience in excavation, cataloguing of materials, and processing of archaeological documentation by participating, since 2013, in different research campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Crete.
The research project aims to overcome the gap in the themes of Cave Archaeology and Sensory Archaeology by tackling the study of the funerary and cult contexts of Sicilian caves between the Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age through the implementation of interpretative models able to restore the perceptive dimension of cave spaces. The traditional archaeological research methods, together with experimental observations and technologies for the acquisition, recording, and analysis of sound, light, and space, are applied to three different Sicilian cave sites to develop a new methodological model useful for cave studies. This, on the one hand, will shed new light on the understanding of the human experience in caves in the past. On the other, it will enable the scientific debate to be brought into line with European research topics on Cave Archaeology and Sensory Archaeology.
In July and August from 2021 to 2023, Serena D'Amico took part in the Italian Archaeological Mission at the Minoan Palace of Phaistos. In 2022, she spent a period of research abroad as a visiting student at Durham University (UK) investigating Sensory Archaeology under the supervision of Prof. Robin Skeates. In June 2023, he consulted some bibliographic materials at the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum in Berlin, which is part of the Humboldt-Universität, in order to learn more about Cognitive Anthropology.
As speaker she participated in the following conferences and seminars: Collecting Antiquities from the Middle Ages to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Wroclaw, University Institute of Art History, 25-26 May 2021) with a paper entitled 'The Nineteenth Century Collection of Prehistoric Artifacts from Villafrati (Sicily, Italy)'; International Conference CHAIN - Crisis and Cultural Heritage. Evidence, Use and Resource (University of Catania 18-20 May 2022) with a paper entitled "A Flexible Heritage. The response of caves to crises'; Archaeology of abiatare. Domestic Activities in Context in the Bronze Age Mediterranean (University of Catania12 December 2022) with a paper entitled "The Domestic Use of Cave Spaces in Bronze Age Sicily. Problems of method and ethnographic comparisons'; Le Grotte e l'Uomo. Un rapporto di ancestrale memoria per vivereci, pregare e morire (University of Catania, Biancavilla 2-4 March 2023) with a paper entitled "Da habitat ad abitato. Methodological approaches for the knowledge of domestic spaces in caves'.
- [in press] D'Amico S. (2023) ' Da habitat ad abitato. Approcci etnoarcheologici per la conoscenza degli spazi domestici in grotta', in Panvini R., Meccia E., Modeo S., Palio O. (Eds), 'Le Grotte e l'Uomo. Un rapporto di ancestrale memoria per viverci, pregare e morire', Conference proceedings (Catania - Biancavilla, March 2-4 2023), University of Catania, Department of Educational Studies, Sicilia Antica Cultural Association.
- [in corso di stampa] D'Amico S. (2023) 'Luso domestico degli spazi in grotta nella Sicilia dell'Età del Bronzo. Problemi di metodo e confronti etnografici', in D'Amico S. Platania E., Toscano F. (Eds), 'Archeologia dell'abitare. Attività domestiche nei contesti nel Mediterraneo dell'Età del Bronzo', Seminar proceedings (December 12 2022), University of Catania - Department of Humanities, University of Alicante.
- [in press] D'Amico S. (2023) 'Un Patrimonio flessibile. La risposta delle grotte alle crisi', in Proceedings of the International Conference CHAIN - Crisis and Cultural Heritage. Evidence, Use and Resource (18-20 May, Catania), University of Catania.
- D'Amico S. (2021) 'United by context, divided by collection. The Nineteenth Century Collection of Prehistoric Artifacts from Villafrati (Sicily, Italy)', in Kubala A. (eds.) Collecting Antiquities from the Middle Ages to the End of the Nineteenth Century, Proceedings of the International Conference Held on March 25-26, 2021 at the Wroclaw University Institute of Art History, pp.179-204.