Brief CV

Ancient decorative stone and lithic material culture production and cosnumption are the pivot of my line of research; however, my interests include social and landscape archaeology, semantics, sensoriality and agency of Graeco-Roman material culture, visual arts and material religion. I am currently disseminating the results of my 2-year project ‘TECHNET’ (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019: 895286) on technological innovation and knowledge transfer in the production of stone vases in the Graeco-Roman period. My research output from the last 10 years has greatly advanced the understanding of key, yet overlooked, technical and socio-cultural characteristics of non-decorative stone sculpture in the Greek and Roman worlds by creating new spaces of knowledge in the field. I completed a BA/Ma in Classical Archaeology at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’ (2005) and a DPhil in Roman Archaeology at Royal Holloway University of London (2006-2015). My doctoral dissertation was entitled Roman funerary urns in coloured stone: production and significance an analytical graphic corpus of calcite alabaster and other coloured marble Roman cinerary urns with a focus on manufacture and socio-symbolic value. For this research programme I was awarded a grant by the prestigious Italian Cultural Institute in London – “Il Circolo” (May 2007). I am currently writing the monograph based on my doctoral research for publication with Archaeopress Publishing Ltd (Oxford). My post-doctoral research includes several research fellowships (2017-2019) and the implementation and co-direction with Dr. Simon J. Barker (Norwegian Institute in Rome, 2018-2020) of the independent research project ‘Alabaster. Quarrying and trade in the Roman World’ (Sept. 2014- June 2018): a quantitative, qualitative and archaeometric analysis of calcitic alabaster in the Roman period. The research results were profusely disseminated in both oral and written forms including a final interdisciplinary two-day workshop in Rome (May 2019). The edited volume Barker, S. J. & Perna, S. (eds.). ‘Alabaster’: an interdisciplinary study of the sources and uses of calcite-alabaster across archaeological contexts. Turnhout: Brepols is forthcoming (2022-2023). In addition, I collaborated as a marble expert in several research programs. Amongst my academic achievements is the contribution upon invitation to the Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani – Volume 1 “London and the South-East of England” (OUP, 2015). My professional training includes several associate lectureships in Classics and Classical Archaeology at British universities, including Birkbeck and University College London (2006-2011), assistant curator at the British Museum within the “Cyprus Digitization Project” (2010-2011) and participation in excavation and fieldwork campaigns in Italy (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Cumae, Orvieto), Greece and Romania (2000-2022). I am also a research assistant and collaborator in several I+D projects within the ArPA research group and international projects at ICAC: El Mensaje del mármol: Prestigio, simbolismo y materiales locales en las provincias occidentales del imperio romano en Hispania y Aquitania (PGC2018-099851-A-I00); Sulcato marmore ferro. Canteras, talleres, artesanos y comitentes de las producciones artísticas en piedra en la Hispania Tarraconensis (PID2019-106967GB-I00); Grevena Archaeological Program – The marble depot: Survey and Excavation with Merkourios Georgadis (GIAP – ICAC) in collaboration with the Ephoria of Antiquities of Grevena (Western Macedonia, northern Greece) and GIAP – Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC) funded by Ephoria of Antiquities of Grevena and Grevena Town Council.