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- Valentina Limina
Valentina Limina
Chargée de recherche FNRS
Valentina Limina is currently Chargée de Recherche FNRS at Université Catholique de Louvain (INCAL, CEMA).
She obtained her PhD in History (University of Pisa) in 2019. As an archaeologist specialising in Ancient Topography, she joined surveys and excavations projects in Italy and Turkey. Her research interests focus on Landscape Archaeology, Settlement patterns & material culture, and Identity & elite power strategies in the Roman Mediterranean.Her current project is:
RELOAD (REthinking Liminality Open Access Data). Liminal Landscapes in Northern Tuscany. A model of 'Resilience' or 'Antifragility'? (3rd BC - 5th AD).https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1065-4417
University of Pisa April 29, 2019
Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge
PhD in History
cum laude
“Paesaggi del potere e strategie familiari di lungo periodo. Il caso di Volterra (secc. I a.C. – V d.C.)”
(Prof. G. Salmeri)
University of Pisa February 11, 2015
Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge
Master’s Degree in Archaeology
cum laude
“La Bassa Val di Cecina in età romana. Studio topografico di un insediamento rurale presso Casale Marittimo (PI)”
(Prof. S. Menchelli)
Università di Pisa July 10, 2012
Faculty of Literature and Philosophy
Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Heritage
cum laude
“Katane, Catina, Catania dalla protostoria
all’era moderna: studio topografico per la ricostruzione del sistema
portuale” (Proff. M. Pasquinucci – S. Menchelli)
Academic positions
October 2022 - September 2025
FNRS - Université Catholique de Louvain
Chargé de Recherches – Post-doctoral researcher
July - September 2022
Université Catholique de Louvain
Post-doctoral fellow F.R.S.
January 2022- December 2024
Università di Pisa
Cultore della Materia (Ancient Topography Chair)
June 2020-July 2021
Università di Pisa
Research assistant (Ancient Topography Chair)
October 2018-May 2019
Università di Pisa
Teaching assistant (Underwater Archaeology Chair)
2015-2022
Università di Pisa
Scientific collaborator, Ancient Topography Laboratory
International Experience
Octobre 2021
Université Catholique de Louvain, INCAL, Belgique
Lecteur visiteur
November-December 2017
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Department of Archaeology, Belgium
Visiting Scholar
April-June 2016
Misis, Adana, Turkey
Summer School Archaeology of the frontier in the Near East: excavation data and historical research. Università di Pisa-CNR Roma
July-August 2023
Rosignano M.mo (LI), Italy
San Gaetano di Vada, Summer School of Archaeology (Open days)
Università di Pisa
June 2023
Aiano-Torraccia di Chiusi (SI), Italy
Fouille archéologique de la ville romaine d’Aiano
Université Catholique de Louvain
August 2022
Rosignano M.mo (LI), Italy
San Gaetano di Vada, Summer School of Archaeology (Open days)
Università di Pisa
July-August 2021
Rosignano M.mo (LI), Italy
San Gaetano di Vada, Archaeological Excavation
Università di Pisa
October-November 2014
Fermo, Italy
South Picenum Survey Project
Università di Pisa
September-October 2013
Rosignano M.mo (LI), Italy
San Gaetano di Vada, Archaeological Excavation
Università di Pisa
September-October 2012
Via Santa Maria, Pisa, Italy
S. Eufrasia, Archaeological Excavation
Università di Pisa
July 2011
Siligo (SS), Italy
Villanova Montesanto–Bidda Noa, Archaeological Excavation
Università di Sassari
June-July 2010
San Miniato (PI), Italy
San Genesio, Archaeological Excavation
Università di Pisa
Lectures & International conferences
- “Landscapes of power, trade networks and identity negotiation for ‘invisible’ economies: a ‘Roman’ lifestyle revolution? (2nd BCE-5th CE)”. Paper presented at the 29th European Association Archaeologists Annual Meeting, Belfast, 30 August-2 September 2023.
- “Legitimating Landscapes through technological transfer: what Roman impact on Northern Etruria?”. Paper presented at the ICHOTEC 50th Annual Meeting, Tallin and Tartu 14-17 August 2023.
-“Promuovere la sostenibilità in archeologia: RELOAD un nuovo progetto di ricerca sui paesaggi antichi”. Paper presented at the 5ª conferenza nazionale AIPH (Associazione Italiana di Public History), Firenze, Università di Firenze, 6-10 June, 2023.
-“La ‘sostenibile’ leggerezza dell’essere ‘complessi’. RELOAD: un nuovo progetto per la ricostruzione dei paesaggi antichi nella Toscana settentrionale”. Paper presented at the LANDSCAPE 4: Una sintesi di elementi diacronici. Pianificazione e mondo antico. Lecce, Museo Castromediano, 25-26 May 2023.
- “Paysages identitaires. Réévaluer les dynamiques de négociation, d’ostentation et d’appropriation de l’espace dans l’Étrurie du Nord (IVe-IIIe s. av. J.-C.) ”. Paper presented at the Conference « Identité ethnique et groupes sociaux chez les peuples de l’Italie préromaine: une approche multidisciplinaire » Louvain-la-Neuve, 23-24 mai, 2023.
- “Liminal Landscapes and Religious Identities: what a space for women in Antiquity?”. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Arts and Humanities (ICSAH 2023) “Women in religion. From spiritual leadership to female empowerment” Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano, 8-9 May 2023.
- “RELOAD. A new project in Northern Tuscany: updates towards the 2023 field survey campaign”. Paper presented at the 44th International Mediterranean Survey Workshop, Groeningen (NL), Groningen University, Institute of Archaeology, 28-29 April 2023.
- “From the seascape to the inland: current research and a new survey project in the ager Volaterranus (Tuscany, Italy)”. Paper presented at the International Mediterranean Survey Workshop, Brussels, Vrjie Universiteit, 3-4 December 2022.
- “New Technologies for Ancient Landscapes. How technology impacts Archaeology”. Paper presented at the Ichotec Annual Conference, Ostrava University, Czech Republic (online), 15-16 October 2022.
- "Volaterrani non modo cives sed optimi cives" Vivere a Volterra una città etrusca nel mondo romano. Paper presented at the Seminari di Formazione - Associazione Guide Turistiche (Pisa), Online, 18 October 2022.
- “Ethnic Roots, Female Descent, Family Strategies: Volterra, an Etruscan Community in the Roman World (cent. 3rd BC-5th AD)”. Paper presented at the 28th European Association Archaeologists Annual Meeting, Budapest, 30 August-3 September 2022.
- “Terre di Cecina storie di paesaggi, insediamenti, potere fra Etruschi e Romani”. Rassegna “Cecina nell'Antichità: dalla Preistoria ai primi insediamenti collinari, alla civiltà etrusca e romana”, Museo Archeologico di Cecina, Villa Guerrazzi, Loc. La Cinquantina, 29 May 2022.
- “Patrons in command: A seigneurial attitude of Late Antique elites: the Caecina Deci (centuries 5th-6th AD)”, Second International Conference on the military history of the Mediterranean Sea, Ibn Haldun University, University of Thessaloniki, 17-19 September 2021.
- “Likes dwarwes perched on the shoulders of giants. Tradition and innovation in salt extraction technologies: the case of Tuscany (centuries 15th BC-21st AD), ‘Giants and Dwarfs in Science, Technology, and Medicine’, Ichotec 2021, 26th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, University of Prague, July 29, 2021.
- “Political Factions, Myths, and Identity in Volterra. On the Perception of the Civil Wars in the 1st Century BC”, Joint Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Colloquium of the Universities of Kiel and Pisa, 6-7 May, 2021.
- “Veterans’ Identity, Memory and Networks of Powers. The case of Northern Etruria in the Roman Empire (centuries 1st-3rd AD)”, Veteran Politics and Memory: A Global Perspective, University of Warwick, 16-18 April 2021.
- “A speaking woman from the past: Arria. Gender perception and re-appropriation from Antiquity to Modern times, ‘Modern Women from the Past? Unearthing gender in Antiquity, University of Sydney, 5-6 March, 2021.
- “Quando le città ‘non muoiono’. Resilienza urbana nella Tuscia settentrionale tardoantica: contingenze umane e ambientali (300-600 AD), Landscape2 Una sintesi di elementi diacronici per l’analisi di un territorio. Crisi e Resilienza nel mondo antico, Università di Foggia, 26-27 February 2021.
- “Technology to Save the Empire”, Ichotec Digital Format, Eindhoven University of Technology, 47th Symposium “A history of Technology for an Age of Crisis’, 15-19 July 2020.
- “Questioni di metodo. Per un’analisi integrate dei paesaggi del potere: il caso di Volterra (secc. I a.C.-V d.C.)”, Convegno dei dottorandi in Archeologia ‘Landscape. Una sintesi di elementi diacronici per l’analisi di un territorio’, Università di Pisa, Pisa, 24-25 October 2019.
- “Women, families, and strategies of power: the case of the gens Caecina (centuries 1st-6th AD)”, ‘Third International Conference on Arts and Humanities: Women Who Made History’, International Centre for Studies of Arts and Humanities – University of Nicosia (Cyprus), Nicosia, 4-7 June 2019.
- “Oppida posse mori. Volaterran Resilience to Late Antique City Decline”, Poster to the Susan Manning Workshop ‘The Late Antique Urban Landscape: Continuity, Transformation, and Innovation at the Juncture of the Classical and the Early Medieval”, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities – The University of Edinburgh, Edimburgo, 21-22 March, 2019.
- “Mito e storia: le scene figurate delle urne volterrane”, AGT training course for tourist guides, Pisa, 22 January, 2019.
- “Pisa archeologica: aggiornamenti sul contesto urbano”, AGT training course for tourist guides, Pisa, 15 March, 2016.
- Casalvecchio 2.0: alla ri-scoperta del sito dell’Acropoli di Casale Marittimo”, Notti dell’Archeologia, Museo Archeologico di Cecina, 23 July, 2015.
- “L’Archeometria: tecniche di laboratorio per l’archeologia” Presentazione delle attività sperimentali svolte presso il laboratorio di fisica, Progetto Lauree Scientifiche–4° meeting PLS-Fisica- Università di Catania, Catania, 15 May, 2009.
Teaching Experience
- UCLouvain, Cours LARKE 1320, Archéologie séminaire sur site, 2023-2024
- « Topographie urbaine : L’evolution du Forum Romain jusqu’à l’époque républicaine » within the course Arts et civilisations : antiquité gréco-romaine, UCLouvain 04 May 2023
- « Epigraphes : comment les analyser pour reconstruire les communeautés du passé. Un cas d’étude italien : Volterra à l’epoque des Romains », within the course ‘Séminaire d'épigraphie latine, UCLouvain, 12 December 2022
- « Roma Quadrata» Conquête et organisation de l’espace romain (paysages ruraux et urbains), Seminar within the course ‘Archéologie et histoire de l'art de Rome et des provinces romaines’, UCLouvain, 12 Octobre 2022
- “Velathri/Volaterrae. Managing power and shaping identities. An Etruscan community in the Roman world”, Seminar within the course ‘Questions spéciales des civilisations étrusques et préromaines de l’Italie’, UCLouvain, 13 October 2021
- Diplômes
Année Label Institution 2019 (informations manquantes) University of Pisa
- Les cours
Nom ID Archéologie et histoire de l'art de Rome et des provinces romaines LARKO2372
RELOAD (REthinking Liminality Open Access Data). Liminal Landscapes in Northern Tuscany. A model of 'Resilience' or 'Antifragility'? (3rd BC - 5th AD)
RELOAD aims to implement an open-access database to reassess the importance of liminality in studying ancient landscapes. Focusing on Northern Tuscany in the centuries 3rd BC-5th AD, the project aims to investigate the development of relationships between the Etruscans and the Romans. The main goal is to demonstrate the pivotal role of liminal areas in the dynamics of space organization and perception, and in the expressions of identities through material culture. Considering that most of the changes in landscape organization seem to have occurred in liminal areas, which illustrates their crucial role in space organization and perception, despite (or because of) their marginality, they represent privileged viewpoints to analyze contacts between different realities as well as the interactions between environmental conditions and human agency. Undertaking for the first time the systematic comparative analysis of the boundary areas between Volterra and the territories of Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Siena, this project is expected to fill a gap of knowledge about ancient landscapes and to reach significant results for the elaboration of innovative interpretative models through the application of an interdisciplinary methodological approach and a long-term perspective. RELOAD aims to apply statistical and mathematical models to elaborate data on settlement distribution and about the dispersal/concentration of selected archaeological material typologies. This approach will lead to a more insightful understanding of the way social groups perceived boundaries and shaped landscapes. The elaboration of data through the application of Resilience and Antifragility theories, developed in the social sciences and the economic-mathematic fields, will enable the evaluation of liminal landscapes as resilient places in the face of changes, or as antifragile systems improving when facing changes, failures, crises, assessing the role of human agency as forces of resilience or antifragility.
Limina, Valentina. Damna luxuriae: Sugli affari ‘invisibili’ delle élite dell’Etruria romana (I a.C.-I d.C.). In: Rassegna di Archeologia, , no.29, p. 235-254 (2021).
Limina, Valentina. « Omnia sunt misera in bellis civilibus ». Spunti per una rilettura delle scene d’assedio sulle urne volterrane. In: Res Antiquae, , no.17, p. 243-264 (2020).
Limina, Valentina. "L’'acropoli' di Casalvecchio presso Casale Marittimo (PI): risultati da uno 'scavo d’archivio'". In: FOLD &R, , no.337, p. 25 (2015).
Limina, Valentina. Poteri e strategie familiari di Volterra, 1st edition (BAR International Series; 3041), BAR Publishing: Oxford, 2021. 9781407357881. 194 p. doi:10.30861/9781407357881.
Limina, Valentina. Riuso, riciclo, rifunzionalizzazione: pratiche di ‘economia circolare’ nell’antichità? Riflessioni per una topografia dello scarto: il caso volterrano. In: Edited by Federica Carbotti, Davide Gangale Risoleo, Eleonora Iacopini, e.a., Landscape 3: una sintesi di elementi diacronici Uomo e ambiente nel mondo antico: un equilibrio possibile?, Cardini by Groma, Archaeopress, 2023. 9781803277004.
Limina, Valentina. Quando le città ‘non muoiono’. Il caso volterrano e la Tuscia settentrionale tardoantica: resilienza o antifragilità?. In: M. Luisa Marchi, G. Forte, D. Gangale Risoleo, I. Raimondo, Landscape 2: una sintesi di elementi diacronici. Crisi e resilienza nel mondo antico (Polieion), Osanna Edizioni: Venoza (PZ), 2022, p. 105-110. 9788881676224.
Limina, Valentina. Methodological Issues for the Integrated Analysis of Landscapes of Power: the Case Study of Volterra (centuries 1st BC-5th AD). In: D. Gangale Risoleo, I. Raimondo (eds.), Landscape: una sintesi di elementi diacronici Metodologie a confronto per l'analisi del territorio (BAR International Series; 3047), BAR Publishing: Oxford, 2021, p. 157-166. 9781407358581.
Limina, Valentina. Women, families and strategies of power: the gens Caecina (centuries 1st-6th AD). In: Umberto Mondini (ed.), Women who made history (Quaderni di Ricerca; 14), Edizioni Progetto Cultura: Roma, 2020, 227-253. 9788833561660 e 8833561666.
Limina, Valentina. A Material world: investigating past identities and space perception through archaeologicalobjects. IGS Spring Conference. Mediality and self-world relations (Max Weber Center Erfurt, University of Graz, du 06/03/2024 au 08/03/2024).
Limina, Valentina. Enforced displacements and Identity Landscapes. Three case study from the Roman Mediterranean (1 st BCE-1 st CE). Human mobility and cultural identities through history. Migration, inspiration, transformation (Rome, du 19/05/2022 au 20/05/2022).
Limina, Valentina. La ‘sostenibile’ leggerezza dell’essere ‘complessi’. RELOAD: un nuovo progetto per la ricostruzione dei paesaggi antichi nella Toscana settentrionale. LANDSCAPE 4: UNA SINTESI DI ELEMENTI DIACRONICI. Pianificazione e mondo antico. (Lecce, Museo Castromediano, du 25/05/2023 au 26/05/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Landscapes of power, trade networks and identity negotiation for ‘invisible’ economies: a ‘Roman’ lifestyle revolution? (2nd BCE – 5th CE) . 29th European Association Archaeologists Annual Meeting (Belfast, du 30/08/2023 au 02/09/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Legitimating Landscapes through technological transfer: what Roman impact on Northern Etruria?. Ichotec Annual Conference (Tallin and Tartu, du 14/08/2023 au 18/09/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Liminal Landscapes and Religious Identities: what a space for women in Antiquity?. 5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTS AND HUMANITIES(ICSAH '23) WOMEN IN RELIGION FROM SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP TO FEMALE EMPOWERMENT (Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano, du 08/05/2023 au 09/05/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Modelling (and simulating) ancient landscapes. RELOAD, a new project for Liminal areas in Northern Tuscany. Linking Pasts and Sharing Knowledge. Mapping Archaeological Heritage, Legacy Data Integration and Web Technologies (Napoli, Università Federico II (and Online), du 13/11/2023 au 14/11/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Paysages identitaires. Réévaluer les dynamiques de négociation, d’ostentation et d’appropriation de l’espace dans l’Étrurie du Nord (IVe-IIIe s. av. J.-C.). Identité ethnique et groupes sociaux chez les peuples de l’Italie préromaine: une approche multidisciplinaire (Louvain-La-Neuve, du 23/05/2023 au 24/05/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Promuovere la sostenibilità in archeologia: RELOAD un nuovo progetto di ricerca sui paesaggi antichi. 5ª conferenza nazionale AIPH (Associazione Italiana di Public History) (Firenze, Università di Firenze, du 06/06/2023 au 11/06/2023).
Limina, Valentina. RELOAD. A new project in Northern Tuscany: updates towards the 2023 field survey campaign. 44th International Mediterranean Survey Workshop (Groeningen (NL), Groningen University, Institute of Archaeology, du 28/04/2023 au 29/04/2023).
Limina, Valentina. Rethinking ancient landscapes in northern Tuscany: RELOAD, preliminary results from the first survey campaign. 45th International Mediterranean Survey Workshop (Wien, University of Wien, Archaeology Department, du 01/12/2023 au 02/12/2023).
Limina, Valentina. "Volaterrani non modo cives sed optimi cives" Vivere a Volterra una città etrusca nel mondo romano. Seminari di Formazione - Associazione Guide Turistiche (Pisa) (Online).
Limina, Valentina. Ethnic Roots, Female Descent, Family Strategies: Volterra, an Etruscan Community in the Roman World (cent. 3rd BC-5th AD). 28th European Association Archaeologists Annual Meeting (Budapest, du 31/08/22 au 03/09/22).
Limina, Valentina. From the seascape to the inland: current research and a new survey project in the ager Volaterranus (Tuscany, Italy). INTERNATIONAL MEDITERRANEAN SURVEY WORKSHOP (FALL 2022) (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, du 02/12/22 au 03/12/22).
Limina, Valentina. New Technologies for Ancient Landscapes. How technology impacts Archaeology. Ichotec Annual Conference (Ostrava University, Czech Republic (online), du 15/10/22 au 16/10/22).
Limina, Valentina. Terre di Cecina storie di paesaggi, insediamenti, potere fra Etruschi e Romani. Cecina nell'Antichità: dalla Preistoria ai primi insediamenti collinari, alla civiltà etrusca e romana (Museo Archeologico di Cecina, Villa Guerrazzi, Loc. La Cinquantina, 29/05/22).
Limina, Valentina. "Likes dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants". Tradition and innovation in salt extraction technologies: the case of Tuscany (centuries 15th BC-21st AD). ‘Giants and Dwarfs in Science, Technology, and Medicine’, Ichotec 2021, 26th International Congress of History of Science and Te (University of Prague, (online), du 25/07/2021 au 31/07/2021).
Limina, Valentina. A speaking woman from the past: Arria. Gender perception and re-appropriation from Antiquity to Modern times. ‘Modern’ Women of the Past? Unearthing Gender and Antiquity (Online conference by The AAIA, CCANESA, AWAWS, CCWM and the University of Sydney Departments of Archaeology and Classics & Ancie, du 05/03/2021 au 06/03/2021).
Limina, Valentina. Patrons in command. A seigneurial attitude of late antique élites: the Cecina Deci (centuries 5th-6th AD). Second International Conference on the Military History of the Mediterranean Sea (Ibn Haldun University-Byzantine Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, du 16/09/21 au 18/09/21).
Limina, Valentina. Political Factions, Myths, and Identity in Volterra. On the Perception of the Civil Wars in the 1st Century BC. Joint Doctoral and Post-DoctoralColloquium of the Universities of Kiel and Pisa (On-line, du 06/05/21 au 07/05/21).
Limina, Valentina. Veterans' Identity, Memory and Networks of Powers. The case of Northern Etruria in the Roman Empire (centuries 1st to 3rd AD). Veteran Politics and Memory: A Global Perspective, (Warwick University (online), du 16/04/2021 au 18/04/2021).
Limina, Valentina. Technology to Save the Empire. 47th Symposium ICHOTEC “A History of Technology for an Age of Crisis’ (Eindhoven University of Technology (Online), du 15/07/2020 au 17/07/2020).
Limina, Valentina. Mito e storia: le scene figurate delle urne volterrane. Seminari di Formazione - Associazione Guide Turistiche (Pisa) (Online, 22/01/19).
Limina, Valentina. «Oppida posse mori» Volaterran resilience to late antique city decline. The late antique urban landscape : continuity, transformation, and innovation (The University of Edinburgh, du 21/03/19 au 22/03/19).
Limina, Valentina. Pisa archeologica: storia delle ricerche nel contesto urbano. Seminari di Formazione - Associazione Guide Turistiche (Pisa) (Pisa, 15/03/2016).
Limina, Valentina. Casalvecchio 2.0: alla ri-scoperta del sito dell’Acropoli di Casale Marittimo. Le notti dell'Archeologia (Museo Archeologico di Cecina, Villa Guerrazzi, Loc. La Cinquantina, 23/07/2015).
Limina, Valentina. Relazione finale delle ricognizioni archeologiche di superficie: Survey RELOAD prov. Pisa (Comuni di Capannoli, Peccioli, Ponsacco, Pontedera), 2024. 10 p.