2022/11/03 by Antonio Caruso, Mahmoud Mardini, Mohamad Mardini +1 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Archaeology #Bioarchaeology #Computer science #Database #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Geography #History #Library science #Paleopathology and ancient diseases #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
paper · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103721
published in Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 46, 103721 (Elsevier BV)
openalex publication_date 2022/11/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The current paper presents Bi(bli)oArch-Italia, an initiative that forms a spin-off of Bi(bli)oArch (Nikita et al. 2021). Bi(bli)oArch-Italia is an open-access web-based bibliographic database for human bioarchaeology in Italy, a country with particularly rich history and archaeology, where bioarchaeological studies show considerable time depth and variability. Instead of being merged with the original Bi(bli)oArch database created by Nikita et al. (2021), which focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME), Bi(bli)oArch-Italia was developed as a separate database not only because of its geographic focus, which does not overlap with the EMME, but also to facilitate usability. In specific, Bi(bli)oArch-Italia allows users to explore what human bioarchaeological studies on Italian material have been published using search terms pertaining to the date and location of the assemblages and the themes examined (e.g. mobility, diet). The aim is to promote the meta-analysis of human bioarchaeological patterns within Italy but also enhance the use of Italian data in comparative analyses across the Mediterranean or beyond by facilitating international scholars in finding the titles of available studies. Many of the publications are in Italian and, very importantly, have been disseminated in graduate theses, national conference proceedings, and monograph appendices, greatly reducing their findability. Bi(bli)oArch-Italia currently contains 1,216 titles and will be continuously expanding. One of the aims of this paper is to make this initiative known and invite scholars internationally to contribute to it. Finally, this paper briefly outlines broad patterns in Italian bioarchaeology as revealed through the papers that are currently included in this database.