André Colonese
Research associate

Profile

Biography

I got my degree in Letters (Prehistoric Ecology) at University of Florence (Italy) on 2002, and a Ph.D. in Earth Science-Prehistory at University of Siena on 2006 (Italy). My PhD thesis focused on the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental significance of oxygen and carbon isotope composition of Late Pleistocene-Holocene land snail shells from archaeological succession in Southern Italy. After my PhD I joined distinct research projects of University of Florence on the economic significance of intertidal mollusc exploitation during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in Southern Italy. Additionally I was involved in projects at the University of Pisa by analysing continental mollusc remains in order to reconstruct past climate and environmental scenarios in northwest Italian peninsula. After that I obtained a postdoc position (2008-2011) at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the Institucion Mila i Fontanals (IMF) in the Spanish National Research Council (CISC) at Barcelona (Spain) in a joint collaboration with the Department of Prehistory (UAB). The project was primarily focused on the economic role played by intertidal molluscs in fuegian economic systems from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), by establishing the periodicity of their exploitation using oxygen isotopic analysis on shell carbonate. I’m also involved in similar studies in Nicaragua and Brazil. During my postdoc I continued the isotopic study of modern and fossil land snail and freshwater shells from distinct areas of the Mediterranean basin (Italy, Spain, Greece). In 2011 I joined to the Department of Archaeology, BioArch as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research fellow (EU-IEF) on a innovative isotopic and molecular program of analysis of human, faunal and artefact remains from Middle Holocene shell middens of Brazilian coast (COREBRAS project).

Publications

Selected publications

Colonese A.C., Verdún E., Álvarez M., Briz i Godino I., Zurro D., Salvatelli L., 2012a. Oxygen isotopic composition of limpet shells from the Beagle Channel: implications for seasonal studies in shell middens of Tierra del Fuego. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, 1738-1748.

Colonese A.C., Zanchetta G., Russell D., Fallick A., Manganelli G., Lo Vetro D., Martini F., di Giuseppe Z., 2011a Stable isotope composition of Late Pleistocene-Holocene Eobania vermiculata (Müller, 1774) (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora) shells from the Central Mediterranean basin: Data from Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana, Sicily). Quaternary International, 244, 76-87, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.035.

Colonese A.C., Estévez J.E., Verdun E., Camarós E. 2011b. Integrated archaeozoological research of shell middens: new insights into Yamana coastal exploitation in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 6 (2), 235-254.

Colonese A.C., Mannino M.A., Bar-Yosef Mayer D.E., Fa D., Finlayson J.C., Lubell D., Stiner M.C. 2011c. Marine mollusc exploitation in Mediterranean prehistory: an overview. Quaternary International. 239, 86-103, Doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2010.09.001

Colonese A.C., Zanchetta G., Fallick A.E., Martini F., Manganelli G., Russell D. 2010a. Stable isotope composition of Helix ligata (Müller, 1774) from Late Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological record from Grotta della Serratura (Southern Italy): palaeoclimatic implications. Global and Planetary Change, 71 (3-4), 249-257.

Colonese A.C., Zanchetta G., Dotsika E., Drysdale R.N., Fallick A.E., Grifoni Cremonesi R., Manganelli G. 2010b. Early-Middle Holocene Land snail shells stable isotopes record from Grotta di Latronico 3 (Southern Italy). Journal of Quaternary Science, 25, 8, 1347-1359. Doi: 10.1002/jqs.1429

Craig E.O., Biazzo M., Colonese A.C., Di Giuseppe Z., Martinez-Labarga C., Lo Vetro D., Lelli L., Martín F. 2010. Stable isotope analysis of Late Upper Palaeolithic humans and fauna remains from Grotta del Romito (Cosenza), Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37 (10), 2504-2512.

Colonese A.C., Troelstra S., Ziveri P., Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Tomasini S. 2009. Mesolithic shellfish exploitation in SW Italy: seasonal evidence from the stable oxygen isotopic composition of Osilinus turbinatus shells. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 1935–1944.

Ghinassi M., Colonese A.C., Di Giuseppe Z., Covoni L., Lo Vetro D., Malavasi G., Martini F., Ricciardi S., Sala B. 2009. The late Pleistocene clastic deposits in the Romito Cave, southern Italy: a proxy record of environmental changes and human presence. Journal of Quaternary Science, 24 (4), 383-398.

Colonese A.C., Zanchetta G., Fallick A.E., Martini F., Manganelli G., Lo Vetro D. 2007. Stable isotope composition of Late Glacial land snail shells from Grotta del Romito (Southern Italy): palaeoclimatic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 254 (3-4), 550 – 56.

Full publications list

In press

Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Lo Vetro D., Martini F., Landini W. Submitted_b. Mesolithic intertidal resource exploitation in central Mediterranean basin: snapshots from Grotta di Cala Mancina (Sicily, Italy). Proceeding of the 8^th International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Santander 2010 (Spain) .

Colonese A.C . In press_b. Reperti malacologici in depositi antropici: il caso di Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana - TP). Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica” , San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Colonese A.C . In press_c. Primi dati sulla stagionalità di raccolta di molluschi mesolitorali a Grotta d’Oriente, Grotta delle Uccirie e Grotta. Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica” , San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Colonese A.C . In press_d. Lo sfruttamento economico dei molluschi mesolitorali: evidenze mesolitiche a Cala Mancina (TP). Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica”, San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Giglio R., Ricciardi S., Tusa S. In press_a. Primi risultati della campagna di scavo 2005 a Grotta dell’Uccirie (Favignana, TP). Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica ”, San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Baglioni L., Colonese A.C ., Giuseppe Z., Mazza P., Ricciardi S., Sala B., Tusa S. In press_b. Nuove ricerche a Grotta Racchio-Gruppo dell’Isolida (S. Vito Lo Capo, TP): primi risultati. Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica ”, San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Forzisi R., Giglio R., Ricciardi S., Tusa S. In press_c. Primi risultati sulle nuove ricerche stratigrafiche a Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana, TP). Scavi 2005. Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica ”, San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Brilli P., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Forzisi R., Pedroli C., Ricciardi S., Sala B., Tusa S. In press_d. Dati preliminari sul Mesolitico di grotta di Cala Mancina (S. Vito Lo Capo, TP): Paleontologia e ambiente. Proceeding of the XLI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria “Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti, Società e territorio nella Sicilia Preistorica e Protostorica” , San Cipirello, Italy 2006.

2012

ColoneseA.C ., VerdúnE., ÁlvarezM., Briz i GodinoI., ZurroD., Salvatelli L., 2012a. Oxygen isotopic composition of limpet shells from the Beagle Channel: implications for seasonal studies in shell middens of Tierra del Fuego . Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, 1738-1748. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.01.012

2011

Colonese A.C ., Zanchetta G., Russell D., Fallick A., Manganelli G., Lo Vetro D., Martini F., di Giuseppe Z., 2011a Stable isotope composition of Late Pleistocene-Holocene Eobania vermiculata (Müller, 1774) (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora) shells from the Central Mediterranean basin: Data from Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana, Sicily). Quaternary International , 244, 76-87, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.035.

Colonese A.C ., Estévez J.E., Verdun E., Camarós E. 2011b. Integrated archaeozoological research of shell middens: new insights into Yamana coastal exploitation in Tierra del Fuego ( Argentina ). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 6 (2), 235-254.

Colonese A.C ., Mannino M.A., Bar-Yosef Mayer D.E., Fa D., Finlayson J.C., Lubell D., Stiner M.C. 2011c. Marine mollusc exploitation in Mediterranean prehistory: an overview. Quaternary International . 239, 86-103 , Doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2010.09.001

Colonese A.C ., Ghinassi M., Di Giuseppe Z., Govoni L., Lo Vetro D., Malavasi G., Martini F., Ricciardi S., Sala B. 2011d. Grotta del Romito (Cosenza): latest Pleistocene landscape. In: van Leusen M., Pizziolo G., Sarti L., Hidden Landscapes of Mediterranean Europe, Cultural and methodological biases in pre- and protohistoric landscape studies. Proceeding of the International Conference , Siena, May 25-27, 2007, BAR 2320, international Series, 61-67.

2010

Colonese A.C. , Zanchetta G., Fallick A.E., Martini F., Manganelli G., Russell D. 2010a. Stable isotope composition of Helix ligata (Müller, 1774) from Late Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological record from Grotta della Serratura ( Southern Italy ): palaeoclimatic implications. Global and Planetary Change , 71 (3-4), 249-257.

Colonese A.C ., Zanchetta G., Dotsika E., Drysdale R.N., Fallick A.E., Grifoni Cremonesi R., Manganelli G. 2010b. Early-Middle Holocene Land snail shells stable isotopes record from Grotta di Latronico 3 ( Southern Italy ). Journal of Quaternary Science , 25, 8, 1347-1359. Doi: 10.1002/jqs.1429

Colonese A.C ., Zanchetta G., Martini F., Tozzi C., Fallick A.E., Manganelli G. 2010c. Paleoprecipitazioni in Italia meridionale tirrenica nel passaggio Tardoglaciale-Olocene: variazioni isotopiche in conchiglie terrestri. In (eds.): Tagliacozzo A., Fiore I., Marconi S., Techiatti U. Proceeding of the V Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia , Rovereto, Italy 2006, Proceeding of the V Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia, Roveretto , Italy 2006, 57-64.

Colonese A.C ., Tozzi C. 2010d. La malacofauna di Grotta del Mezzogiorno ( Salerno ): aspetti culturali e paleoecologici. In (eds.): Tagliacozzo A., Fiore I., Marconi S., Techiatti U., Proceeding of the V Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia , Rovereto, Italy 2006, 93-96.

Craig E.O., Biazzo M., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Martinez-Labarga C., Lo Vetro D., Lelli L., Martín F. 2010. Stable isotope analysis of Late Upper Palaeolithic humans and fauna remains from Grotta del Romito ( Cosenza ), Italy . Journal of Archaeological Science , 37 (10), 2504-2512.

Verdun Castelló E., Briz I., Camarós E., Colonese A.C ., Estévez J., Zurro D. 2010. Metodología de excavación y análisis de concheros: experiencias acumuladas después de 20 años de estudio etnoarqueológicos en la costa norte del Canal Beagle ( Tierra del Fuego, Argentina ). Férvedes , 6, 25-32.

2009

Colonese A.C. , Troelstra S., Ziveri P., Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Tomasini S. 2009. Mesolithic shellfish exploitation in SW Italy : seasonal evidence from the stable oxygen isotopic composition of Osilinus turbinatus shells. Journal of Archaeological Science , 36, 1935–1944.

Martini F., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Ghinassi M., Lo Vetro D., Ricciardi S. 2009. Human-environment relationships in SW Italy during Late Glacial-Early Holocene transition: some examples from Campania , Calabria and Sicily . Méditerranée: Revue geographique des pays mediterraneens , 112, 89 – 94.

Ghinassi M., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Covoni L., Lo Vetro D., Malavasi G., Martini F., Ricciardi S., Sala B. 2009. The late Pleistocene clastic deposits in the Romito Cave , southern Italy : a proxy record of environmental changes and human presence. Journal of Quaternary Science , 24 (4), 383-398.

2008

Martini F., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Ghinassi M., Covoni L., Lo Vetro D., Ricciardi S. 2008. Recenti ricerche sul Tardoglaciale del basso versante tirrenico. BAR, International Series 1859, 145 – 155.
Bossio A., Ciampalini A., Colonese A.C ., Da Prato S., Rafanelli A., Zanchetta G. 2008. Nuovi dati sulle successioni del sottosuolo di Livorno . Atti Società toscana di Scienze naturali, Memorie, Serie A , 113, 13-24.

2007

Colonese A.C ., Ziveri P., Troelstra S. 2007a. La stagionalità di raccolta di Osilinus turbinatus (von Born, 1778 - Gastropoda). In: Tozzi C., Weiss M.C. (Eds.), Préistoire et protohistoire de l’aire tyrrhénienne , 153 – 154. Felice Editore, Pisa ( Italy ).

Colonese A.C ., Zanchetta G., Fallick A.E., Martini F., Manganelli G., Lo Vetro D. 2007b. Stable isotope composition of Late Glacial land snail shells from Grotta del Romito ( Southern Italy ): palaeoclimatic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , 254 (3-4), 550 – 56.

Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Cilli C., Ghinassi M., Lo Vetro D., Ricciardi S., Rolle R. Viti S. 2007c. Proceeding of the I Convegno Nazionale degli Studenti di Antropologia, Preistoria e Protostoria, Ferrara , Università di Ferrara, 2007. Annali dell’Università di Ferrara , 38-40.

Colonese A.C ., Martini F. 2005-2007. Molluschi terrestri e disturbi antropici: evidenze epigravettiane a Grotta del Romito ( Cosenza ). Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana , 96, 1-15.

Martini F., Cilli C., Colonese A.C ., Di Giuseppe Z., Ghinassi M., Govoni L., Lo Vetro D., Martini G., Ricciardi S. 2007a. L’Epigravettiano tra 15.000 e 10.000 anni da oggi nel basso versante tirrenico: casi studio dell’area calabro-campana. In (Eds.) Martini F. L’Epigravettiano tra 15.000 e 10.000 anni da oggi nel basso versante tirrenico: casi studio dell’area calabro-campana , pp. 157-208.

Martini F., Lo Vetro D., Colonese A.C ., De Curtis O., Di Giuseppe Z., Locatelli E., Sala B. 2007b. L’Epigravettiano finale in Sicilia. In (Eds.) Martini F. L’Epigravettiano tra 15.000 e 10.000 anni da oggi nel basso versante tirrenico: casi studio dell’area calabro-campana , pp. 209-254.

2006

Zanchetta, G., Becattini, R., Bonadonna, F.P., Bossio, A., Ciampalini, A., Colonese, A.C ., Dall’Antonia, B., Fallick, A., Leone, G., Marcolini, F., Lippi, M.M., Michelucci, L. 2006. Late Middle Pleistocene cool non-marine mollusc and small mammal faunas from Livorno ( Italy ). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia , 112 (1), 135-155.

Sarti, F., Zanchetta, G., Ciulii, L., Colonese, A.C ., 2006. Late Quaternary oligotypical non-marine mollusc fauna from southern Tuscany : climatic and stratigraphic implications. GeoActa , 4, 159-164.

Colonese A.C . 2006. S. Maria in Selva di Treia (Macerata): le conchiglie lavorate. Proceeding of the XXXVII Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Preistoria e Protostoria della Calabria , pp. 885-890.

Cilli C., Colonese A.C ., Martini F. 2006. L'attività antropica sulle conchiglie dell'Epigravettiano finale di Grotta della Serratura ( Salerno ). Proceeding of the XXXIX Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Materie prime e scambi nella Preistoria italiana , pp. 954-958.

2005

Cattani L., Colonese A.C ., Ricciardi S. 2005. Ricostruzione climatica e ambientale di Grotta del Romito: Analisi pallinologica e malacofaunistiche dei livelli epigravettiani C e D. Proceeding of the XXXVII Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Preistoria e Protostoria della Calabria , pp. 637-640.

Martini F., Cattani L., Colamussi V., Colonese A.C ., Martino G., Mallegni F., Noto F., Ricciardi S., Rickards O., Rolle R. 2005. Primi risultati delle nuove ricerche nei livelli epigravettiani di Grotta Del Romito a Papasidero (scavi 2000-2003). Proceeding of the XXXVII Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Preistoria e Protostoria della Calabria , pp. 85-100.

Martini F., Colonese A.C ., Wilkens B. 2005. Grotta della Serratura (Marina di Camerota - Salerno ) La malacofauna dei livelli gravettiani ed epigravettiani. Considerazioni paleoecologiche. Proceeding of the IV Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia, Pordenone, Quaderni del Museo Archeologico del Friuli Occidentale , pp. 87-96.

Colonese A.C ., Wilkens B. 2005. The malacofauna of the Upper Palaeolithic levels at Grotta della Seratura ( Salerno , Southern Italy ), preliminary data. In (eds) Bar-Yosef D.M. Archaeomalacology: Molluscs in former environments of human behaviour . Oxbow Books , pp. 63-70.

Colonese, A.C . 2005. Land snails exploitation: shell morphometry of Helix cf. ligata (Müller, 1774) (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) from Late Epigravettian layers of Grotta della Serratura ( Salerno ). In: Martini F., (Eds.), Askategi, miscellanea in memoria di Georges Laplace , Firenze , 271-284.

Research

Overview

Research Interests

Current projects

Coastal Resources and South American hunter-gatherers: biochemical perspectives from Brazilian Sambaquis – COREBRAS

The 7,500 km of Brazilian coastline encompasses a variety of ecosystems from the tropical to the sub-tropical realms and currently preserve some of the most remarkable records of hunter-gatherer activity in the world between ca. 8,000 and 1,000 BP: the Sambaquis (literally "mountain of shells” in the Tupi language). These shell middens are regional expressions of large–scale, long-term exploitation of coastal resources, ranging from transitional waters to fully marine environments. Some sites provided evidence for the exploitation of land mammals, wild plant resources, management of forest and incipient cultivations. Recent studies attested that shells were also intentionally used as raw material for mound constructions that in some case reached more than 30m high and several hundred meters in diameter. Such Sambaquis were clearly landmarks, of mortuary functions, manifestations of intense and persistent social activity. The thousand of human burials recovered in some Sambaquis make them one of the largest burial sites in the world. Shared features between sites have been invoked to argue support of long-term interactions all along Brazil’ coasts, probably based on common ethnic, linguistic and social groupings.

The rich record of osteological, cultural and dietary remains preserved in the sambaquis offers a test-bed for new ideas about the degree of complexity and communication amongst HGF. By applying isotopic and molecular techniques to sambaquis remains the COREBRAS project will provide new clues into human reliance on coastal areas in the Atlantic façade of South America, and more broadly (by comparative analysis with other areas of the world) to the use of coastlines in prehistory. COREBRAS aims at to investigate:

how HGF responded (in terms of subsistence, mobility and settlement patterns) to the mosaic of coastal environments they occupied.
how HGF transmitted and preserved a unique coastal-based culture across a long stretch of South America coast throughout the Holocene with limited maritime technology.

COREBRAS I will address this issues by developing a multi- and interdisciplinary research on Sambaquis sites from South, Southeast and North regions of Brazil, involving:

δ15N and δ13C analysis of human bone collagen in order to determine palaeodiet.
87/86Sr isotope analysis of human tooth enamel in order to explore mobility.
Amino acid racemization dating of mollusc shells from the sambaquis
Molecular and isotopic analysis of organic residues in pottery remains in order to identify processed materials.
Bone fragment identification using ZooMS.

Research group(s)

Teaching

Undergraduate

First year

Second year

Third year

External activities

Memberships

Memberships, etc.

Department of Archaeology

André Colonese Research associate