Ricercatore a tempo determinato di tipo A
Telefono: 0498274598 - Email: melania.gigante@unipd.it
(BIOS-03/B Antropologia)
Dr Melania Gigante is a bioarchaeologist with a multidisciplinary background in archaeological science, human osteology, isotope biogeochemistry and dental and bone histology.
She specialises in applying cutting-edge analytical techniques, including multi-isotope analyses and histological approaches, to both cremated and inhumed human remains.
With over a decade of research experience, Dr Gigante has developed a specialised focus on the bioarchaeology of Mediterranean colonial and bioculturally entangled contexts in the first millennium BCE. She explores human mobility, individual life histories and gendered agency through integrative, interdisciplinary methodologies.
She was recognised with the Seal of Excellence–Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in 2022 and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship in 2023.
Her research focuses on patterns of human mobility, migration and reproductive life-history parameters in ancient women, using advanced bio-geochemical and histological analyses. She has also contributed to the development of ethical and sustainable sampling protocols for ancient human remains, particularly teeth, and has used machine learning to create detailed strontium isoscapes to interpret mobility at various Greek and Phoenician-Punic sites in the western Mediterranean.
Since 2023, Dr Gigante has been Lecturer in Bioarchaeology on the Master's degree in Archaeological Sciences at the Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Padua.
From 2025, she will also hold the teaching post in Prehistory and Anthropology on the Bachelor's degree programme in Archaeology at the same University.
She has supervised numerous bioarchaeological studies and collaborated with leading national and international institutions, including the University of Bologna, Sapienza University of Rome, Napoli L’Orientale, Sassari, Goethe University Frankfurt, Cardiff University, Max Planck, Universität Zürich, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (RGZM), as well as the Italian Ministry of Culture and affiliated heritage research centres.
Her research has been published in high-impact international journals such as iScience, PLoS ONE, Journal of Archaeological Science and Scientific Reports, providing new insights into human mobility, infant growth and development, diet, and mortuary treatment.
She is a Reviewer Editor for peer-reviewed journals, such as Historical Biology, PloS One, Journal of Archaeological Science, Scientific Reports (Nature), Frontiers (Archaeological Isotope Analysis, Environmental Archaeology), Communications Biology (Nature).
