Valentina Azzarà
Honorary Research Fellow
- Name
- Dr. V.M. Azzarà Ph.D.
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2727
- v.m.azzara@arch.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-3559-3227
Valentina Azzarà is an honorary research fellow at the Faculty of Archaeology.
Research
Valentina Azzarà is currently the Head of the Social Sciences & Humanities at the Netherlands eScience Center, a public research institute specializing in cutting-edge digital technologies, and the Director and founder of the field school Time of Magan, with A. De Rorre.
Her research investigates social complexity and the development of economic diversification and labour specialization in harsh environments, with a focus on the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age non-urban societies of South-Eastern Arabia. She is a specialist of architecture and settlement archaeology, and one of the leading experts in prehistoric coastal archaeology in the area. Her long-term research programme at Ras al-Jinz, Oman, is contributing critical new data on coastal socio-ecological systems during the Mid/Late Holocene transition, tracing uninterrupted occupation of the area since c. 5000 BCE. Offering insights into how communities adapted to environmental and cultural challenges over time, this site provides a unique lens to study long-term societal development.
Integrating data from Ras al-Jinz with findings from other major sites investigated through long-term projects in Oman, Valentina’s research emphasizes the dynamics of household production and consumption, the organisation and social significance of space, and the specialisation of labour as revealed through architectural remains and techno-complexes uncovered at these sites. This approach sheds light on the progressive transformations and the long-term trajectory of increasing specialization and social structuring of Early Bronze Age populations.
Challenging dominant narratives of external pressures as the primary driver of socio-economic complexity in the region, Valentina adopts a bottom-up perspective to explore how South-Eastern Arabian populations independently developed economic diversification and social inequalities during late prehistory. Through analysis of activity indicators and their relationship to the built environment, she investigates how economic specialization shaped socio-cultural dynamics in communities without elite control or sponsorship, refining our understanding of prehistoric coastal societies of SE Arabia and their development.
Curriculum vitae
Valentina Azzarà held a PhD in Archaeology-Ethnology-Prehistory at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, a postdoctorate at the UMR 7041 ArScAn (MAE, Nanterre), and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions H2020 COFUND LEaDing Fellows Programme postdoctorate at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University. She is a National Geographic Explorer and a NGS former grantee, a member of the Steering Committee of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, and a member of the advisory boards of the Dutch SSH Thematic Digital Competences Center and of the UNIGIS Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Valentina was a member of different archaeological projects in Southern Europe, North Africa and West Asia, and directed/codirected fieldwork at various sites in Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkmenistan since the early stages of her career. Since 2017, she has been the scientific director of the Ras al Jinz Project (Time of Magan), for which she secured multiple funding.
Honorary Research Fellow
- Faculteit Archeologie
- World Archaeology
- Near Eastern
- Azzarà V. M. (2021), The rise of socio-economic complexity in non-urban societies: Function, organisation and social meaning of space in Early Bronze Age Eastern Arabia. . In: Jallot L. & Peinetti A. (Eds.) UISPP Proceedings Series Volume 18, Use of Space and Domestic Areas: Functional Organisation and Social Strategies.. Oxford: Archaeopress. 98-118.
- Azzarà V.M. (2020), Modelling the built environment: Spatial patterns, siting techniques and layout works of non-monumental architecture in Early Bronze Age Eastern Arabia , Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 31(2): 301-326.
- Guyot F., Azzarà V., Briois B., Marchand J. & Midant-Reynes B. (2019), An early old kingdom settlement in the eastern Nile delta: first season at Tell el-Neshed (Eastern Nile Delta, Sharqiya Governatorate), Bulletin de l'Institut Français Archéologie Orientale 118: 143-187.
- Azzarà V.M. & De Rorre A.P. (2019), The first excavation season at the Early Bronze Age settlement of Ra's al-Jinz RJ-3, Journal of Oman Studies 20: 25-47.
- Azzarà V.M. (2019), La Baia di Ras al-Jinz nella Sharquiyyah Meridionale / The Bay of Ras al-Jinz in the Southern Sharquiyyah. In: Frenez D. & Cattani M. (Eds.), Sognatori. 40 Anni di Ricerche Archeologiche Italiane in Oman. Dreamers / 40 Years of Italian Archaeological Research in Oman.. Il Novissimo Ramusio no. 10. Rome: BraDypUS Communicating Cultural Heritage. 71-75.
- Azzarà V.M. (2019), Il Ras al-Jinz Study Program (RJSP) / The Ras al-Jinz Study Program (RJSP). In: Frenez D. & Cattani M. (Eds.), Sognatori. 40 Anni di Ricerche Archeologiche Italiane in Oman. Dreamers / 40 Years of Italian Archaeological Research in Oman.. Il Novissimo Ramusio no. 10. Rome: BraDypUS Communicating Cultural Heritage. 76-78.
- Azzarà V.M. & Cattani M. (2018), The Hafit settlement of HD-6 at Ra’s al-Hadd. In: Cleuziou S. Tosi M. Frenez D. Garba R. (Ed.), In the shadow of the ancestors: the Prehistoric foundations of the Early Arabian civilization in Oman: Archaeopress. 146-150.
- Azzarà V.M. (2018), Exploring cultural, social and economic complexification: settlement life through the Umm an-Nar period at Ra’s al-Jinz RJ-2. In: Döpper S. (Ed.), Beyond Tombs and Towers. Domestic architectures of the Umm an-Nar Period in Eastern Arabia no. 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
- Azzarà V.M. & De Rorre A.P. (2018), Socio-cultural innovations of the Final Umm an-Nar period (c. 2100-2000 BCE) in the Oman Peninsula: new insights from Ra’s al-Jinz RJ-2, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 29: 10-26.
- Frazier J.G., Azzarà V., Munoz O., Marcucci L.G., Badel E., Genchi F., Cattani M., Tosi M. & Delfino M. (2018), Remains of Leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, at Mid-Late Holocene archaeological sites in coastal Oman: clues of past worlds, PeerJ 6: e6123.
- Munoz O., Azzarà V.M., Giscard P.H., Hautefort R., San Basilio F. & Saint-Jalm L. (2017), First campaign of survey and excavations at Shiyāʾ (Sūr, Sultanate of Oman), Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian Studies. Fiftieth meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29 July 2016 - 31 July 2016. Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian Studies no. 47. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing. 185-192.
- Azzarà V.M. (2013), Architecture and building techniques at the Early Bronze Age site of HD-6, Raʾs al-Hadd, Sultanate of Oman, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 11-26.
- Azzarà V.M. (2013), Autour de la sebkha-lagune Halk el Menjel: la rammadiya de SHM-15. In: Mulazzani S. (Ed.), Le Capsien de Hergla (Tunisie). Culture, environnement et économie. Reports in African Archaeology. Reports in African Archaeology no. 4. Frankfort: Africa Magna Verlag. 369-384.
- Azzarà V.M. (2012), Household and Domestic Architecture: the "Sociogram" of a Social System. In: Giraud J. Gernez G. De Casteja V. (Ed.), Aux Marges de l'archéologie : Hommage à Serge Cleuziou, Collection Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvés no. 16: De Boccard.
- Hilbert Y.I. & Azzarà V.M. (2012), Lithic Technology and Spatial Distribution of artefacts at the Early Bronze Age Site HD-6 (Sharquiyyah Region, Sultanate of Oman), Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 23: 7-25.
- Azzarà V.M. (2012), The Organization of Food Processing at HD-6 (Sultanate of Oman). Matthews R. Curtis J. Seymour M. Fletcher A. et al. (Ed.), The Archaeology of Consumption & Disposal. Proceedings of the 7th ICAANE, i. . Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz. 251-268.
- Azzarà V.M. (2009), Domestic architecture at the Early Bronze Age sites HD-6 and RJ-2 (Ja’alān, Sultanate of Oman), Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. no. 39 1-16.
- Mulazzani S., Cavulli F., Azzarà V.M., Scaruffi S. & Boussofara R. (2009), Structures d’habitat nord-africaines: la fouille de la rammaddya côtière holocène de SHM-1 (Hergla, Tunisie). Cavulli F. (Ed.), Defining a Methodological Approach to Interpret Structural Evidence, (WS28). Proceedings of the XV UISPP Worlds Congress. no. 32: BAR International Series 2045.