Antonio Caruso

Education

2025 PhD in Science and Technology in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, The Cyprus Institute, Cyprus. Supervisor: Ass. Professor Efthymia Nikita. Thesis title: Life and Death in Hellenistic-early Roman Sicily: The People of Menainon.

2016 MPhil in Quaternary, Prehistory and Archaeology, The University of Ferrara, Italy. Supervisor: Prof. Emanuela Gualdi, Co-supervisor: Prof. Jay T Stock. Thesis title: A Jigsaw Puzzle from Mota Cave (Ethiopia): Three-Dimensional Virtual Reconstruction and Quantitative Analyses of a Very Fragmented Cranium.

2014 BA in Cultural Heritage, The University of Catania, Italy. Supervisor: Ass. Professor Simona V Todaro. Thesis title: Physical Anthropology and the Investigation of the Piano Vento Necropolis.

Positions and functions

2022-2024 Graduate Research Assistant, The Cyprus Institute, Cyprus.

Membership in scientific organizations

Since 2024 Member of the European Association of Archaeologists

2026-2029 Current Principal Investigator for “Life in the Makurian Metropolis: A Bioarchaeological Inquiry into Medieval Old Dongola, Sudan” funded by NCN Opus 23, 2022/45/B/HS3/01708. Originally awarded to Dr. Robert J Stark.

2026-2029 Co-investigator for „Afropolis Tungul: Urban biography of a cosmopolitan African capital” funded by ERC Consolidator Grant. PI: Prof. Artur Obłuski.

2022-2024 Research Assistant for “Metamobility” funded by RIF Cyprus EXCELLENCE/0421/0376. PI: Ass Prof. Efthymia Nikita

Chapters in edited volumes

Nikita, E., Caruso, A., Karligkioti, A., Mardini, M., & Vergidou, C. (2023). Minimizing data loss when excavating human skeletal remains. In:  Margaritis, E., Oikonomou, A., Nikita, E., & Rehren, T. (eds.).  Field sampling for laboratory analysis in Archaeology. The Cyprus Institute, 88-99. ISBN: 978-9925-7759-4-1

Articles

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2025). Association Between Biological Kinship and Lifestyle in the Hellenistic-early Roman community of Menainon, Sicily. Journal of Archaeological Science:Reports, 61, 104870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104870

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2024). Physiological stress in a Hellenistic-early Roman community in Sicily. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 56, 104537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104537

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2024). Sex differences in mechanical stress and associated labor in Hellenistic–early Roman Menainon, Sicily. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 34(2), e3294. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3294

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2024). Dental diseases and dental wear as a proxy for dietary patterns in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon, Sicily. International Journal of Paleopathology, 44, 10-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2023.11.002

Caruso, A., Karligkioti, A., Selempa, G., & Nikita, E. (2023). STARC OSTEOARCH: An open access resource for recording and sharing human osteoarchaeological data. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 33(5), 973-975. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3256

Caruso, A., Mardini, M., Mardini, M., & Nikita, E. (2022). Bi(bli)oArch-Italia: An open-access bibliographic database for human bioarchaeological studies in Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 46, 103721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103721

Other publications

Presentations

Caruso, A., Huesges, S., Scott, E., Ilgner, J., Nikita, E., & Roberts, P. (2025). Sex-related Differences in Diet and Mobility in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon as Inferred from Stable Isotope Analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O). 2nd International Congress on Roman Bioarchaeology. Virtual attendance, 31 August – 2nd September 2025.

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2024). Sex-related differences and social stratification in Hellenistic/early Roman Menainon, Sicily. 30th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Rome, 28-31 August 2024.

Caruso, A., & Nikita, E. (2024). The importance of legacy data: Bioarchaeological insights of kinship and its association to lifestyle from the Hellenistic/early Roman settlement of Menainon, Sicily. 4th International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 4), Nicosia, Cyprus, 15-18 May 2024.

Caruso, A., (2023). STARC OSTEOARCH: An open access resource for recording and sharing human osteoarchaeological data. Big Historical Data Conference, Jena, Germany, 22-25 November 2023

Caruso, A., Mardini, M., Mardini, M., & Nikita, E. (2022). Bi(bli)oArch-Italia: A Review of Roman-period Bioarchaeological Studies in Italy. 1st International Congress on Roman Bioarchaeology. Virtual attendance, 20-21 October 2022.

Caruso, A., Mardini, M., Mardini, M., & Nikita, E. (2022). Bi(bli)oArch-Italia: An open-access bibliographic database for human bioarchaeological studies in Italy. XXIV congresso Associazione Antropologica Italiana. Il prossimo uomo, storia naturale di geni, forme e funzioni fra passato e futuro dell’umanità. Chieti, Italy, 7-10 September 2022.

Caruso, A., Nikita, E. (2023). Sex-related Differences and Inequalities in Hellenistic/Early Roman Sicily: the case of Menainon. 2nd International Congress on Roman Bioarchaeology. Virtual attendance, 26-28 October 2023.

Caruso, A., Gullí, D., Nikita, E. (2022). Preliminary bioarchaeological study of a Sicilian village: Sant’Angelo Muxaro in the 1st millennium BCE. 3rd International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 3), Nicosia, Cyprus, 14-18 March 2022.

2025 sCYence FAIR, The Cyprus Institute, Cyprus (https://scyence.cyi.ac.cy/en/)
2024 European Researcher Night, Nicosia, Cyprus
2024 8th School Radio Festival, Aglantzia, Cyprus.
2024 sCYence FAIR, The Cyprus Institute, Cyprus (https://scyence.cyi.ac.cy/en/)
2023 European Researcher Night, Nicosia, Cyprus

Recommended links