Mariano Ucchesu

Following my degree in Arts and Humanities with a specialization in Cultural Anthropology from the
University of Cagliari in 2007, I secured a Fellowship funded by the European Social Fund 2007-2013 from
the autonomous region of Sardinia for the academic years 2008-2010. This opportunity enabled me to spend
two years at the Faculty of Geography and History of the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), where
I received training in archaeobotany under the guidance of Prof. Leonor Peña-Chocarro. My work focused on
plant macroremains, specifically seeds and fruits, from archaeological sites in Sardinia.
In 2010, I started a Ph.D. in Botany and was allowed to set up a Laboratory of Archaeobotany in the
University of Cagliari, a discipline almost inexistent in Sardinia. Throughout my Ph.D., I secured funding to
procure all necessary equipment and microscopy for conducting plant macroremains analyses. Upon
completing my Ph.D., I received a Research grant at the Department of History, Cultural Heritage, and
Territory at the University of Cagliari. Working under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppa Tanda, I dedicated
18 months to the analysis of archaeobotanical materials recovered from Neolithic archaeological contexts in
Sardinia, overseeing sampling, flotation, and plant macroremains analysis.
Subsequently, I obtained a postdoctoral Fellowship at the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at
the University of Cagliari. This postdoctoral role further honed my expertise in archaeobotanical studies and
seed image analysis, with a specific focus on grape remains identification.
Currently, I am, together with Dr. Laurent Bouby (ISEM-CNRS, France), the leading expert at the European
level on the use of seed image analysis, particularly in the identification of archaeological grape seeds.
In 2021, I successfully secured a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship for the VITALY project
(No. 101019563), to be conducted at ISEM – CNRS Montpellier, France. This project addresses a significant
knowledge gap in Italian prehistory concerning evidence of grape domestication and winemaking.