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Stefano Anastasio

Ministero della cultura, Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Firenze e le province di Pistoia e Prato, -

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I am an archaeologist, specializing in the Ancient Near East. I am storehouse-keeper of the archaeological deposits and in charge of the digitization of the archaeological photo-archive of the Superintendency of Florence. I participated in archaeological excavations and surveys in Italy, Syria, Turkey and Jordan. My main research interests are the history of early photography in the Near East, building archaeology, and the Iron Age in Mesopotamia and the Levant.
Address: Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio - Firenze (SABAP-FI)
Piazza Pitti 1 - 50125 Firenze
[email protected]

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Books by Stefano Anastasio

[with contributions by Spyros Koulouris and Francesco Saliola] Mesopotamia, Syria and Transjordan in the Archibald Creswell Photograph Collection of the Biblioteca Berenson. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2023.

by Stefano Anastasio, Francesco Saliola, and Spyros Koulouris

Mesopotamia, Syria and Transjordan in the Archibald Creswell Photograph Collection of the Biblioteca Berenson, 2023

Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell (1879-1974) developed an early interest in Islamic architecture... more Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell (1879-1974) developed an early interest in Islamic architecture, which became his main area of research at the time of his military posting in Egypt, in 1916. His publications are still fundamental research tools for scholars in the field. Creswell considered photography as an essential tool for recording architectural artefacts, and this volume deals with the photographs that concern Mesopotamia, Syria and Jordan, kept today at the Biblioteca Berenson, of the Villa I Tatti, Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, in Florence. On the whole, they can be dated between 1919 and 1930. Many of the sites and monuments photographed by Creswell are still standing, but there are many others that no longer exist, or have been significantly modified. Geolocations for all the photographed monuments can also be viewed on Google My Maps at: https://t.ly/DJpnK

https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803274553

[with an appendix by Piero Gilento] Building between the Two Rivers: An Introduction to the Building Archaeology of Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2020.

Building between the Two Rivers: An Introduction to the Building Archaeology of Ancient Mesopotamia, 2020

Building between the Two Rivers aims to supply university students and scholars of Near Eastern a... more Building between the Two Rivers aims to supply university students and scholars of Near Eastern archaeology with an introduction to 'Building archaeology' methods as applied to the context of Ancient Mesopotamia. It helps the reader understand the principles underlying the discipline, which deals with the registration and analysis of all building materials and techniques involved in the assembly and erection of a construction, and to outline what knowledge and skills are needed, beyond those that are specific to archaeologists.
The in-depth registration and analysis of building materials and techniques requires professional skills and experience, which cannot be achieved with only a standard university training in archaeology. However, archaeologists need to know the basics of the classification of building materials, their physical properties, the main techniques of their finishing, as well as the basic principles of statics. They should also be able to let architects understand how to better tune the registration of data to ensure a fruitful archaeological interpretation.
More Info: https://tinyurl.com/9781789696035

[co-authored with Paola D'Amore, Federica Facchetti, Gabriella Manna] Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. Guida alla sezione del Vicino Oriente ed Egitto Antichi. Misterbianco, EMIL/MIC 2020.

The MIC collection of pottery from the Ancient Near East and Egypt is arranged in 5 sections: Egy... more

[co-authored with Barbara Arbeid] Egitto, Iraq ed Etruria nelle fotografie di John Alfred Spranger. Viaggi e ricerche archeologiche (1929-1936). Oxford, Archaeopress, 2019.

This volume – in Italian, with an English summary – presents the 1930s archaeological photo-album... more This volume – in Italian, with an English summary – presents the 1930s archaeological photo-albums of John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Engineer, topographer, mountain climber, archaeologist, art collector and photographer, Spranger traveled extensively – in the Balkans, Greece, Egypt and the Near East, Canada, Central Asia – and left several photo albums detailing archaeological explorations as well as travel memories. In the 1920s-1930s, he took part in a number of Etruscan excavations in Tuscany, together with Harry Burton, the photographer of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. With a pioneering approach, they used the photo-camera to document the excavation work in progress. The albums are dedicated to a trip to Egypt in 1929, a trip to Mesopotamia (Iraq) in 1936 and some surveys and excavations carried out in Etruria (Tuscany, Italy) in 1929-1935. Spranger’s photos are particularly meaningful, especially because he combined his skills in using the camera with a great expertise in archaeology and topography. His photos make it possible to understand, after almost a century, how many Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Etruscan sites appeared at the time of their first excavations.
Info: http://www.archaeopress.com/archaeopressshop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={A5B887B7-A264-4AD5-AAAD-CFA91C3C2243}

[co-authored with Lucia Botarelli] Ceramiche vicinorientali della Collezione Popolani (La Collezione orientale del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze 3). Oxford, Archaeopress, 2016.

The volume – in Italian, with an English summary – illustrates the Popolani Collection, that was ... more The volume – in Italian, with an English summary – illustrates the Popolani Collection, that was donated to the Archaeological Museum of Florence by Carlo Popolani, a physician who lived in Damascus in the early 20th century. The collection consists of ancient pottery vessels, terracotta oil-lamps, glazed Islamic tiles, Romano-Byzantine glassware, as well as various objects from the Damascene antique market. In particular, the rich group of glazed tiles is very representative of the typical Mamluk and Ottoman production that flourished in Damascus between the XV and XVIII century.

info: http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7B6F1AE3DC-852C-4EF8-9F05-4F80EDD6F1DF%7D

[co-authored with Lucia Botarelli] The 1927–1938 Italian Archaeological Expedition to Transjordan in Renato Bartoccini’s Archives. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2015.

This volume presents the results of the Italian excavations and surveys carried out in Transjorda... more This volume presents the results of the Italian excavations and surveys carried out in Transjordan between 1927 and 1938. After a first excavation campaign conducted in 1927 on the Amman Citadel by Giacomo Guidi, the excavations were resumed in 1929 by Renato Bartoccini (Rome 1893–Rome 1963), who carried out four campaigns on the Citadel in 1929, 1930, 1933 and 1938. He also travelled across modern Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, taking photos and writing reports on several archaeological sites. Bartoccini published a few notes and reports, but almost all the original documentation of his work was still unpublished at the time this study was conducted. The main source of data is the Fondo Renato Bartoccini, i.e. the private archive of Bartoccini, today held by the University of Perugia, while other useful documents are kept in other archives in Macerata and in Rome. Furthermore, some decorated Islamic pottery from the excavations on the Citadel is held at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. The retrieved photos, excavation journals, letters, and administrative documents make it possible to understand, after almost a century, how the Citadel of Amman appeared at the time of its first excavation.

La vita nella Terra tra i due fiumi. Testimonianze dell'antica Mesopotamia (TRAME 24), Monsummano Terme, 2014 [guida alla mostra, Museo della Città e del Territorio di Monsummano Terme, 4 luglio 2014 - 7 gennaio 2015].

Costruire tra i due fiumi. Introduzione all'edilizia in Mesopotamia tra Neolitico ed età del Ferro (Millenni 8). Firenze, Museo Fiorentino di Preistoria Paolo Graziosi, 2011.

Atlas of the Assyrian Pottery of the Iron Age (Subartu XXIV). Turnhout, Brepols, 2010.

[co-authored with Giovanni Conti and Laura Ulivieri] La collezione orientale del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze. I. I materiali di Qasr Shamamuk. Roma, Aracne 2012.

This volumes is dedicated to the archaeological assemblage from the 1933 excavations carried out ... more

Das Obere Haburtal in der Jazira zwischen dem 13. und dem 5. Jh. v.Chr, Firenze 2007 (Dissertation Heidelberg 2004)

[co-authored with Marc Lebeau and Martin Sauvage] Atlas of Preclassical Mesopotamia (Subartu XIII). Turnhout, Brepols, 2004.

Papers by Stefano Anastasio

[co-authored with P. Pallecchi] "Le ceramiche islamiche della Collezione Mason Perkins al Museo Nazionale del Bargello di Firenze", in FAENZA N. 1 - 2024, pp. 39-52.

Faenza, 2024

Abstract. The Bargello Museum in Florence holds a small but significant collection of ceramics d... more Abstract. The Bargello Museum in Florence holds a small but significant collection of ceramics donated by Frederick Mason Perkins to the Museum in the early twentieth century. It consists in 176 decorated fragments, stored in the museum’s warehouses and not on display. Most of the fragments come from Fustat, Egypt, and can be dated between the Abbasid and Mamluk periods. A few fragments of Ancient Egyptian faience, Iznik and Hispano-Moresque pottery complete the collection.

"The Italian archaeological expeditions to the Near East in the first half of the 20th century and their photographic legacy", in níĝ-ba dub-sar maḫ. Studies on Ebla and the Ancient Near East presented to Amalia Catagnoti (Documenta Asiana XIV), Roma, 2024, pp. 31-38.

Comitato editoriale / Editorial Board Marco Bonechi (Roma) Pubblicazione realizzata con il contri... more Comitato editoriale / Editorial Board Marco Bonechi (Roma) Pubblicazione realizzata con il contributo del Progetto PRIN 2017 "Big Data and Early Archives (Big-DEA). Measuring Settlement Dynamics and Environmental Exploitation in the Ebla Region during the 3rd Millennium BC: Archaeological Record, Cuneiform Texts, and Remote Sensing", unità di Roma, CNR-ISPC (responsabile: Marco Bonechi).

[co-authored with L. Peyronel, T. Pedrazzi, E. Devecchi, S. Di Paolo, S. Ermidoro, V. Oselini, I. Rossi] "ArCOA Project: The Ancient Near Eastern Collections in Italy from Study to Public Fruition", in Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East (67th R.A.I., Turin 2021), Münster 2024, 507-548.

"The use of early photography for archaeological research: The 1929-1931 expedition to Meskeneh/Balis (Syria) in the photograph collection of the Biblioteca Berenson in Florence", in Ash-sharq 7, 2023, pp. 1–11.

Ash-sharq, 2023

The Biblioteca Berenson in Florence owns three photographs of the excavations conducted in 1929-1... more The Biblioteca Berenson in Florence owns three photographs of the excavations conducted in 1929-1931 by Georges Salles and Eustache de Lorey at Meskeneh, the ancient Balis, in Syria. Since the documentation of this expedition has never been published, the photographs are worthy of careful study as they depict details of the excavations, now flooded by the Euphrates. Furthermore, they serve as a cue to touch upon the topic of the use and publication of early photographs for archaeological research.
URL: http://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/ash-sharq/issue/view/75

[co-authored with Pasquino Pallecchi] "L’archivio del Centro di restauro archeologico della Toscana conservato presso il Mulino di Gonfienti" & [co-authored with Ursula Wierer] "L’archivio fotografico digitale del settore archeologia", in Tutela & Restauro 2021, Firenze 2023, pp. 319-322

Tutela & Restauro 2021, 2023

The complete publication is freely available at https://soprintendenzafirenze.cultura.gov.it/tute... more

"Quantificare, contare, calcolare in Mesopotamia prima dell'invenzione della scrittura", in F. Martini (a cura di), L’origine del pensiero numerico. Il viaggio dell’Uomo attraverso gli strumenti da calcolo (Museo e Istituto fiorentino di Preistoria, Guide 7), Firenze, 2023, pp. 87-92.

"Early Photographs and Archaeology: The Case Study of K.A.C. Creswell’s Photographs of the Amman Citadel", in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan XIV: Culture in Crisis: Flows of Peoples, Artifacts, and Ideas, Amman 2022, pp. 725-730.

Historical archives are increasingly becoming an important research tool for the archaeological d... more Historical archives are increasingly becoming an important research tool for the archaeological disciplines, especially those related to the Near East. This is of course a positive trend: any effort to make "forgotten" data available to the scientific community is to be welcomed. Archive studies, however, require a specific approach: consistent and shared procedures for cataloguing and publishing the data gathered from archives still need to be fine-tuned by the archaeological community. Archive data is often collected and used by the archaeologist simply to answer doubts and problems already defined in the research in progress. Much potential information is thus neither recorded nor reported, making it difficult to compare data from different archives. This contribution deals with a specific archive source of information: the early photo archives concerning Amman. By "early photos, " I mean those taken between the very beginning of the use of the camera in archaeological contexts, around mid-19 th century, and World War II. The photographic method was presented by Louis Daguerre, in Paris in 1839, and the first attempts to use a camera on an archaeological excavation were made just a few years later, in 1842, when the German Egyptologist Richard Lepsius decided to include a camera in the equipment of his archaeological expedition in Egypt (Bohrer 2011: 35). The camera was introduced in Jordan very early, most likely in 1842, when the Scottish physician George Skene Keith took some daguerrotypes at Jearash (see Perez 1988; Abujaber and Cobbing 2005; Anastasio forthcoming for an overview of this issue). From this moment onwards, as a rule, photographers were part of the staff of the main archaeological expeditions. World War II marks a radical change in the history of photography. Kodak started the production of Kodachrome, the first commercially successful color film, in

"The contribution of historical archives to Jordan archeology", in P. Gilento (ed.), Building between Eastern and Western Mediterranean Lands. Construction processes and transmission of knowledge from Late Antiquity to Early Islam: 21-36. Leiden-Boston: Brill 2022.

Volume's overview at https://brill.com/view/title/62415?language=en

[with contributions by Spyros Koulouris and Francesco Saliola] Mesopotamia, Syria and Transjordan in the Archibald Creswell Photograph Collection of the Biblioteca Berenson. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2023.

by Stefano Anastasio, Francesco Saliola, and Spyros Koulouris

Mesopotamia, Syria and Transjordan in the Archibald Creswell Photograph Collection of the Biblioteca Berenson, 2023

Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell (1879-1974) developed an early interest in Islamic architecture... more Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell (1879-1974) developed an early interest in Islamic architecture, which became his main area of research at the time of his military posting in Egypt, in 1916. His publications are still fundamental research tools for scholars in the field. Creswell considered photography as an essential tool for recording architectural artefacts, and this volume deals with the photographs that concern Mesopotamia, Syria and Jordan, kept today at the Biblioteca Berenson, of the Villa I Tatti, Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, in Florence. On the whole, they can be dated between 1919 and 1930. Many of the sites and monuments photographed by Creswell are still standing, but there are many others that no longer exist, or have been significantly modified. Geolocations for all the photographed monuments can also be viewed on Google My Maps at: https://t.ly/DJpnK

https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803274553

[with an appendix by Piero Gilento] Building between the Two Rivers: An Introduction to the Building Archaeology of Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2020.

Building between the Two Rivers: An Introduction to the Building Archaeology of Ancient Mesopotamia, 2020

Building between the Two Rivers aims to supply university students and scholars of Near Eastern a... more Building between the Two Rivers aims to supply university students and scholars of Near Eastern archaeology with an introduction to 'Building archaeology' methods as applied to the context of Ancient Mesopotamia. It helps the reader understand the principles underlying the discipline, which deals with the registration and analysis of all building materials and techniques involved in the assembly and erection of a construction, and to outline what knowledge and skills are needed, beyond those that are specific to archaeologists.
The in-depth registration and analysis of building materials and techniques requires professional skills and experience, which cannot be achieved with only a standard university training in archaeology. However, archaeologists need to know the basics of the classification of building materials, their physical properties, the main techniques of their finishing, as well as the basic principles of statics. They should also be able to let architects understand how to better tune the registration of data to ensure a fruitful archaeological interpretation.
More Info: https://tinyurl.com/9781789696035

[co-authored with Paola D'Amore, Federica Facchetti, Gabriella Manna] Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. Guida alla sezione del Vicino Oriente ed Egitto Antichi. Misterbianco, EMIL/MIC 2020.

The MIC collection of pottery from the Ancient Near East and Egypt is arranged in 5 sections: Egy... more

[co-authored with Barbara Arbeid] Egitto, Iraq ed Etruria nelle fotografie di John Alfred Spranger. Viaggi e ricerche archeologiche (1929-1936). Oxford, Archaeopress, 2019.

This volume – in Italian, with an English summary – presents the 1930s archaeological photo-album... more This volume – in Italian, with an English summary – presents the 1930s archaeological photo-albums of John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Engineer, topographer, mountain climber, archaeologist, art collector and photographer, Spranger traveled extensively – in the Balkans, Greece, Egypt and the Near East, Canada, Central Asia – and left several photo albums detailing archaeological explorations as well as travel memories. In the 1920s-1930s, he took part in a number of Etruscan excavations in Tuscany, together with Harry Burton, the photographer of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. With a pioneering approach, they used the photo-camera to document the excavation work in progress. The albums are dedicated to a trip to Egypt in 1929, a trip to Mesopotamia (Iraq) in 1936 and some surveys and excavations carried out in Etruria (Tuscany, Italy) in 1929-1935. Spranger’s photos are particularly meaningful, especially because he combined his skills in using the camera with a great expertise in archaeology and topography. His photos make it possible to understand, after almost a century, how many Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Etruscan sites appeared at the time of their first excavations.
Info: http://www.archaeopress.com/archaeopressshop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={A5B887B7-A264-4AD5-AAAD-CFA91C3C2243}

[co-authored with Lucia Botarelli] Ceramiche vicinorientali della Collezione Popolani (La Collezione orientale del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze 3). Oxford, Archaeopress, 2016.

The volume – in Italian, with an English summary – illustrates the Popolani Collection, that was ... more The volume – in Italian, with an English summary – illustrates the Popolani Collection, that was donated to the Archaeological Museum of Florence by Carlo Popolani, a physician who lived in Damascus in the early 20th century. The collection consists of ancient pottery vessels, terracotta oil-lamps, glazed Islamic tiles, Romano-Byzantine glassware, as well as various objects from the Damascene antique market. In particular, the rich group of glazed tiles is very representative of the typical Mamluk and Ottoman production that flourished in Damascus between the XV and XVIII century.

info: http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7B6F1AE3DC-852C-4EF8-9F05-4F80EDD6F1DF%7D

[co-authored with Lucia Botarelli] The 1927–1938 Italian Archaeological Expedition to Transjordan in Renato Bartoccini’s Archives. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2015.

This volume presents the results of the Italian excavations and surveys carried out in Transjorda... more This volume presents the results of the Italian excavations and surveys carried out in Transjordan between 1927 and 1938. After a first excavation campaign conducted in 1927 on the Amman Citadel by Giacomo Guidi, the excavations were resumed in 1929 by Renato Bartoccini (Rome 1893–Rome 1963), who carried out four campaigns on the Citadel in 1929, 1930, 1933 and 1938. He also travelled across modern Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, taking photos and writing reports on several archaeological sites. Bartoccini published a few notes and reports, but almost all the original documentation of his work was still unpublished at the time this study was conducted. The main source of data is the Fondo Renato Bartoccini, i.e. the private archive of Bartoccini, today held by the University of Perugia, while other useful documents are kept in other archives in Macerata and in Rome. Furthermore, some decorated Islamic pottery from the excavations on the Citadel is held at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. The retrieved photos, excavation journals, letters, and administrative documents make it possible to understand, after almost a century, how the Citadel of Amman appeared at the time of its first excavation.

La vita nella Terra tra i due fiumi. Testimonianze dell'antica Mesopotamia (TRAME 24), Monsummano Terme, 2014 [guida alla mostra, Museo della Città e del Territorio di Monsummano Terme, 4 luglio 2014 - 7 gennaio 2015].

Costruire tra i due fiumi. Introduzione all'edilizia in Mesopotamia tra Neolitico ed età del Ferro (Millenni 8). Firenze, Museo Fiorentino di Preistoria Paolo Graziosi, 2011.

Atlas of the Assyrian Pottery of the Iron Age (Subartu XXIV). Turnhout, Brepols, 2010.

[co-authored with Giovanni Conti and Laura Ulivieri] La collezione orientale del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze. I. I materiali di Qasr Shamamuk. Roma, Aracne 2012.

This volumes is dedicated to the archaeological assemblage from the 1933 excavations carried out ... more

Das Obere Haburtal in der Jazira zwischen dem 13. und dem 5. Jh. v.Chr, Firenze 2007 (Dissertation Heidelberg 2004)

[co-authored with Marc Lebeau and Martin Sauvage] Atlas of Preclassical Mesopotamia (Subartu XIII). Turnhout, Brepols, 2004.

[co-authored with P. Pallecchi] "Le ceramiche islamiche della Collezione Mason Perkins al Museo Nazionale del Bargello di Firenze", in FAENZA N. 1 - 2024, pp. 39-52.

Faenza, 2024

Abstract. The Bargello Museum in Florence holds a small but significant collection of ceramics d... more Abstract. The Bargello Museum in Florence holds a small but significant collection of ceramics donated by Frederick Mason Perkins to the Museum in the early twentieth century. It consists in 176 decorated fragments, stored in the museum’s warehouses and not on display. Most of the fragments come from Fustat, Egypt, and can be dated between the Abbasid and Mamluk periods. A few fragments of Ancient Egyptian faience, Iznik and Hispano-Moresque pottery complete the collection.

"The Italian archaeological expeditions to the Near East in the first half of the 20th century and their photographic legacy", in níĝ-ba dub-sar maḫ. Studies on Ebla and the Ancient Near East presented to Amalia Catagnoti (Documenta Asiana XIV), Roma, 2024, pp. 31-38.

Comitato editoriale / Editorial Board Marco Bonechi (Roma) Pubblicazione realizzata con il contri... more Comitato editoriale / Editorial Board Marco Bonechi (Roma) Pubblicazione realizzata con il contributo del Progetto PRIN 2017 "Big Data and Early Archives (Big-DEA). Measuring Settlement Dynamics and Environmental Exploitation in the Ebla Region during the 3rd Millennium BC: Archaeological Record, Cuneiform Texts, and Remote Sensing", unità di Roma, CNR-ISPC (responsabile: Marco Bonechi).

[co-authored with L. Peyronel, T. Pedrazzi, E. Devecchi, S. Di Paolo, S. Ermidoro, V. Oselini, I. Rossi] "ArCOA Project: The Ancient Near Eastern Collections in Italy from Study to Public Fruition", in Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East (67th R.A.I., Turin 2021), Münster 2024, 507-548.

"The use of early photography for archaeological research: The 1929-1931 expedition to Meskeneh/Balis (Syria) in the photograph collection of the Biblioteca Berenson in Florence", in Ash-sharq 7, 2023, pp. 1–11.

Ash-sharq, 2023

The Biblioteca Berenson in Florence owns three photographs of the excavations conducted in 1929-1... more The Biblioteca Berenson in Florence owns three photographs of the excavations conducted in 1929-1931 by Georges Salles and Eustache de Lorey at Meskeneh, the ancient Balis, in Syria. Since the documentation of this expedition has never been published, the photographs are worthy of careful study as they depict details of the excavations, now flooded by the Euphrates. Furthermore, they serve as a cue to touch upon the topic of the use and publication of early photographs for archaeological research.
URL: http://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/ash-sharq/issue/view/75

[co-authored with Pasquino Pallecchi] "L’archivio del Centro di restauro archeologico della Toscana conservato presso il Mulino di Gonfienti" & [co-authored with Ursula Wierer] "L’archivio fotografico digitale del settore archeologia", in Tutela & Restauro 2021, Firenze 2023, pp. 319-322

Tutela & Restauro 2021, 2023

The complete publication is freely available at https://soprintendenzafirenze.cultura.gov.it/tute... more

"Quantificare, contare, calcolare in Mesopotamia prima dell'invenzione della scrittura", in F. Martini (a cura di), L’origine del pensiero numerico. Il viaggio dell’Uomo attraverso gli strumenti da calcolo (Museo e Istituto fiorentino di Preistoria, Guide 7), Firenze, 2023, pp. 87-92.

"Early Photographs and Archaeology: The Case Study of K.A.C. Creswell’s Photographs of the Amman Citadel", in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan XIV: Culture in Crisis: Flows of Peoples, Artifacts, and Ideas, Amman 2022, pp. 725-730.

Historical archives are increasingly becoming an important research tool for the archaeological d... more Historical archives are increasingly becoming an important research tool for the archaeological disciplines, especially those related to the Near East. This is of course a positive trend: any effort to make "forgotten" data available to the scientific community is to be welcomed. Archive studies, however, require a specific approach: consistent and shared procedures for cataloguing and publishing the data gathered from archives still need to be fine-tuned by the archaeological community. Archive data is often collected and used by the archaeologist simply to answer doubts and problems already defined in the research in progress. Much potential information is thus neither recorded nor reported, making it difficult to compare data from different archives. This contribution deals with a specific archive source of information: the early photo archives concerning Amman. By "early photos, " I mean those taken between the very beginning of the use of the camera in archaeological contexts, around mid-19 th century, and World War II. The photographic method was presented by Louis Daguerre, in Paris in 1839, and the first attempts to use a camera on an archaeological excavation were made just a few years later, in 1842, when the German Egyptologist Richard Lepsius decided to include a camera in the equipment of his archaeological expedition in Egypt (Bohrer 2011: 35). The camera was introduced in Jordan very early, most likely in 1842, when the Scottish physician George Skene Keith took some daguerrotypes at Jearash (see Perez 1988; Abujaber and Cobbing 2005; Anastasio forthcoming for an overview of this issue). From this moment onwards, as a rule, photographers were part of the staff of the main archaeological expeditions. World War II marks a radical change in the history of photography. Kodak started the production of Kodachrome, the first commercially successful color film, in

"The contribution of historical archives to Jordan archeology", in P. Gilento (ed.), Building between Eastern and Western Mediterranean Lands. Construction processes and transmission of knowledge from Late Antiquity to Early Islam: 21-36. Leiden-Boston: Brill 2022.

Volume's overview at https://brill.com/view/title/62415?language=en

[co-authored with Pasquino Pallecchi] La riorganizzazione dei laboratori e degli archivi del Centro di restauro archeologico, in Tutela & Restauro 1, 2020, pp. 340-341.

Tutela & Restauro, 2020

Entry "Spranger, John Alfred (1889-1968)" in Luminous-Lint - Photographers (published on-line on 10 February 2020)

available at: http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/John_Alfred__Spranger/A/

Entry "Creswell, Keppel Archibald Cameron (1879-1974)" in Luminous-Lint - Photographers (published on-line on 20 February 2020)

available at: http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Keppel_Archibald_Cameron__Creswell/A/

Entry " Bartoccini, Renato (1893-1963)" in Luminous-Lint - Photographers (published on-line on 14 February 2020)

available at: http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Renato__Bartoccini/A/

[co-authored with Lucia Botarelli] "Aratri e arature nel Vicino Oriente antico", in Area megalitica di Saint-Martin-de-Corléans. Una visione aggiornata. Aosta, Le Château Edizioni, pp. 191-200.

A review of the sources on the use of the plough in Ancient Mesopotamia.

(In Memoriam Harald Hauptmann 1936-2018) Harald Hauptmann Between Anatolia and Karakoram, in Journal of Asian Civilizations 41/1, 2018, pp. 205-206.

The Archaeopress Blog - Pioneering archaeological photography in John Alfred Spranger's 1929-1936 photo reportages

Archaeopress Blog

See at: https://archaeopress.wordpress.com/?s=spranger

"The Italian Archaeological Expedition to Qasr Shamamuk-Kilizu, Iraq, 1933. Notes on the Excavation Finds at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad", in Ash-Sharq. Bulletin of the Ancient Near East Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies 1/2, 2017, pp. 275–285.

After the 1933 excavation campaign at Kilizu/Qasr Shamamuk, Iraq, a greater set of objects from t... more After the 1933 excavation campaign at Kilizu/Qasr Shamamuk, Iraq, a greater set of objects from the Italian excavation was sent to Florence, but a smaller yet significant set of items was also stored in Baghdad. In 1960s-1970s Paolo Emilio Pecorella, at that time keeper of the Near Eastern collection of the Archaeological Museum of Florence, tried to collect information about the Kilizu materials sent to Baghdad. The article illustrates the data and photos from Pecorella's file: 242 objects were sent to the Baghdad Museum (cylinder seals, iron objects, inscribed objects, terracotta figurines, stone objects, glass objects, glazed and plain pottery vases, pendants, objects in shell or gold, beads). Among these objects, some items are noteworthy. A cross-check between the photos in Pecorella’s file, those taken by Doro Levi in 1933, and the data on the excavation finds given by Giuseppe Furlani in a short report, allow the exact provenance of some objects to be reconstructed.

"Il Vicino Oriente a Firenze: la formazione della collezione vicinorientale del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze", in Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz LIX/1 (Visualizing Otherness in Modern Italy, XIX–XX Century), 2017, pp. 11-25.

The Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence holds a noteworthy collection of ancient Near Easter... more The Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence holds a noteworthy collection of ancient Near Eastern artifacts. The article deals with the history of the collection and Florence’s interest in the ‘Orient’ in general, focusing on the period between the second half of the 19th century and the Second World War. Florence played a pivotal role in the development of ‘Oriental studies’ in Italy: the IV International Congress of Orientalists was held in Palazzo Medici Riccardi in 1878; a few years later, the Società Asiatica Italiana and the Museo Indiano were inaugurated in Florence (1886). Lastly, the first Italian archaeological expedition to Mesopotamia was directed by Giuseppe Furlani, professor of Semitic Languages at Florence University, and Doro Levi, at that time an archaeologist at the Soprintendenza dell’Etruria, in 1930–1933. The materials from excavations carried out at Kilizu, Iraq, form the bulk of the Near Eastern collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, which also includes Anatolian, Persian and Syrian artifacts, spanning between prehistory and the Islamic period. While a selection of these materials was exhibited between the 1960s and 1980s, they are now conserved in storehouses. A permanent exhibition is planned for the opening of the museum’s new setup.

[co-authored with Barbara Arbeid] "Archeologia e fotografia negli album di John Alfred Spranger", in Quaderni Friulani di Archeologia - numero XXVI - anno 2016, Udine 2017, pp. 161-168.

John Alfred Spranger (Florence, 1889-1968) was an eclectic and leading figure in the Florentine c... more John Alfred Spranger (Florence, 1889-1968) was an eclectic and leading figure in the Florentine cultural environment. He traveled extensively and left several photo-album with pictures of his trips. His participation in the 1913-1914 De Filippi Expedition to the Karakoram is worth mentioning. During this expedition he acquired important experience in the use of the photo-camera for the documentation of later research expeditions abroad. He took thousands of photographs between 1906 and 1936 and compiled them in photo albums, enriched by annotations, topographic maps and plans. On Spranger’s death part of this extraordinary documentation was donated by the heirs to the then Superintendency of Antiquities of Etruria, in particular three albums of excursions in Egypt, nine of excursions to Mesopotamia and five dedicated to explorations and excavations in Etruria.

[co-authored with Piero Gilento and Roberto Parenti] "Ancient Buildings and Masonry Techniques in the Southern Hauran, Jordan", in Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 4/4, 2016, pp. 299-320.

by Piero Gilento and Stefano Anastasio

Umm al-Surab, located near modern-day Mafraq in northern Jordan, was the focus of a building arch... more Umm al-Surab, located near modern-day Mafraq in northern Jordan, was the focus of a building archaeology project carried out by the University of Siena, Italy, between 2009 and 2012. This article discusses the primary results obtained from that project—in particular, the research on the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus and another complex in the southeastern corner of the archaeological area. The methodologies adopted are explored, as well as the results anticipated from the development of this type of research: the creation of an atlas of construction techniques for the southern Hauran and the development of a nondestructive, and therefore “sustainable,” investigation methodology.

[co-authored with Barbara Arbeid] "Attività della Soprintendenza Archeologia della Toscana. Mostra fotografica John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Archeologia e fotografia tra Egitto ed Etruria", in Notiziario della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, 11, 2015, pp. 101-103.

John Alfred Spranger (Florence 1889-Florence 1968) was an eclectic and leading figure in the Flo... more John Alfred Spranger (Florence 1889-Florence 1968) was an eclectic and leading figure in the Florentine cultural environment. He traveled extensively and left several photo-album with pictures of his trips. His participation in the 1913-1914 De Filippi Expedition to the Karakoram is worth mentioning. During this expedition he acquired an important experience in the use of the photo-camera for the documentation of research expeditions abroad. He took thousands of photographs between 1906 and 1936 and collected them in photoalbum, enriched by annotations, topographic maps and plans. On Spranger's death part of this extraordinary documentation was donated by the heirs to the then Superintendency of Antiquities of Etruria, in particular three album of travel in Egypt, nine of a travel to Mesopotamia and six dedicated to explorations and excavations in Etruria. An exhibition on the Egyptian and Etruscan photos was held in November 2015 in Cairo, at the Italian Institute of Culture.

Review to: SPENCER, C. — Shifting Horizons. Observations from a Ride through the Syrian Desert and Asia Minor. A Translation of Johannes Elith Østrup’s ‘Skiftende horizonter’. (Archive Archaeology, 1). Brepols, Turnhout, 2022, in Bibliotheca Orientalis 80, 3/4, 2023, 409-412.

Bibliotheca Orientalis, 2023

Review to LICHTENBERGER A., RAJA R. (eds.), The Archaeology and History of Jerash. 110 Years of Excavations (Jerash Papers, 1), Turnhout, Brepols, 2018, in Revue archéologique 2020/2 n° 70, pp. 439-441

Revue archéologique, 2020

Review to: BLAYLOCK, S.R. — Tille Höyük 3.2. The Iron Age: Pottery, Objects and Conclusions. (BIA 50). British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, London 2016, in Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXIV 5-6, 2017, 656-660.

Review to: VÖRÖS, G. — Machaerus II. The Hungarian Archaeological Mission in the Light of the American-Baptist and Italian-Franciscan Excavations and Surveys. Final Report 1968- 2015. Edizioni Terra Santa, Milano 2015, in Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXIV 5-6, 2017, 652-656.

Review to: MORANDI BONACOSSI, D. (ed.) — Settlement Dynamics and Human-Landscape Interaction in the Dry Steppes of Syria. (Studia Chaburensia, 4). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2014, in Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXIV 5-6, 2017, 638-642.

Review to: HORNIG, H. — Der partisch-römische Friedhof von Tell SeH Hamad/Magdala, Teil II: Die anthropologische Evidenz (BATSH 13-1). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2010, in Bibliotheca Orientalis LXX/1-2, 2013, 231-234.

Review to: KÜHNE, H. (Hrsg.) — Umwelt und Subsistenz der Assyrischen Stadt Dur-Katlimmu am unteren Îabur. (BATSH 8). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2008, in Bibliotheca Orientalis LXX/1-2, 2013, 226-230.

Sabato 18 gennaio 2020 Faenza -Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza Inaugurazione della Sezione Vicino Oriente ed Egitto antichi

Il 18 gennaio, alle 17:00 verrà presentata la nuova sezione dedicata al Vicino Oriente ed Egitto ... more Il 18 gennaio, alle 17:00 verrà presentata la nuova sezione dedicata al Vicino Oriente ed Egitto antichi del Museo. A corredo è stata pubblicata la "Guida del Vicino Oriente ed Egitto antichi" (edizione EMIL) che ha visto la partecipazione di Gabriella Manna del Museo delle Civiltà (MuCiv) di Roma per la ricostruzione degli aspetti collezionistici; Paola D' Amore già in carico al Museo d'Arte Orientale "G. Tucci" di Roma, oggi confluito nel MuCiv, per le produzioni di Mesopotamia, Anatolia e Iran; Stefano Anastasio della Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Firenze per le ceramiche palestinesi e Federica Facchetti del Museo Egizio di Torino per il nucleo dell'Antico Egitto. L'inaugurazione sarà preceduta da una breve introduzione da parte dei curatori in Sala Conferenze del MIC.

[co-authored with Massimo Mazzoni] Quando l’Himalaya era più lontano delle stelle. Immagini dalla Spedizione De Filippi 1913-1914. Siena 2008 Mostra fotografica organizzata presso l'Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Siena, febbraio-agosto 2008.

Mostra fotografica/Photographic exhibition : John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Archeologia e fotografia tra Egitto ed Etruria/Archaeology and photography between Egypt and Etruria

Mostra fotografica / Photographic exhibition : John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Archeologia e fo... more Mostra fotografica / Photographic exhibition :
John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Archeologia e fotografia tra Egitto ed Etruria/Archaeology and photography between Egypt and Etruria
Luxor Library, 17 November 2016, at 4:30 p.m.
Apertura / Opening : 17 November 2016
Chiusura /Closing : 23 November 2016
Organizzazione / Organization :
Istituto Italiano di Cultura – Centro Archeologico Italiano, Il Cairo
Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio della Toscana
In collaborazione con / In collaboration with :
The Library of Luxor
Curatori della collezione di fotografie / Curators of the photo-collection:
Stefano Anastasio & Barbara Arbeid

[co-authored with Barbara Arbeid] John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968) Archeologia e fotografia tra Egitto ed Etruria Archaeology and Photography between Egypt and Etruria (exhibition inaugurated at: Istitituto Italiano di Cultura - Il Cairo, 10 November 2015)

Brochure, Exhibition inaugurated at: Istitituto Italiano di Cultura - Il Cairo, 10 November 2015

[co-authored with M.V. Guerrini and M.C. Guidotti] "Monsummano Terme (PT). Mostra La vita nella terra tra i due fiumi. Testimonianze dell'antica Mesopotamia", in Notiziario della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana 10/2014 (Firenze 2015).

Exhibition, Monsummano terme (PT), 4 juli 2014-7 January 2015

"Firenze. Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Mostra Archeologia in Oriente. Le Collezioni vicino-orientali del Museo Archelogico Nazionale di Firenze", in Notiziario della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana 9/2013 (Firenze 2014).

Exibition. Florence, May-September 2013

Veenhof Lecture 2016: Pioneering photography in Egypt and Mesopotamia in John Alfred Spranger’s 1929-1936 photo reportages (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, 25 November 2016).

Annual Report 2016 NINO and NIT - Report on NINO activities

Archaeologist urges research into old photo archives as ‘key tool’ _ Jordan Times.pdf

The Jordan Times, 2019

Interview for "The Jordan Times" of March 11, 2019. See at: http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local... more

[co-authored with Francesco Saliola] K.A.C. Creswell's photos geopositioning

Accessible at: https://t.ly/DJpnK ― Google My Maps application, realized together with Francesc... more Accessible at: https://t.ly/DJpnK
― Google My Maps application, realized together with Francesco Saliola, related to the volume "Mesopotamia, Syria and Transjordan in the Archibald Creswell Photograph Collection of the Biblioteca Berenson" (Archaeopress Archaeology, 2023; https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803274553; see above in "Books").
It provides geolocations for the photographed monuments discussed in the volume.

Web page "L’archivio del Centro di Restauro Archeologico della Toscana (1966-2019)"

Accessible at: https://soprintendenzafirenze.cultura.gov.it/archivio-centro-restauro-archeologico... more