Pamela Fragnoli
Mag. Dr.
Pamela Fragnoli
Mag. Dr.
- Coordination | Ceramic Lab
- Archaeological Sciences – Ceramic Lab
- +43 1 51581-4105
- pamela.fragnoli(at)oeaw.ac.at
- Dominikanerbastei 16 | 1010 Vienna
Biographical sketch
Studied Heritage Science and Archaeological Sciences at the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, specializing in petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical methods for investigating the organization of ceramic production. Earned a PhD at the University of Ferrara, focusing on reconstructing inter-island ceramic exchange networks through microchemical analyses of mineral inclusions. Held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Naples and Heidelberg, as well as at Freie Universität Berlin. Participated in various international projects in the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. Supervised numerous academic works in the field of clay, mortar, stone, ceramic, and pigment analysis. Since 2017, lecturer at the University of Vienna. 2017–2020: Head of the Research Group »Material Analysis« and the Unit »Archaeometry«. 2021–2023: Head of the Archaeometry Division in the Research Group »Object Itineraries«. Since 2022 team leader within the network Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) and core member of the OeAI Unit Heritage Sciences. Since 2024 coordinator of the Ceramic Lab.
Research Projects
- »Arabia: Resilient artisanship in arid environments«
- »Upper Mesopotamia: Ceramic production and craft interactions in early state societies«
- Rome: Ceramic production at the dawn of urbanization
- »Late Bronze Age Pyla: A pan-Mediterranean hub facing collapse«
- »Bronze Age Roca Vecchia: Consumption and exchanges amid Mediterranean conflicts«
- »Apollonia Pontica: Oversea trades between the Black Sea and Ionian Greece«
- »Peloponnese and Metapontion: Earthen Crafts in Ritual, Colonial, and Urban Contexts«
- »Ephesos: Resource management and production organization over the longue durée«
Research interests
- Diachronic study of craft organisation in relation to cultural, economic and political changes (e.g. centralisation, decentralisation, urbanisation, industrialisation, migration and colonisation processes).
- Reconstructing micro- and macro-exchange networks, taking into account raw materials, objects of different meaning and function as well as ideas, models and technological knowledge
- Raw material procurement and subsistence economy in ancient landscapes
- Cross-craft interactions and related phenomena of technology transfer, innovation and skeuomorphism
- Application of interdisciplinary approaches, multi-analytical methods and diverse statistical procedures to the study of ancient ceramic production
Publications
- Earthen stories. Cross-craft strategies in raw material procurement and production at the tell site of Arslantepe (Türkiye) during the 4th millennium BCE. / Fragnoli, Pamea; Cereda, Susanna; Liberotti, Giovanna.
In: Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Report, Vol. 54, 27.02.2024, p. 1-23. - Petrographic and geochemical analyses of Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery from Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey): insights into the local organization of the production and extra‑regional networks of exchange. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Manuelli, Federico.
In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Vol. 15(8), 30.06.2023, p. 112-136. - Looking for Ephesian workshops: an integrated petrographic, geochemical, and chrono-typological approach to Late Hellenistic Ephesos lamps. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Ugarković, Marina; Sterba, Johannes H. et al.
In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Vol. 14 (19), 30.12.2021, p. 1-23. - P-XRF analysis of multi-period Impasto and Cooking Pot wares from the excavations at Stromboli-San Vincenzo, Aeolian Islands, Italy. / Cannavò, Valentina; Photos-Jones, Effie; Levi, Sara Tiziana et al.
In: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, Vol. Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, 17.10.2017, p. 326-333. - Petrographic and geochemical investigations on the pottery production from Arslantepe-Malatya (Eastern Anatolia) from 4th to 2nd millennium BCE: technological continuity, innovation and cultural change. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Palmieri, Alberto Maria.
In: Archaeometry, Vol. 59/4, 05.01.2017, p. 612–641.
- The Sanctuary of Artemis Hemera at Lousoi in the Geometric and Archaic Periods: A Contextual and Interdisciplinary Approach. / Kerschner, Michael; Voß, Nora-Miriam; Fragnoli, Pamela.
Approaching Ancient Greek Coastal and Inland Poleis in the Northern Peloponnese: New Research in the Microregions of Aigeira, Lousoi and Sikyon. ed. / Christoph Baier; Walter Gauß. Wien: Verlag der OeAW, 2025. p. 243-272 (Arete; Vol. 4). - Uno strumento classificatorio per l’osservazione macroscopica degli impasti di Punta di Zambrone (VV): la Scheda Tecnologica di manufatto Ceramico. / Capriglione, Cristina; Fragnoli, Pamela.
Centri Fortificati della Calabria dalla protostoria all’età ellenistica. Atti del convegno (Napoli 2014). ed. / Luigi Cicala; Marco Pacciarelli. 2017. p. 463-465. - Society and Visual Image Transmission. The Painted Pottery During the Early Bronze Age at Arslantepe and in the Malatya-Elazığ Area. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Mallegni, Chiara; Kaelin, Oskar (Editor of Series) et al.
9th ICAANE, Basel 2014. 2016. (Proceedings of the 9th ICAANE, Basel 2014, Vol. 1). - La ceramica della necropoli di Madonna del Piano (CT): confronto fra classi ceramiche mediante analisi tecnologica e archeometrica. / Albanese, Rosa Maria; Carpenito, Giulio; Fragnoli, Pamela et al.
XLI Riunione Scientifica dell´Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Dai Ciclopi agli Ecisti società e territorio nella Sicilia preistorica e protostorica, San Cipirello (PA) 16-19.11.2006. 2013. - Untersuchungen zum inter- und extrainsularen Umlauf der bronzezeitlicher Keramik. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Levi, Sara Tiziana; Brunelli, Daniele et al.
Dritter und vierter internationaler Workshop für junge Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler in Hamburg am 13. Februar 2010 und 5. Februar 2011. 2012. - Eoliano non eoliano? Questo è il problema. Il caso delle ceramiche di San Vincenzo-Stromboli (ME). / Ferranti, Francesca; Cannavò, Valentina; Corti, Silvia et al.
Atti del VII Congresso Nazionale di Archeometria. 2012. (Atti A.I.Ar 2012, VII Congresso Nazionale di Archeometria (Modena 22-24.2.2012)).
- Interweaving the threads: Changes and continuity in the textile production at Arslantepe (SE Anatolia) at the turn of the first millennium BCE. / Manuelli, Federico; Laurito, Romina; Fragnoli, Pamela.
Ancient Western Asia Beyond the Paradigmof Collapse and Regeneration (12000–900 BCE): Proceedings of the NYU-PSL International Colloquium, Paris Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, April 16–17, 2019. ed. / Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault; Ilaria Calini; Robert Hawley; Lorenzo d'Alfonso. 2024. p. 153-182. - Keramik im Brennpunkt naturwissenschaftlicher Analysen. / Eder, Birgitta; Fragnoli, Pamela; Gauß, Walter et al.
Ein anderes Griechenland. 125 Jahre Forschungen des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts in Athen zum antiken Griechenland / Μια άλλη Ελλάδα. 125 χρόνια έρευνας του Αυστριακού Αρχαιολογικού Ινστιτούτου Αθηνών για την Αρχαία Ελλάδα. Athen: Kapon, 2023. p. 442-447. - A walk to the Narrenturm in Vienna. Remarks on the Heritagization of Psychiatric Institutions. / D'Anna, Maria Bianca; Fragnoli, Pamela.
"What does this have to do with archaeology?": Essays on the Occasion of the 65th Birthday of Reinhard Bernbeck. ed. / Aydin Abar; Mette Bangsborg Thuesen; Georg Cyrus; Vera Egbers; Jana Eger; Ilia Heit; Benjamin Irvine; Christine Kainert; Johannes Köhler; Moslem Mishmastnehi; Birgül Öğüt; Sarvenaz Parsa; Giulia Russo; Julia Schönicke; Stefan Schreiber; Francelin Tourtet; Lisa Wolf-Heger; Svend Hansen; Regina Uhl. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2023. p. 295-306. - Archaeometric and Technological Investigations of the Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery from Arslantepe (Malatya, Eastern Türkiye). / Fragnoli, Pamela; Rodler, Alexandra S.
Late Bronze Age Painted Pottery Traditions at the Margins of the Hittite State: Papers Presented at a Workshop Held at the 11th ICAANE (München 4 April 2018) and Additional Contributions. ed. / Federico Manuelli; Dirk Paul Mielke. Archaeopress, 2022. p. 231-247. - The Impasto Pottery of Punta di Zambrone (Vibo Valentia, Calabria): Production, Use, Function and Exchanges within the South-Italian Recent Bronze Age Scenario. / Fragnoli, Pamela.
Punta di Zambrone I. 1200 BCE – a Time of Breakdown, a Time of Progress in Southern Italy and Greece. ed. / Reinhard Jung. Verlag der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2021. p. 303-320 (Oriental and European Archaeology; Vol. 17). - Production Regions and Technology of Pottery at Punta di Zambrone: NAA and Petrography in a Combined Approach. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Mommsen, Hans; Jung, Reinhard et al.
Punta di Zambrone I. 1200 BCE – a Time of Breakdown, a Time of Progress in Southern Italy and Greece. Wien: Verlag der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2021. p. 321–343 (Oriental and European Archaeology). - IX.2 (Re)defining ceramic wares and spheres of production in Arslantepe´s period VII. The contribution of petrographic and geochemical analyses. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Balossi Restelli, F. (Editor).
Arslantepe Late Chalcolithic 3-4. Growth in Complexity in the 4th millennium Upper Euphrates Valley. 2019. p. 357-367 (Arslantepe series, Volume 1). - IX.3 Cross-craft strategies in raw material procurement: ceramics, mud bricks and other clay-based artefacts. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Liberotti, Giovanna; Balossi Restelli, F. (Editor).
Arslantepe Late Chalcolithic 3-4. Growth in Complexity in the 4th millennium Upper Euphrates Valley. 2019. p. 367–380 (Arslantepe series, Volume 1). - IX.1 The introduction of the potter wheel in Arslantepe period VII: integrated observations on a micro-, meso- and macroscale level. / Fragnoli, Pamela.
Arslantepe - Period VII: The Development of a Cermonial/Political Centre in the First Half of the Fourth Millennium BC (Late Chalcolithic 3-4). ed. / Francesca Balossi Restelli. Rom: Arbor Sapientiae, 2019. p. 345-357 (Arslantepe; Vol. 2). - Appendice III. Indagine archeometrica della ceramica della necropoli di Madonna del Piano (CT): tecnologie e classi ceramiche a confronto. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Levi, Sara Tiziana.
Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, Atti della Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Rom, 2018. p. 685–699 (Serie IX, Volume XXV-XXVI). - Archaeometric Studies on Plain Ware Composition and Manufacturing Techniques. / Jacobs, Arianne; Borgers, Barbara; Makarona, Christina et al.
Alassa. Excavations at the Late Bronze Age Sites of Pano Mantilaris and Paliotaverna 1984–2000. ed. / Sophocles Hadjisavvas. Nikosia, 2017. p. 539–558. - Le analisi archeometriche delle ceramiche. / Levi, Sara Tiziana; Fragnoli, Pamela; Martinelli, Maria Clara (Editor).
Archeologia delle isole Eolie, il villaggio dell’età del Bronzo Medio di Portella a Salina, Ricerche 2006 e 2008. Omaggio a Luigi Bernabò Brea nel centenario della sua nascita. Milano: Rebus Edizioni, 2011. - Petrographic analysis of pottery from Pyla-Kokkinokremos: preliminary report. / Fragnoli, Pamela; Levi, Sara Tiziana; Karageorghis, Vassos (Editor) et al.
On cooking pots, drinking cups, loom weights and ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyprus and neighbouring regions, An International Archaeological Symposium held in Nicosia, November 6th-7th 2010. Nicosia: Leventis Foundation, 2011.