Dr. Dimitra Michael

BIOSOCIOPOLIS

I have worked extensively on human skeletal assemblages from Greece and I have experience on both singe and multiple burials. I have extensive experience on recording and analyzing stress, pathological and activity indicators on human skeletal remains. I have been trained on morphological biodistance analysis (non-metric traits) to infer phenetic distances/affinities between groups of people to offer insights on mobility and networking.

I have also a background on stable isotope analyses, particularly for the purpose of reconstructing dietary habits of past populations.

I am currently a Marie-Sklodowska Curie post-doctoral fellow at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece. My project "BIOSOCIOPOLIS'' aims to develop a new understanding of how multiple socio-political transitions, representing different forms of urbanism, may impact on lifeways and deathways on a diachronic scale. The project will follow an integrated methodology combining macroscopic, theoretical and geo-chemical approaches. During my six-month secondment training at the BB-LAB (VUB), I will have the opportunity to expand my isotopic skills on inhumed and cremated human remains, for the purpose of studying human mobility.

Background

10/11/2022-2/10/2024: Marie Sklodowksa Curie post-doctoral researcher, in the REA funded project “BIOSOCIOPOLIS”, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), School of History and Archaeology, Thessaloniki, Greece
3/9/2018-3/9/2022: Research Scientist, in the ERC funded project “The Fall of 1200 BC”, University College Dublin (UCD), School of Archaeology, Dublin, Ireland
1/4/2016-10/1/2017: Post-doctoral Research Associate, project’s subject “Exploring palaeodiet and palaeoclimatic conditions using isotopic techniques, on skeletal human remains from various sites of Greece” Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology/ Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Unit, National Center for Scientific Research, “Demokritos”, Greece
01/06/2015- 31/12/2015: Research member of the project “Isotopic geochemical studies”. Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology/ Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Unit, National Center for Scientific Research, “Demokritos”, Greece
PhD: 2015, Thesis title: “Exploring activity and dietary patterns in Greek populations, from the Geometric Period until modern times”, School of Science/Department of Biology (Laboratory of Physical Anthropology), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Key Research Interests

Social bioarchaeology; Socio-political bioarchaeology
Historical Bioarchaeology
Palaeopathology
Biodistance non-metric analysis
Palaeodiet and stable isotopes
Human cremations

Main Publications

E. Dotsika, M. Tassi, P. Karalis, S. Gougoura, E. F. Kranioti, D.E. Michael, M. Kazou, A.E. Poutouki, G. Diamantopoulos (2022). Reconstruction of Greek Population diet from Neolithic period to modern times. American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
E. Dotsika, M. Tassi, P. Karalis, A. Chrysostomou, D.E. Michael, A.E Poutouki, K. Theodorakopoulou, G. Diamantopoulos (2022). Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Analysis for Diet, Climate and Mobility Reconstruction in Agras (Early Iron Age) and Edessa (Roman Age), Northern Greece. Applied Sciences.
D.E. Michael, L. Fibiger, C, Ziota, L. Gkelou and B. Molloy (2021) “Exploring the efficacy of comparative bioarchaeological approaches in providing answers on marginality and networking: The example of Late Bronze Age Achlada in Florina, Northern Greece”, Bioarchaeology International.
V. Tsitsaroli, and D.E. Michael (2021) “The bioarchaeology of health and status in Roman Greece: state of knowledge and future directions”, In Lagia A. and Voutsaki S. (Eds) Bioarcheological perspectives on inequality and social differentiation from the ancient Greek world, University Press of Florida series, Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives Clark Spencer Larsen, Editor
D.E. Michael and S.K. Manolis. (2020) “Using spinal activity-related osseous change, in order to explore patterns of occupational stress in a Greek Contemporary Skeletal Collection”, HOMO- Journal of Comparative Human Biology.
E. Dotsika, D.E. Michael, E. Iliadis, G. Diamantopoulos, P. Karalis (2018) “Isotopic Reconstruction of diet in medieval Thebes (Greece), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Voll 22:482-49.
E. Dotsika and D.E. Michael (2018) “Using stable isotope technique in order to assess the dietary habits of a Roman population in Greece”, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol 22: 470-481
D. E Michael, E. Iliadis and S.K. Manolis. (2017b) “Using dental and activity indicators in order to explore possible sex differences in an adult rural medieval population from Thebes (Greece)”, Anthropological Review Vol. 80(4), 427–447
D. E Michael, C. Eliopoulos and S.K. Manolis (2017a). “Exploring sex differences in diets and activity patterns through dental and skeletal studies in populations from ancient Corinth, Greece ”, HOMO- Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 68:378-392
D. E Michael and S. K. Manolis, (2014). “ Using dental caries as a nutritional indicator, in order to explore potential dietary differences between sexes in an ancient Greek population”, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 14, No 2, pp. 237-248

dimitramichail13@gmail.com