Alex Bertacchi

Graduate Student

Division:

Biological

Adviser(s):

Jessica C. Thompson

Degree(s):

M.Sc. - Archaeological Sciences - University of Tübingen, Germany; BA - Cultural Heritage Studies - University of Pisa, Italy

alex.bertacchi@yale.edu

I am interested in the subsistence behaviors and environmental contexts of Stone Age hunter-gatherers. My approach combines zooarchaeology with stable isotope analysis to answer questions related to diet, mobility, territoriality and resource stress. My previous field and lab work focused on multiple contexts spanning the Middle and Late Pleistocene in Italy, Germany, South Africa and Armenia. My PhD research investigates the behavioral ecology of Stone Age foragers in Malawi, and how that relates to climate change, population movements across Africa, and the emergence of fully modern sociality.

Publications:

In press – Thompson, J.C., Bertacchi, A., Keller, H., Hallett, E.Y., & Pobiner, B. The Zooarchaeology of Pleistocene Africa. In Beyin, A., Wrigth, D.K., Wilkins, J., Bouzouggar, A., Olszewski, D.I. (Eds.), Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin behavior, geography, and chronology. Springer.

2022 - Lipson, M., Sawchuk, E.A., Thompson, J.C., Oppenheimer, J., Tryon, C.A., Ranhorn, K.L., de Luna, K.M., Sirak, K.A., Olalde, I., Ambrose, S.H., Arthur, J.W., Arthur, K.J.W., Ayodo, G., Bertacchi, A., Cerezo-Román, J.I., Culleton, B.J., Curtis, M.C., Davis, J., Gidna, O., Hanson, A., Kaliba, P., Katongo, M., Kwekason, A., Laird, M.F., Lewis, J., Mabulla, A.Z.P., Mapemba, F., Morris, A., Mudenda, G., Mwafulirwa, R., Mwangomba, D., Ndiema, E., Ogola, C., Schilt, F., Willoughby, P., Wright, D.K., Zipkin, A., Pinhasi, R., Kennett, D.J., Manthi, F.K., Rohland, N., Patterson, N., Reich, D., & Prendergast, M.E. Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers. Nature 603 (7900), 290-296. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04430-9

2021 – Bertacchi, A., Starkovich, B.M., Conard, N.J. The zooarchaeology of Sirgenstein Cave, a Middle and Upper Paleolithic site in the Swabian Jura, SW Germany. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 4, 7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-021-00075-8

2021 – Bertacchi, A., Gasparyan, B., Gruwier, B., Rivals, F., & Kandel, A. W. Upper Paleolithic animal exploitation in the Armenian Highlands: The zooarchaeology of Aghitu-3 Cave. Quaternary International, 587–588: 400-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.04.029

Links:

Academia.edu

Google Scholar

ORCID