Mazzucato, Camilla

Stanford University

Research Topic: Unravelling the Knot: A Socio-Material Approach to the Study of Neolithic Megasites

Ms. Mazzucato is a Phd Candidate in Stanford University. She completed MA in Archaeology at Bologna University and MSc in GIS and Spatial Analysis at UCL. Her research investigates early patterns of settled life and social differentiation through the study of Neolithic megasites in Anatolia and the Levant. By focusing on these large Late Neolithic population centers, her project aims to rethink the nature of the networks of social engagement that emerge in the early Holocene within early agriculture communities. It intends to engage with the recognition of horizontal social differences and bonds, as well as to identify the dense variety of nested and/or cross-cutting networks of social relations that characterize the way these communities functioned in the absence of clear evidence for social stratification. As a methodological tool, the research will make use of formal socio-material network methods at an intra-site level applied to the Çatalhöyük dataset through diachronic and synchronic analyses. Mazzucato has been part of the Çatalhöyük Research team since 2009 as the main GIS specialist. She additionally spent two years (2011–2012) working as a researcher at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology of Oxford University.