Kesley Research Specialist Laura Motta has been awarded an AIA-NEH Grant for Archaeological Research to support her project, "Herding, Husbandry and the City: Stable Isotope Analysis of Gabii’s Animals." The research proposal was submitted with Vicki Moses (co-PI) and developed with the help of IPCAA PhD candidate Sheira Cohen

The AIA-NEH grant will fund isotope analysis to investigate livestock diet, seasonality, and mobility patterns at the site of Gabii over a 500-year period, during which it transformed from a small village in the 8th century BCE to a bustling city in the mid-Republican period. Results will allow the researchers to track the otherwise invisible choices that producers made around animal management and pastoral mobility, and to assess the extent to which urbanization affected these choices. The data offered by isotope analysis offers a unique opportunity to reassess our understanding of Gabii as an economic center.  

Congratulations, Laura!