Full Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Carlos Tornero leads the READ project as Principal Investigator. His research focuses on zooarchaeology and biogeochemical approaches (particularly stable isotope analysis) to reconstruct past animal management, mobility, and human–environment interactions. He has worked extensively on Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts across the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. As PI of the ERC Consolidator Grant “READ,” he directs a multidisciplinary team exploring early animal domestication and agro-pastoral systems.
Mathias Brummelhuis is a PhD student focused on the applications of stable calcium isotopes to detect gestation periods in sheep. His objectives are to create a referential dataset from a group of sheep at the experimental farm of UAB and to then apply these methods to archaeological collections from the Near East during the Neolithic to better understand domestication processes in the region at the time.
Nil Ramada Muñoz is a palaeontologist and is currently part of the ERC Consolidator READ project research team as a PhD student in the Department of Prehistory (UAB), performing mechanical sampling, treatments, and modelling of trace element data. His main research goals include building a reference data set from modern ancestors of sheep, as well as applying biogeochemical analysis on fossil bioapatite tooth enamel samples using sequential series. This involves creating a corpus of trace element analysis from modern wild caprinae ancestors hosted in different institutions and archaeological caprines samples.
Rosa Soler is a biologist, graduated from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and specialised in Forensic Physical Anthropology. Her PhD focuses on the study of livestock management during the Roman period (1st century BC – 3rd century AD) in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, using isotopic analysis of Ovis, Capra and Bos bone remains, with the main objective of better understanding the zootechnical improvements made in livestock management during this time. Her research is framed in the TransScapes project from GIAP-ICAC.
Chiara Messana is a postdoctoral researcher fellow of READ in the Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Initially trained as an archaeozoologist, her research now focuses on determining human control over caprine management, investigating the historical life traits of archaeological specimens through stable isotope analyses on teeth and bones.
Roger Alcàntara Fors is a postdoctoral researcher in the READ project at the Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Trained as an archaeozoologist, his research focuses on animal domestication, mobility, and human–animal interactions through a multi-proxy approach combining biomechanics and stable isotope analysis. As part of READ, he investigates caprine management practices in Southwest Asia, with a particular focus on birth seasonality, mobility, and husbandry strategies through sequential isotopic analysis of teeth.
Özlem Sarıtaş is a zooarchaeologist whose research explores human–animal relationships during the Neolithic of Anatolia and Southwest Asia. She focuses on hunting, early herding, and domestication processes, analysing faunal remains to reconstruct subsistence strategies and social dynamics at sites such as Boncuklu Höyük, Canhasan III, and Pınarbaşı. Her work combines zooarchaeological, taphonomic, and environmental approaches to better understand the transition from foraging to farming in prehistoric communities.
Laura Vea Rodríguez
Project Manager
Project Manager, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
Laura supports the coordination and administration of the READ project and related research activities.
Collaborators
Celia Díez-Canseco is a postdoctoral researcher at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Her research integrates stable isotope analyses to explore animal management practices in past husbandry systems. She focuses on combining the analysis of dentine and enamel tissues to reveal specific life conditions of animals. Currently, her work is framed in the ANSOC project (https://ansoc.net/), where she investigates human-animal interactions during Bronze Age Europe..
Silvia Calvo Peña holds a PhD in Prehistory and works as a research support specialist in the READ laboratory at the Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Trained in the analysis of prehistoric pottery, her research focuses on reconstructing the chaîne opératoire and interpreting the technical traditions of past societies. She applies interdisciplinary methodologies to explore the cultural and technological practices embedded in ceramic production.
Nadja Pöllath is Curator at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeoanatomy (SNSB-SPM) and associate researcher at LMU Munich. She specializes in the archaeozoological study of Early Neolithic faunas from Southwest Asia focusing on human–animal interactions during the transition to farming. Her research integrates archaeozoological and morphometric methods to investigate hunting practices, animal exploitation, and the beginnings of livestock management. She is currently involved in collaborative projects on Neolithic subsistence strategies, including investigations of faunal assemblages from Göbekli Tepe and other key sites.
Stephanie Emra is a postdoctoral archaeozoologist with the Bavarian State Collections for Natural Sciences (SNSB). Her research explores Neolithic from Anatolia, examining subsistence strategies, hunting, and husbandry practices. She applies zooarchaeological methods to investigate how prehistoric communities organised animal exploitation and adapted their resource use over time. She currently directs the DFG-funded project Two River Basins, Two Stories? Orthodoxy and Innovation in animal – human relationships in the Upper Tigris and Euphrates Regions, where she leads faunal studies to reconstruct the dynamics of early subsistence economies.
Researcher at ICTA-UAB, Villanueva develops organic-geochemical and isotopic proxies—especially GDGT lipids, n-alkanes and leaf-wax δD—to reconstruct Holocene climate dynamics and human impacts in marine, lacustrine and atmospheric archives.
Associate Professor of Earth & Ocean Dynamics at the University of Barcelona and director of the LIRA ultraclean laboratory at UB, Leopoldo D. Pena pioneers radiogenic (Nd, Sr, Pb) and boron isotope techniques to trace Neogene-to-modern ocean circulation and carbonate-system changes.
Senior Research Technician at the LIRA-UB Clean Lab, Ester Garcia Solsona employs rare-earth elements and neodymium isotopes to track modern and past Mediterranean water-mass mixing and to monitor trace-metal pollution in seawater and sediments.
Isotope geochemist at LIRA-UB, Eduardo Paredes develops ultra-clean MC-ICPMS protocols for nanogram-level Nd, Sr and Pb analyses and applies them to Mediterranean thermohaline circulation and paleo-pH reconstructions from the Miocene to the present.
Technical Director and Animal-Welfare Advisor at the Servei de Granges i Camps Experimentals (SGCE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Ruiz de la Torre coordinates farm-animal research facilities and advises on welfare protocols, drawing on a long publication record on transport stress and behaviour in livestock.
Sergi Graboleda Viñas
Collaborator
Designated Veterinarian at SGCE-UAB, Graboleda Viñas oversees clinical care, biosecurity, and ethical review of experimental studies, ensuring that large- and small-animal research complies with European welfare standards.
Advisory Board
Marie Balasse is a Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), affiliated with UMR 7209 AASPE at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, France. A specialist in bioarchaeology, her expertise lies in the stable isotope analysis of animal remains, with a core focus on the domestication processes of early agropastoral societies. Her work investigates livestock management strategies—particularly the seasonality of birth, milk exploitation, and pastoral mobility—spanning Neolithic to later periods (e.g., Middle Neolithic Europe, Late Stone Age Southern Africa). She currently leads the ANR-funded Autumnlamb project (2021–2025) exploring ewe reproductive rhythms.
Lionel Gourichon is a CNRS researcher at UMR 7264 CEPAM, Université Côte d’Azur, Sophia Antipolis, France. Trained in archaeozoology, he focuses on zooarchaeological studies of animal exploitation, domestication processes, and human–animal relationships in prehistoric societies. His work spans regions from Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean to North-East Africa, and covers crucial timeframes such as the Late Glacial, Neolithic, and Iron Age, using methods like faunal analysis, seasonality, herd management, and bioarchaeological modelling. He contributes to multiple international excavation and research projects, and undertakes teaching in zooarchaeology.
Melinda A. Zeder is Senior Scientist Emerita in the Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology, Department of Anthropology, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. She investigates the origins of food production and the domestication of animals in early agro-pastoral societies across South West Asia from the Epipalaeolithic to the Bronze Age. Integrating zooarchaeological, genetic, and isotopic evidence, her work has refined demographic and morphometric markers of herd management. Zeder is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008) and the US National Academy of Sciences (2012).
Joris Peters is Professor of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Studies, and the History of Veterinary Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), where he also directs the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeoanatomy. He investigates human–animal–environment relationships across Europe, Western Asia, and Africa from prehistoric to early historic times, focusing on domestication, livestock-breeding practices, and comparative osteology through macroscopic, molecular, and ancient-DNA analyses. Peters co-edits the series Documenta Archaeobiologiae and has led landmark studies on early sheep and chicken domestication.