PI and Consortium coordinators
Prof. Michele Cammarosano
Principal Investigator, Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’
Michele Cammarosano is the PI of the TabulaRasa project. An Italian-German Hittitologist and historian of writing technologies, he has a PhD in Ancient Near Eastern Studies (2012) and was postdoctoral researcher at the universities of Berlin (FU), Würzburg, and Marburg before joining the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ in 2021. Within the project, he is responsible for research on the Ancient Near Eastern context and clay manuscripts, the overall design of experiments and testing, and the comparative analysis of writing practices. In addition, he supervises and contributes to the catalog of wax tablets, the glossary of technical terms, and the design of outreach modules.
Prof. Ester S.B. Ferreira
Coordinator, Technische Hochschule Köln – Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences
Ester S.B. Ferreira is an organic chemist specializing in organic analysis of cultural heritage. She earned her PhD from the University of Edinburgh on mass spectrometric characterization of yellow flavonoid dyes in historical textiles. Following her doctorate, she conducted postdoctoral research at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam, focusing on characterisation of organic binders. She subsequently led the analytical laboratory at the Swiss Institute for Art Research in Zürich before joining TH Köln in 2016 as a Professor of Applied Sciences in Conservation. In the TabulaRasa project, she coordinates the team at TH Köln and oversees the chemical analysis of wax tablets.
Prof. Alessandro Vergara
Coordinator, University of Naples Federico II
Alessandro Vergara is the scientific coordinator for the University of Naples Federico II in the TabulaRasa project. An Italian Physical Chemist, he has a PhD in Chemical Sciences (2001). Since 2021 he is Full Professor of Physical Chemistry. His expertise is on the diagnostics and degradation mechanism of painted surfaces and written documents. Within the project, he is responsible for research on the vibrational spectroscopy of clay materials and inks.
Senior researchers
Prof. Alberto De Bonis
University of Naples Federico II
Alberto De Bonis is a geologist specialised in mineralogical and petrographic analysis of archaeological ceramics and clay raw materials for technological and provenance research. He has also studied other archaeological and cultural heritage materials, including adobe bricks, stones, mortars, plasters, mosaics, and wall paintings. Within TabulaRasa, he explores the sourcing and technological features of the clays used as raw materials for tablet manufacturing.
Andreas Krupa Dipl.-Rest. (FH) M.A.
Technische Hochschule Köln – Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences
Andreas Krupa is a German conservator-restorer and university teacher at the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, TH Köln. Trained first as a joiner, he completed an initial traineeship in conservation-restoration before studying the conservation of furniture and wooden objects at TH Köln, where he graduated in 1991 with a thesis on identifying historical transparent coatings. In 2010–2011 he completed a second study programme, again focusing on historical transparent coatings and accessible examination methods. Since 1992 he has taught conservation-restoration students specialising in wooden artefacts at CICS. His areas of expertise include wood as a heritage material, wooden structures, historical transparent coatings, and imaging techniques in conservation-restoration. Within TabulaRasa he is responsible for the research on wood identification, study of construction technique, identification of tool marks and wear traces.
Prof. Barbara Liguori
University of Naples Federico II
Barbara Liguori is a member of the University of Napoli Federico II’s team in the TabulaRasa project. She has a PhD in Materials Engineering (2002) and since 2020 she has been Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Her expertise is on physical and mechanical characterization of traditional ceramic materials. Within the project, she is responsible for research on the macro physical and mechanical properties of clay tablets and for testing activities in controlled environment.
Prof. Vincenzo Morra
University of Naples Federico II
Vincenzo Morra is Full Professor of Petrology and Petrography at the University of Naples Federico II and a specialist in the mineralogical–petrographic characterization of geological and archaeological materials. His work integrates advanced laboratory techniques with extensive fieldwork aimed at characterizing relationships among rock types and obtaining a broad, statistically meaningful sample set for robust petrogenetic analysis. He collaborates extensively with interdisciplinary teams, applying petrographic methods to archaeology, volcanology, and cultural heritage research. Within TabulaRasa, he oversees petrographic and mineralogical analyses, including the characterization of clay fabrics.
Dr Doris Oltrogge
Technische Hochschule Köln – Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences
Doris Oltrogge earned her PhD in art history from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in 1987. As postdoctoral researcher at the Universität Göttingen she started her studies on the materiality of illuminated manuscripts and art technological sources in close interdisciplinary cooperation with chemists and conservator-restorers. Since 1993 she continued this research at the Cologne Institute of Conservations Sciences. She runs a database of medieval and early modern art technological sources, published respective editions and works on the “reconstruction” of historic techniques. Within the TabulaRasa project she is responsible for the research on technical sources, the planning and supervision of the historically accurate reconstruction of wax mixtures and their influence on writing and erasing techniques.
Dr Maria Verde
University of Naples Federico II
Maria Verde is a geologist with expertise in the study of archaeological and cultural heritage materials, with particular attention to ceramics and clay raw materials. Her research focuses on the identification and interpretation of mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical features using laboratory-based analytical methods to investigate the provenance of raw materials and reconstruct ancient manufacturing practices. She obtained her PhD in 2023 and has held the position of Technical-Scientific Officer at the University of Naples Federico II since March 2026. Within the TabulaRasa project, she investigates the composition and origin of the clays employed in tablet production, contributing to the reconstruction of their procurement and technological processes.
Postdoctoral researchers
Dr Luca De Curtis
Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’
Luca De Curtis earned a PhD in Textual Studies (Greek and Latin Palaeography) at Sapienza University of Rome, with a dissertation focusing on Greek – Coptic bilingual manuscripts. He also obtained the diploma of the Vatican School of Palaeography.
He has held postdoctoral positions at Sapienza University of Rome and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. At the latter, he collaborated on the PRIN project BYZBOOKNET, dedicated to book production, graphic dislocation, and cultural networks in Byzantium during the ninth and tenth centuries.
His research focuses on the use of the Greek script and the production of Greek manuscripts in multilingual contexts where Greek was not the sole spoken language, particularly in regions such as Palestine and Egypt after the Islamic conquest. He is especially interested in writing practices in Christian Egypt, bilingual codices and documentary texts, and the early development of Greek minuscule script. Alongside his academic activity, he has also taught Latin, Italian, History, and Geography at high school level.er ‘rewritable media’ in the Classical World.
Dr Daniele Ferraiuolo
Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’
Daniele Ferraiuolo is a medieval archaeologist specialising in the study of inscriptions and written artefacts from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. His research focuses on the material and technical dimensions of writing, exploring how production processes and spatial contexts shaped the meaning and function of inscribed texts. A former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes in Paris and researcher at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, he has directed archaeological and epigraphic projects on several Early Medieval sites and monuments. As a postdoctoral fellow of TabulaRasa, he examines the material features of Medieval and Early Modern wax tablets and the interplay between written and archaeological evidence, contributing to a cross-disciplinary understanding of erasable writing technologies.
Students
Gesa Sperlich
Technische Hochschule Köln – Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences
Gesa Sperlich is a bachelor student at the TH Köln, specialising in the conservation of wooden objects and modern materials. Prior to beginning her academic studies at the TH Köln, she participated in a one-year internship program known as the Altenburger Praxisjahr, acquiring her first practical experience. During her studies, she further expanded her skills by undertaking internships at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Industriemuseum Chemnitz, where she gained hands-on experience with a variety of objects and materials. Within TabulaRasa, she works on the investigation and reconstruction of the manufacture of wooden wax tablets under the supervision of Andreas Krupa.
Project Manager & Outreach Coordinator
Laura Noviello
Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’ – Università di Salerno
Laura Noviello is an archaeologist specialising in the study of music, soundscapes and musical instruments of classical antiquity. She is currently a PhD student in archaeological research methods and methodologies at the University of Salerno. She was a research fellow for the PRIN 2022 “MUSE. MUSical Ecosystems of Ancient Northern Italy (XIII B.C.- VII C.E.)” at the University of Padua. Her research focuses on the reconstruction of soundscapes and music in the ancient world, especially in the Mediterranean, and on the study of the musical heritage of Southern Italy. She is the project manager of TabulaRasa, supporting the PI in team coordination and organisation of project initiatives. In addition, she contributes to planning and executing outreach activities and to producing and editing content for this website.
Affiliated Scholars
Dr Georgios Boudalis
Georgios Boudalis (PhD London 2005) is Senior Book Conservator at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. He has worked in major manuscript collections, including Mount Athos and Sinai. His research focuses on the evolution of bookbinding techniques in the Eastern Mediterranean, and since 2006 he has researched, published and taught widely on the history and practice of Byzantine and Late Antique bookbinding. He curated the 2018 exhibition The Codex and Crafts in Late Antiquity at the Bard Graduate Center and authored its accompanying monograph. In 2023 he published On the Edge: Endbands in the Bookbinding Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean, the most extensive study of endbands to date. Within TabulaRasa, he advises and supports codicological research on wax tablets at multiple levels.
Prof. Marc Smith
Marc H. Smith, a French-British historian and palaeographer, graduated from the École nationale des chartes (ENC, 1988), holds a PhD from the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE, 1993), and is a former fellow of the École française de Rome. Currently professor of Latin Palaeography at both ENC and EPHE, his research specialises in the long-term evolution of writing in the West, with a particular focus on the development and circulation of teaching models (typology vs scribal variation) and on the technical aspects of handwriting. A former president of the Comité international de paléographie latine, he has taught, lectured and published across Europe, in the United States and in China (his latest book is a short history of the @ sign, La véritable histoire de l’arobase, 2023). Within the TabulaRasa project, he is responsible for the palaeographical analysis of writing in medieval wax tablets.
Advisory Board
Bernardo Ballesteros Petrella (University of Vienna; Classical philology) ☘ Georgios Boudalis (Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki; Codicology) ☘ Giuseppe Camodeca (Latin epigraphy) ☘ Michael Friedrich (University of Hamburg, CSMC; Sinology, Manuscript studies) ☘ Robert Fuchs (Archaeometry, Manuscript studies) ☘ Carmen Gütschow (Conservation and restoration of clay manuscripts) ☘ Patrick Kohl (Animal ecology and tropical biology, Honeybee studies) ☘ Gerfrid G. W. Müller (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg; Cuneiform digital palaeography) ☘ Francesca Peressotti (University of Padua; Neuroscience) ☘ Jeremiah Peterson (Cuneiform calligraphy) ☘ Marc Smith (École Nationale des Chartes & École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris; Latin palaeography) ☘ Peter Stallybrass (University of Pennsylvania; Early Modern studies) ☘ Philippa M Steele (University of Cambridge; Aegean studies) ☘ Jonathan Taylor (The British Museum; Cuneiform studies) ☘ Thomas Wozniak (University of Klagenfurt; Medieval studies)
Partner Institutions
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) / Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts (UWA), University of Hamburg
Former team members
Dr Lucia Consuelo Colella (Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’)