Marina Chorro Giner

I started my BSc in Archaeology at the University of Barcelona in 2011, back then I was very interested the ancient Mediterranean and cultural contacts within it. However, through my BSc I discovered my passion for medieval history, especially the Islamic period in Spain as well as heritage management. My undergraduate thesis was a mixture of these two interests and was an overview of the heritage management of the Islamic remains of the city of Elche (Alicante). While halfway through my fist BSc, I decided to start my BA in History at the same time in 2013 to have a better understanding of the historical background surrounding the archaeological methods I was studying for the different time periods. While doing so, the time period in which I started to focus shifted to the post-medieval and early modern period, especially the political and religious conflicts happening in Italy and Spain and my second undergraduate thesis focused on of the Borgia family, and specifically, the pope Alexander VI and his relations with the Spanish Monarchy and with France.

During my BSc Archaeology I got fieldwork experience in two research digs, one in an Iberian to Medieval site (L’Esquerda in Roda de Ter, Catalonia) and one in a Roman villa (Torre Llauder in Matarò, Catalonia). I also got lab experience with pot, bone and lithics and that is when I discovered my passion for bones, which is what ultimately led me to Sheffield in 2018, when I started my part-time MSc in Osteoarchaeology. At first I was very torn between human and animals remains, but not very far into my MSc I started shifting more towards zooarchaeology which was the path I ultimately chose, since it brought together both my passions for archaeology and biology. My dissertation focused on terrestrial tortoise exploitation in Iberia and Italy from prehistory to post-medieval times.

After submitting my dissertation in times of COVID-19, when I was forced to go back to Spain, I finally managed to go back to the UK, this time as a Field Archaeologist for Cotswold Archaeology in August 2021, after working as a zooarchaeologist for a month in the roman site of Pollentia in Mallorca (Spain). In January 2022, I started working full-time as a Zooarchaeologist for Archaeology.biz, a position that turned into part-time when I was awarded WRoCAH funding for my PhD that I started in September under the supervision of Umberto Albarella and Lenny Salvagno. My doctoral project is centred on terrestrial tortoises and fresh-water turtles in the Mediterranean. Through this research, I hope to develop a method using biometry for an easier identification of terrestrial tortoises and fresh-water turtles to better understand the relationship between these animals and humans in the past.