Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Global Fellowship 2020

The project CRAFT, Cartonnage Regionalism in the Ateliers of the Fayum Territory, has been funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Global Fellowships programme with a final mark of 96.60/100.

2020 was a very competitive year with a record number of applications: 11,573, 17% increase compared to 2019.

The 3-year project is supported by the CNR ISPC. The PI and researcher Carlo Rindi Nuzzolo will spend a year at the CNR ISPC in Catania and two years at UC Berkeley, with additional research periods in several international museums.

He is an Egyptologist with a PhD from Monash University, Melbourne. He was recently Lead Curator at the British Museum with a Cultural Heritage project against illicit trafficking of antiquities, in collaboration with experts in cultural heritage, museums and law enforcement agencies. He is a member of the Dakhleh Oasis Project which carries out archaeological fieldwork in the Western Egyptian Desert.

CRAFT aims to investigate Graeco-Roman cartonnage from Egypt (e.g. mummy masks, foot-cases) in international museums. With a multidisciplinary approach including 3D reconstructions and archaeometric investigations it will improve our understanding of these Ancient Egyptian artefacts and the socio-cultural context of their production. The study of the materials and colors used will make it possible to identify artisan production centers and will provide useful information to identify specific local variants. A greater knowledge of regional styles will provide fundamental data for re-tracing stolen objects on the art market: among its objectives, the project aims to contribute to the fight against the illicit trafficking of antiquities, a global problem that has seen a dramatic growth in recent years on an international scale.

CRAFT will be carried out under the supervision of Francesco Paolo Romano, Unit leader of the CNR ISPC in Catania, and Rita Lucarelli, Associate Professor of Egyptology at UC Berkeley.