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Denise Cali

Associate Professor of Instruction

CONTACT information

Office: SOC 292
Email: denisecali@usf.edu

EDUCATION

Ph.D. University of Salerno (Italy), 2009

TEACHING

I teach undergraduate in Classical Archaeology as upper level surveys (HIS 3938 Greek Archaeology, HIS 3938 Greek Civilization, HIS 3938 Roman Archaeology) or with an emphasis on specific historical and cultural features (HIS 3938 Emperors and Gladiators). At graduate level, I frequently offer courses on Roman archaeology of the provincial system with a special focus on North Africa (HIS 4936/6939 Roman Archaeology in Provinces, AFH 6300 Roman North Africa). I favor a hands-on approach for the study of Greek and Roman archaeology which I advance relying on archaeological teaching collections, such as the ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵLibraries’ Farid Karam Lebanon Collection of Antiquities and the repertoires of the History Department, and dedicated web repositories of 3D models and 3D prints made available by the Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx). I am also the Program Director of the Spring Break Study Abroad Program ‘¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵAthens: History and Culture’ in the frame of which I offer courses on Ancient Mediterranean History and Archaeology and Greek Civilization. 

RESEARCH

My research focuses on urbanization and monumentalization of landscape in Africa Proconsularis (Algeria, Tunisia and Lybia) during the Roman Empire, with particular focus on the city of Leptis Magna (Lybia) where I spent the formative years of my career as member of the Italian Archaeological Mission. More recently, I have started to research iconography of power through the study of the mosaic floor repertoires from the Roman imperial villas of Sicily and Malta. I am also Senior Member of the excavation project Melita Civitas Romana, at the Roman Domus of Rabat in Malta, an international and interdisciplinary long term excavation project for the study of the most important Early Roman Imperial mansion of the Maltese Archipelago. The project comprises the application of innovative analytical technique for surveying (Ground Penetrating Radar) and documentation of the site (Terrestrial and Aerial LiDAR, Digital photogrammetry), the completion of the excavation of the Domus, the overall 3D digitization of all the excavation and of the findings for the purpose of creating a virtual excavation experience, and the systematic archaeometric analyses of the archaeological artefacts retrieved.