Research Interest:

Archaeology of urbanization in Eurasia between the Bronze and Iron ages, Indus Civilization (Pakistan and India), Prehistory and Protohistory of the Iranian Plateau, Ceramic studies, Physical anthropology, Evolution of Technology, Craft Specialization, Ancient Trade, Cognitive archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Experimental Archaeology

Education:

  • Ph.D.: Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples, 1987 with a thesis on the geoarchaeological formation processes of the craft activity areas detected by an Italian-German project on the surface of Mohenjo-Daro (Pakistan)
  • M.A. University of Padua, Oriental Archaeology, 1981

 

Selected Publications:

  • Eskandari N. & M. Vidale (2022) Drilling stone vessels in third-millennium BC Iran: new evidence from Hajjiabad-Varamin, Jiroft (Kerman Province). Antiquity 2022 96 (389): 1142–1161.
  • Vidale M. (2022) Egalitarism, hierarchy, heterarchy and homoarchy: what evidence for the Indus Valley Civilization? In G. Miniaci & J.C. Moreno (ed.) From House Societies to State. Early Political Organization from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Oxbow. Books, Oxford: 56-79.
  • Vidale M. (2017) Treasures from the Oxus, the art and civilization of Central Asia. I. B. Tauris.
  • Vidale M. & A. Lazzari (2016) (eds.) Lapis Lazuli Bead Making at Shahr-i Sokhta. ISMEO, SOR, n.s., 18, Padova-Roma.
  • Coppa A., L. Bondioli, A. Cucina, D. W. Frayer, C. Jarrige, J.-F. Jarrige, G. Quivron, M. Rossi, M. Vidale & R. Macchiarelli (2006) Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry. Nature 440, 6 April 2006.
  • Vidale M. (2000) The archaeology of Indus crafts. Indus Craftpeople, and why we study them. Rome, IsIAO Reports and Memoirs.

 

Work Experience:

  • 2012 to present: Associate Professor, Methodology of Archaeological Research & Bronze Age Archaeology of Central Asia, Iran and the Indus Valley, Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Padua
  • 1987-2012:  Archaeologist, Director, Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Central Institute for Conservation, Rome, Italy
  • 1987- 1988: Fellow in Material Analysis at the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC, USA)

 

Honors and Awards:

  • 11th International Mediterranean Archaeological Tourism Exchange, Paestum (Italy), Lifetime Achievement Award, November 15, 2008.
  • Islamic Republic of Iran, Winner of the Presidential Award at the 36th National Best Book competition, for the volume Lapis lazuli working at Shahr-i Sokhta (co-edited with Alessandra Lazzari), Tehran, Iran, January 2019.
  • Archaeological Communication Film Festival, Licodia Eubea, Catania, Italy. “Antonino Di Vita” Lifetime Achievement Award for “Frontier Archaeologist,” October 20, 2019.