Olalla López Costas at the DEC Keynote Series

Olalla López Costas (University of Santiago de Compostela), Archaeology researcher with a PhD in Physical and Forensic Anthropology, is the next guest at the Axes of Interdisciplinary Knowledge – Keynote Series of the Doctorate in Contemporary Studies (DEC), with a communication entitled "Un pasado tóxico: skeletos, metales y epidemias".

This lecture will be held in Spanish and will also be streamed via Zoom and the CEIS20 Youtube channel.

Abstract
Through different case studies from Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Finland, this talk is going through a different story. In it, skeletons are the protagonists, as through their analysis we observe how technological advances have had an impact on our health. We will talk about metal pollution in the Roman Empire, the importance of women's work in the Viking world, but also how new trade routes have changed nutrition or caused epidemics.

Biography
Olalla López Costas is an Archaeology researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and coordinator of the Bioarchaeology Unit of CRETUS (USC-EcoPast). With a degree in Biology, she holds a PhD in Physical and Forensic Anthropology, and is a researcher and collaborating lecturer at the University of Stockholm. Her main research field is the reconstruction of lifestyle and the relationship between human beings and the environment, through the study of human remains and necropolis materials. She has also worked on palaeoenvironmental reconstruction through the analysis of peat bogs and lake sediments. She is the principal investigator of the ERC Consolidator Grant project "PollutedPast: Environmental metal pollution revealed in archaeological human remains". She is a strong advocate of breaking down barriers between disciplines.