Investigadora Integrada

My research focuses on early modern and contemporary global contacts of people and objects. I have been instrumental in the development of new methods of identification of Portuguese material culture used around the world by different people. On the more theoretical level, I deal with frameworks concerning how people and objects interact in the formation of identities, and how can they reflect global contacts. My underlying philosophy is that science requires interdisciplinary teams covering not only humanities but also science and technology. Although I have worked and published sites and collections from the Iron Age through to the 20th century, my major area of research is medieval, post-medieval, and contemporary archaeology (8th-20th centuries). This vast chronology has allowed me to observe and develop frameworks and methodologies for interpreting long-term structural changes in social and cultural structures. I have published more than 200 papers both in high impact journals as well as in local Portuguese journals destined to the general public. I was awarded the first PhD grant in Post-Medieval Archaeology in Portugal by FCT (2006), one Fulbright scholarship (2011), and two FCT postdoctoral fellowships (2012-2015 and 2016-2019). I was the first female PhD in Historical Archaeology in the country and the first dealing with the subject of globalization in archaeology.