On Friday, June 27, 2025, the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB) invites you to the 43rd ArchaeoSciences seminar. This edition’s guest speaker is Dr. Enrico Greco from the University of South Florida (Tampa, Florida, USA), who will present a lecture titled “Ancient Alchemies: Analytical Identification of Psychotropic Substances in Archaeology”.
The seminar will take place from10:00 to 13:00 (EET), at the Administrative Building within the “Dimitrie Brândză” Botanical Garden of the University of Bucharest (Șoseaua Cotroceni 32, Bucharest).
About the event
The field of biomolecular archaeology has witnessed a significant evolution in recent decades, enabling the detection of organic residues preserved in ancient artifacts. The presentation given by Dr. Enrico Greco explores the analytical identification of psychoactive substances in archaeological contexts, with a particular focus on ritual and medicinal practices. Through a multidisciplinary approach combining lipidomics, proteomics, and targeted small-molecule analysis, the presentation investigates the presence of psychotropic alkaloids and their biomarkers in ceramic vessels from the Mediterranean basin, including case studies from Sicily, Apulia, Cyprus, and Egypt, as the earliest known evidence of pure grape wine in European prehistory (4100–3800 BCE) and the identification of opium alkaloids and other psychoactive compounds in ritual vessels dated to the Ptolemaic period and Iron Age Italy. The integration of advanced mass spectrometry techniques (e.g., LC-MS/MS, Orbitrap) with strict contamination control protocols provides a robust methodological framework for identifying ancient substances. This research not only contributes to our understanding of past dietary and ritual behaviors but also opens new perspectives on the cultural role of psychoactive plants in ancient societies.
Dr. Enrico Greco is a Research Associate at the University of South Florida. He graduated Magna cum Laude in Technologies for Conservation of Cultural Heritage (BSc) and in Chemistry of Materials (Msc) at the University of Catania. From 2014 to 2017, he was simultaneously a PhD student in Chemical Sciences at the University of Catania, and a Visiting PhD at Aix-Marseille and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Italy, Peking University in China, and University of South Florida, USA. In December 2017, he was awarded cum laude an International PhD in Chemical Sciences at the University of Catania. He has since been a post-doctorate fellow at the University of South Florida and a post-doctoral researcher at Peking University, Aix-Marseille University and Fudan University. Over the years, he has been invited speaker in numerous universities in Italy, China, Australia, Egypt and the USA.
The ArchaeoSciences Seminars are an original initiative of the ArchaeoSciences Platform (ASp) at ICUB, which aims to provide an open space for professionals in archaeological sciences worldwide to share knowledge and engage with the latest methodological and theoretical advances in the study of the past. They also offer Romanian students a valuable opportunity to discover the interdisciplinary dimensions of archaeology and archaeosciences.
SECŢIUNE ACCESIBILIZATĂ PENTRU PERSOANELE CU DIZABILITĂŢI DE VEDERE
Postări asemănătoare:
ICUB invites you to the lecture “Feeding the Past: Unraveling the Diets of Ancient Caucasian Societies”, delivered by Dr. Estelle Herrscher from Aix-Marseille Université, France
ICUB invites you to the lecture „EPMA and its potential applications in archaeochemistry”, delivered by Dr. Gelu Costin from Rice University, Houston, Texas
