Her research focuses on the first settlements in Europe, studying the technical skills and lifestyles of the populations that preceded the appearance of Homo sapiens in Europe. In particular, she directed the archaeological excavations at the Valle Giumentina site in Abruzzo, Italy, which included 13 levels of occupation between 600,000 and 450,000 years ago. She coordinates multi-disciplinary studies that also focus on reconstructing past climates and environments.
"Inminimismaxima", chronicle of an excavation (conference-film 52')
"Nature is at its greatest in the smallest details" says Pliny the Elder in his Natural History.Prehistorians have reconstructed the lifestyles of our ancestors based on minute clues found methodically in the earth.This hybrid film, both artistic and archaeological, invites us to think about the Humanity of yesterday by looking at the Humanity of today, or maybe it's the other way round, through what connects us all: our gestures, our traditions, our territories, our resilience, our technical objects, be they bifaces or smartphones. The archaeologist and the film-maker are faced here with the absence of written or figurative documents. Their job, each of them, is to provide the public with real images of the prehistory of Valle Giumentina. By moving back and forth between the time that passes on the excavation site and the long time that is spent exploring, the ethnographic view is formed, the memory is awakened and the historical discourse is written. A film by Pierre Gaignard and Laura Haby, CNRS-CEPAM prod. 2018.