Orcid ID – 0000-0002-6499-226X
Email – olalla.lopez@usc.es
Ramón y Cajal fellowship

Olalla López-Costas is a physical anthropologist and archaeologist working at the area of Archaeology Dpt of History of Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, where she teach at the bachelor degree of History and Msc of Archaeology and Antiquity Sciences. She also coordinates the research group EcoPast (GI-1553). Her research focuses on human lifestyle (diet, health, pollution and activity) as resulting from complex interactions between socio-cultural systems and environment.

She has extensively worked with archaeological human remains by developing new approaches in paleopathology (infectious diseases and metabolic stress markers), anthropometrical analyses (study of human growth) and geochemical study (stable isotopes, elemental and molecular composition). Her research also include archaeometrical analyses of soil, pottery and natural archives (peatlands, lakes).

She is the main author of the foundation article of PollutedPast.

Orcid ID – 0000-0001-6355-7285
Email – noemi.silva.sanchez@usc.es

Noemí Silva-Sanchez is an archaeologist and paleoenvironmentalist currently working for PollutedPast Project. Her research combines the study of pollen and NPP, together with geochemical study, for a better understanding of the relationship between humand and environment. She has worked in peatlands from Spain, Sweden and Germany, and currently is acting as advisor for peatland ecosystem in Spanish Red Natura 2000.

Her work in PollutedPast is related to improve metal paleopollution information obtained from natural archives in areas close to the studied funerary sites. She is currently focused in mercury pollution.

Together with Olalla López-Costas and Lourdes López Merino is leading an special issue about Roman fingerprints in environment where she has published a paper about Roman and Lead pollution in Iberia.

Orcid ID – 0000-0001-9349-6540
Email – clara.veiga.rilo@usc.es
Xunta de Galicia predoctoral fellowhip.
Supervisors: Olalla López Costas

Clara Veiga-Rilo is an archaelogist and physical anthropologist who studied at U Autònoma de Barcelona and U de Granada. Her main expertise is oral pathology, specially dental wear and dental enamel defects. Her tesis is exploring the connections of oral pathology with diet and metal exposure by analysing Medieval necropoleis from Galicia (NW Spain). Clara has done research stays in Aberdeen U (Scotland), where she learn the base of pollen analyses, and in London Ontary, where she worked with stable isotopes in aminoacids. She is passionate about bird watching and photography.

Clara´s first article try to reconstruct dietary patterns in medieval Pontevedra by analysing together oral pathology and stable isotopes in bioapatite.

Orcid ID –
Email – aine.francos.golan@usc.es

Ainé Francos Golán is a lab technician who is currently managing the laboratories of PollutedPast team and EcoPast research group (GI-1553). She is a Biologist with extensive expertise in processing archaeological, anthropological and paleoenvironmental samples, and has experience in archaeological excavations. She is trained in collagen and bioapatite extraction, and preparation for ICP-MS. Ainé is currently finishing a Msc. in Biodiversity. She is also a renowned dancer and singer of traditional Galician music.

Orcid ID –
Email – elena.brea@usc.es

Elena Brea Bermejo is the project manager of the PollutedPast project and also helps to manage other projects of the EcoPast team. She is a biologist with a PhD in mussel breeding. She has also extensive experience in organizing seminars, workshops, and meetings. Elena also has experience in CV profiling and publication layout. Her main task in our team is to oversee the administrative and financial aspects of the ERC project. Her other passion is tea, to which she devotes the other half of her working day.