Maria Follieri (1932-2012) was a pioneering Italian archaeobotanist and held the Chair of Palaeobotany at

La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

Early life

Follieri was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1932. She studied Natural Sciences at the

University La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

, graduating in 1954.

Career

Early work included studies of fossil leaves from a site near Rome. She lectured at La Sapienza in palaeobotany from 1965 onwards, being appointed Associate Professor in 1980. In 1986, she was promoted to professor of the first level of Botany at the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, before being appointed to the Chair of Palaeobotany in 1991. Follieri was one of the co-founders of the

International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany The International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) is an informal, international collective of archaeobotanists, with the main goal of establishing and maintaining international communication and collaboration by a series of conferences. T ...

in 1966, alongside Maria Hopf and Jane Renfrew. Her research spanned multiple themes, include the study of palaeoeclimate, palaeoethnobotany, and palaeovegetation, and chronologically, from the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

period to the Classical world. She studied the archaeobotanical contents of the sewer of the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

. Follieri was noted as the leading archaeobotanist in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the 1970s. She retired in 2004. A conference in memory of Follieri was held at La Sapienza in 2013. The 18th conference of the International Workgroup for Palaeoethnobotany is dedicated to the memory of Follieri.

Selected publications

*Follieri, M. 1967. Vegetational features of some Mindel-Riss and Riss-Würn deposits in Italy and remaining Europe. ''Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology'' 2: 261-266. *Follieri, M. 1974. Wood technology of the Bronze age in Northern Italy. ''Annali di Botanica'' 33: 1-9. *Follieri, M. 1975. Resti vegetali macroscopici nel collettore ovest del Colosseo. ''Annali di Botanica'' 34: 123-141. *Follieri, M. 1977. Classification and phylogeny of living and fossil water ferns of the genus «Azolla». ''Webbia'' 31: 97-104. *Follieri, M., Magri, D., Sadori, L. 1986. Late Pleistocene ''Zelkova'' extinction in central Italy. '' New Phytologist'' 103(1): 269-273. *Follieri, M. 1987. L’agriculture des plus anciennes communautés rurales d’Italie. In J. C. Guillaine & J.-L. Roudil (eds.), ''Premiers Communautes Paysannes en Mediteranee Occidentale'' (pp. 243–247). CNRS éditions. *Follieri, M. 2010. Conifer extinction in Quaternary Italian records. '' Quaternary International'' 225 (1):37-43.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Follieri, Maria 1932 births 2012 deaths Archaeobotanists Sapienza University of Rome faculty