Early Career Achievement Prize
Louise Cardoso de Mello
Louise Cardoso de Mello at EAA 2024 Opening Ceremony in Rome, Italy. Photo by Damiano Rosa.
Louise Cardoso de Mello is awarded the 2024 Early Career Achievement Prize on the grounds of the social, innovation, interdisciplinarity and international impact of her early career work. Dr. de Mello is trained as an archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and curator specialised in Latin American archaeology, with emphasis on Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities in Amazonia. Her experience encompasses the development of community-based projects for the conservation and promotion of traditional knowledge, memory, and heritage.
All her skills are used towards her specialisation in public archaeology and heritage education with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
Now, in her first job as a PhD at the British Museum, she has already created an impact at the Museum, and among the Museum’s various stakeholders. Dr. de Mello’s nominator, Danny Zborover, states that: “With her background as a Latin American woman, Dr. de Mello brings into the role as curator a cultural diversity and sensitivity that the British Museum and other European institutions sorely need in these days and times.”
The Criteria:
Social impact:
Dr. de Mello applies her broad interdisciplinary knowledge and experience to the development of community-based projects concerning conservation and promotion of traditional knowledge, heritage and memory in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and the Caribbean. As a curator at British Museum, she oversees and helps develop participative community and collection-based projects in South America and Caribbean. The projects range from collaborative curation, artistic residencies and scientific analysis, to archival digitization, 3D modelling, digital exhibitions, and more.
Innovative Impact:
Dr. de Mello’s work applies the highest professional standards towards decolonising traditional Western curatorial practices, standards that are especially pertinent as the British Museum prepares for a major overhaul of its galleries in the next few years.
Her projects set out to expand the understanding of the British Museum’s Latin American collections by identifying the tangible cultural associations they have for local communities and making these visible. Her work supports the ethnic identities of the communities she works with and helps to safeguard and secure the transmission of traditional culture and knowledge.
Interdisciplinary impact:
Dr. de Mello contributes to the documentation of both archaeological and ethnographic materials, by integrating a transdisciplinary approach with contemporary community voice. Through the development of collaborative curatorial practices and participative interpretation with Indigenous groups, their descendants and communities, she enables the identification of their values for conservation and assists in the self-representation, promotion of traditional knowledge and the sharing of material practices.
International impact
The Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research is dedicated to developing and supporting collection-based projects in collaboration with communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. By fostering a growing network of heritage communities, researchers, artists, and partners with the Museum.
One of the most impactful outputs of Dr. de Mello’s and collaborators’ participatory documentation project will be a co-curated intervention at one of British Museum’s most-visited galleries, starting in February 2025. The redisplay will further respond to contemporary debates on climate change and crisis and Indigenous territorial sovereignty.
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Honorary Mentions
Barbara Huber is awarded an honorary mention of the 2024 Early Career Achievement Prize. Dr. Huber recently obtained her doctorate in Archaeological Science and Human Evolution from the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. She is now based at the Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement des Géosciences de l’Environnement in Aix-en-Provence, France,
Dr. Huber’s work is dedicated to the story of how plants and humans have interacted and shaped each other in diverse ways throughout human history. She has translated this into exceptionally interesting research that is exploring how ancient societies employed aromatic, medicinal and bioactive plants for a variety of purposes. To study the role of ancient plants in human society, Dr. Huber uses biomolecular approaches to extract information from the archaeological record that was previously unattainable.
Societal Impact
Dr. Huber works at the interface between research, public archaeology, craft and industry. This is most notable in her work on analysing aromatic compounds from a set of ancient Egyptian containers. Dr. Huber identified the plant ingredients and reconstructed the recipe used to embalm the remains of the Lady Sentenay in the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Huber then started to work with the private sector to recreate the scent she had discovered. This led to an exhibition of the scent at Moesgaard Museum in Denmark 2024. The visitors experienced the embalming scents and delved into the treatments and raw materials integral to ancient Egyptian mummification practice. Dr. Huber is strongly motivated by the conviction that science is universal and should be accessible to everyone.
Innovative impact
Dr. Huber’s work is groundbreaking by addressing aspects of past sensory experience that have largely been ignored. Her work has given reverberation in scientific journals and international press.
Dr. Huber’s innovations have developed new ways to ‘excavate’ ancient smells and develop new methods of studying ancient scents. She was able to recover highly volatile organic compounds in fragrant materials and archaeological artefacts by optimising extraction methods. The application of methods is minimally invasive and non-destructive. Additionally, Dr. Huber also developed new biomarkers to identify plants and specific plant parts in archaeological samples using a metabolomics approach.
Interdisciplinary impact
By integrating methods from e.g. organic chemistry, archaeology, botany, and sensory studies, Dr. Huber’s work is highly interdisciplinary and has brought together a diverse range of researchers. Dr. Huber’s research into the long-term preservation of certain pesticidal and anti-microbial ingredients in ancient Egyptian compounds, provides insights to modern-day organic chemists and industry. Her current work on dating lipidic compounds in ancient aromatic residues is pushing new developments in radiocarbon dating.
International impact
Rarely has the research of a junior researcher attracted such significant global attention. Dr. Huber. has carved out a distinct niche and is undertaking genuinely unique and innovative research. She has attracted the attention of media worldwide and er research on ancient scents is pushing contemporary researchers to include a greater historical dimension in studies of smell.
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Maia Casna is awarded an honorary mention of the 2024 Early Career Achievement Prize. She is a PhD student at Leiden University where her research focuses on the impact of socioeconomic developments on the respiratory health of several Dutch skeletal populations.
Ms. Casna promotes ethical citizen-science initiatives and projects that support the diversity mission of Leiden University and contribute to the development of a more inclusive academic culture.
Social impact
Maia Casna’s research explores the interplay between respiratory health and societal factors in past populations. As respiratory infections are today among the greatest contributors to global diseases, her research has deep societal implications. Working towards a more nuanced narrative of the history of infectious disease, Ms. Casna has engaged with the public to share her research findings, reaching national Dutch television describing her work on human remains and how the impacts of respiratory diseases can be identified. By communicating directly with the public Ms. Casna aimed to raise awareness about the historical and social context of respiratory health, and to its relevance to contemporary populations.
Ms. Casna communicates with younger audiences through programs like “Skype a Scientist” and “Letter to a Pre-Scientist”. She has interacted with students from all over the world, sharing her expertise in osteoarchaeology and discussing the importance of studying bones to understand past societies. This outreach continued with “Day of the dead” workshop, a hands-on experience for students to solve a murder mystery using plastic human bones.
Innovative Impact
Ms. Casna demonstrates commitment to innovation with her approaches to understanding health and disease in historical populations. By integrating medical expertise and radiographic techniques to her work, she is investigating the middle ear’s response to childhood diseases and the potential long-term health ramifications in adulthood. Bridging the disciplines of archaeology and medicine, Ms. Casna’s research offers new data on the health challenges faced by our ancestors, and new insights into how disease impacted, and still impacts, human lives.
Interdisciplinary Impact
Radiographical techniques are increasingly being utilised in archaeological research. In the study of human remains, lack of standardisation makes it unclear how radiographically collected data compares to data collected microscopically. Ms. Casna has recently started to investigate the comparability of these two types of data and how they can be integrated. Her work underlines the importance of developing diagnostic criteria in archaeology that are inclusive of related research techniques.
International Impact
Ms. Casna is dedicated to international academic collaboration e.g. by disseminating her findings and expertise. She is a frequent guest lectures in various countries. Ms. Casna recently joined an international project aimed at refining diagnostic criteria for chronic maxillary sinusitis in human remains. Ms. Casna leads practical sessions in the diagnosis of respiratory disease on human remains. Expanding her work on respiratory disease in different periods and geographical areas and incorporating diverse methodologies such as radiology and mass spectrometry. Ms. Casna’s efforts in research, public engagement, and education have significantly enriched understanding of bioarchaeology and respiratory disease, making the past relevant and accessible to today’s society.