The Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe, forcing governments to lockdown entire nations and limiting the movement of people. At present, it is difficult to predict what it will happen in the coming months. However, it seems prudent to avoid travel and unnecessary gatherings in the near future. As such, the Division of Paleopathology is evaluating the possibility of converting the “Summer School in Osteoarchaeology and Paleopathology” to an online course. The lectures will be delivered via streaming platforms such as Google Teams, which has been adopted by the University of Pisa, in order to permit students to remain safe at home while learning the basics of bioarchaeology and paleopathology disciplines.

While practical, hands-on experience working with and learning about human skeletal remains is ideal, this immersive online program will allow students to learn the same methods and techniques used by professional researchers, while remaining safe in these difficult times. In light of the circumstances, appropriate adjustments have been made to the program expectations, fees, and ECTS credits. The course will be held in a single session from June 22 to July 9, 2020. The lectures will be taken for 3 weeks for about 4 hours per day (52 hours in total) with a timetable that will be established on the basis of the time zone of the participants. The fees for the online version are 700 euros (for those who have already paid there will be a refund) and the ECTS credits are consequently reduced to 7.

Of course, some activities will not be possible, for example, the cleaning and restoration of bones, but the majority of lectures will be run using bone casts and osteoarchaeological specimens, while scientific papers, additional multimedia, and other documentation will be provided to the participants.

If you are interested in this new modality of the course or need further information, please contact Dr. Simona Minozzi at: simona.minozzi@unipi.it.