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Elena Leghissa, PhD

Research Associate

+386 1 4706 394

elena.leghissa@zrc-sazu.si


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Elena Leghissa is a Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology ZRC SAZU. Her research is focused on the Copper and Bronze Ages, primarily in the south-eastern Alpine and Adriatic regions, with particular emphasis on the pile-dwelling culture of the Ljubljansko barje. She is engaged in archaeometric analyses of prehistoric pottery and in the study of mobility and exchange in prehistory. In recent years, she has led and participated in several research and development projects, including the On-piles project, within which the interpretation centre Morostig – House of Nature and Piles was established, as well as a postdoctoral project dedicated to the dynamics of exchange and mobility in the Ljubljansko barje. A significant part of her work is also devoted to the interpretation and presentation of archaeological heritage to the wider public.

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Education

  • B. Sc. in archaeology 2011, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
  • Ph. D. in archaeology 2017, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana

Periods of stay abroad

  • 2023–2025: participation in archaeological research at the cave site Tina Jama in Italy, in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the Multidisciplinary Laboratory “Abdus Salam” International Centre for Theoretical Physics, and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio per il Friuli Venezia Giulia in Trieste (total of seven months)
  • 2018–present: collaboration as a visiting researcher with the Multidisciplinary Laboratory “Abdus Salam” International Centre for Theoretical Physics (collaboration with Prof. Dr Federico Bernardini) and the University of Trieste (collaboration with Prof. Dr Manuela Montagnari Kokelj, Prof. Dr Angelo De Min, and Dr Matteo Velicogna)
  • 2018–present: collaboration with the Budapest Neutron Centre (Budapest, Hungary) (collaboration with Dr Zsolt Kasztovszky and colleagues)
  • 2016: two-month research training at the Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio per il Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Museo d'Antichità JJ Winckelmann in Trieste (Italy)
  • 2016: one-week research training in Vukovar (Museum of Vučedol Culture, Vukovar Municipal Museum), Vinkovci (Vinkovci Municipal Museum), and Osijek (Museum of Slavonia) (Croatia)
  • 2016: two-week research training at the Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)

Research interests

  • Copper and Bronze Age archaeology in the south-eastern Alpine region
  • Study of prehistoric ceramic finds
  • Mobility and migration in the Copper and Bronze Ages
  • Archaeometric studies of ceramic finds from the Stone, Copper, and Bronze Ages
  • Pile-dwelling heritage of the Ljubljansko barje
  • Material culture of prehistoric pile dwellings in the Ljubljansko barje
  • Interpretation and presentation of pile-dwelling heritage

Teaching

  • 2024–2028: co-supervisor of doctoral student Ines Nabernik Bošnjak (University of York, supervisor: Dr Lara González Carretero)
  • 2025: invited lecture at the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, within the course Archaeology of the Metal Ages (theoretical and practical components)
  • 2025: invited lecture at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska, within the course Archaeology of the Neolithic and Eneolithic

Organisation of scientific meetings

  • 2025: co-organisation of the scientific session Reflections of Vučedol Culture. Chrono-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives within the international conference EAA 2025 in Belgrade (co-organisers: Jacqueline Balen, Ina Miloglav, and Federico Bernardini)
  • 2024–2025: co-organisation of Open Days at the Tina Jama site (co-organisers: Federico Bernardini, Marco Rodriguez, Alessandra Maria Rodriguez, Marco del Piccolo, and the Trieste Alpine Club / Club Alpinistico Triestino)
  • 2024: co-organisation (with Manca Vinazza) of the round table Skills of Prehistoric Potters through the Lens of Archaeological Methodology, Ljubljana

Exhibitions

  • Morostig – House of Nature and Piles – Result of the On-piles project – Interpretation of biodiversity and pile-dwelling heritage of the Ljubljansko barje, led by the Municipality of Ig in cooperation with the Ljubljana Marsh Nature Park Public Institute and ZRC SAZU (Anton Melik Geographical Institute and Institute of Archaeology)
  • An Enormous Find - First Pile Dwellings discovery on Ljubljana Marsh (co-author: Dejan Veranič), various venues in Slovenia (2015–2017)
  • Impressions into the Past: Research of deocration on the pottery from Pile-Dwellings (co-authors: Igor Ravbar, Boštjan Laharnar), National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana (2015)

Membership

  • 2023–present: member of the Expert Commission for Archaeological Research at the Ministry of Culture (SKAR)

Archaeology of Copper and Bronze Age

  • LEGHISSA, Elena, PLESTENJAK, Ana, Bronastodobni najdišči Kavci in Repovnice pri Vodicahna Gorenjskem (Bronze Age Sites of Kavci and Repovnice near Vodicein Gorenjska). − Arheološki vestnik 76, 2025, 321–352. DOI: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/AV.76.04
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, JANČAR, Mojca, MERELA, Maks,KRŽE, Luka, ŠTULAR, Benjamin, VELUŠČEK, Anton, ČUFAR, Katarina, The Špica pile-dwelling site - analyses of archaeological wood / Koliščarska naselbina Špica - raziskave arheološkega lesa. − Les / Wood 73/2, 2025, 75−92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26614/les-wood.2024.v73n02a07
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, The re-definition of the Ljubljana culture in the Ljubljansko barje, based on the chrono-typological point of the ceramic finds. – In: Nicolis F., Kulcsár G.Heyd F. (eds.) The Transformation of Europe in the Third Millennium BC, Proocedings of the International Conference Riva del Garda 25-28 October 2023, 2025, 255−268.
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, ŠMIT, Žiga, BREZIGAR, Barbara, SVETLIČIČ, Vesna, TURK, Peter, The earliest glass from the territory of Slovenia, Documenta Praehistorica 50, 2023, 2-11. DOI: 10.4312/dp.50.20.
  • BERNARDINI, Federico, PIPAN, Michele, FORTE, Emauele, LEGHISSA, Elena, CALOSI, Massimo, FURLANI, Stefano, HUNTER BROKING, Samantha, LOIACONO, Roberta, MACOVAZ, Vanja, Trmun (north-eastern Italy): Multi-scale remote and ground-based sensing of a Bronze Age and post-Roman fortification, 2023, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 51 (2023) 104108. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104108.
  • LEGHISSA, Elena. Deschmannʼs pile-dwelling sites near Ig and the cultural-chronological attribution of the Late Copper Age Ljubljana culture / Kulturna in časovna umestitev poznobakrenodobne ljubljanske kulture na Dežmanovih koliščih pri Igu. Arheološki vestnik 72, 2021, 7−51. DOI: 10.3986/AV.72.01

Archaeometric research

Interpretation and presentation of the heritage of pile dwellings in the Ljubljansko barje

  • VINAZZA, Manca, KOROŠEC, Paola, BRATUŠEK, Nina, MRKUN, Mina, RAMŠAK, Izidor, ŠPINDLER, Tadej, TULJAK, Ana, LEGHISSA, Elena, et al., Pile dwellers and clay. Replicas of pottery, kilns, and fireplaces. − In: Koprivnik, Vesna, Salecl, Dunja (eds.), Srečanja tisočletij / The convergence of millennia. Museoeurope: the collected volume of the symposium 19.-21. 10.2023 [= Zbornik mednarodnega simpozija, 19.-21.10.2023], Zbirka Museoeurope 8, Maribor, 2023, 189−203.
  • VINAZZA, Manca, KOROŠEC, Paola, BRATUŠEK, Nina, MRKUN, Mina, RAMŠAK, Izidor, ŠPINDLER, Tadej, TULJAK, Ana, LEGHISSA, Elena, Izdelava keramičnih replik. − Palafittes: news 4, 2023, 64−69.
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, ANDRIČ, Maja, TOLAR, Tjaša, TOŠKAN, Borut, VELUŠČEK, Anton, Reviving the heritage of pile dwellings in the Ljubljansko barje: reconstruction of a pile-dwelling settlement from the 3rd millennium BC. − In: Koprivnik, Vesna, Salecl, Dunja (eds.), Srečanja tisočletij / The convergence of millennia, Museoeurope 8, Maribor 2023, 333–343.
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, ANDRIČ, Maja, TOLAR, Tjaša, TOŠKAN, Borut, VELUŠČEK, Anton, Morostig – o rekonstrukciji koliščarske naselbine iz 3. tisočletja pr. Kr. − In: Gaspari, Andrej, Novaković, Predrag (eds.). Arheologija v letu 2022: dediščina za javnost. Zbornik povzetkov. Strokovno srečanje Slovenskega arheološkega društva, Ljubljana 2023, 60.
  • VINAZZA, Manca, KOROŠEC, Paola, BRATUŠEK, Nina, JANEŽIČ, Zvonka, RAMŠAK, Izidor, MRKUN, Mina, ŠPINDLER, Tadej, TULJAK, Ana, LEGHISSA, Elena, O izdelovanju keramičnih replik na Morostigu. − In: In: Gaspari, Andrej, Novaković, Predrag (eds.). Arheologija v letu 2022: dediščina za javnost. Zbornik povzetkov. Strokovno srečanje Slovenskega arheološkega društva, Ljubljana 2023, 61.
  • LEGHISSA, Elena, Morostig - hiša narave in kolišč. O izvedbi novega muzeja na prostem na Ljubljanskem barju (predavanje na 5. Dnevu kaštelirjev/gradišč "Arheologija Zgornjega Jadrana: interpretacija implementacija, valorizacija = Archeologia dellʼAlto Adriatico: interpretazione, implementazione, valorizzazione = Arheologija Gornjeg Jadrana: intepretacija, implementacija, valorizacija", Druga sekcija, Piano nobile palače Belgramoni-Tacco, Koper (SLO), 11. dec. 2023.
PROGRAMME: Archaeological research (2015−2021) (research programme • January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2021)
Bridging the GAP between Geological, Archaeological and Palynological studies (interdisciplinary project • January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2027)
Exchange and mobility dynamics at Ljubljansko barje: Late Copper age pile-dwelling Špica in Ljubljana (postdoctoral research project • November 1, 2021 - June 30, 2024)
Na-kolih - Interpretation of Biodiversity and Heritage of Pile Dwellings in the Ljubljana Marshes (July 1, 2019 - November 30, 2022)