Staff profile

I joined the Department of Classics at Durham University in 2025 as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. Before arriving at Durham, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, and worked as a consultant for the International Digital Dura-Europos Archive (Bard College/Yale University).

I completed my PhD in Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London, after studying Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Turin. I have participated in archaeological fieldwork and conservation projects in Italy, Iran, and Iraq, including the Hatra Statuary Salvage Project at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and the Iranian–Italian excavations at Kal-e Chendar/Shami in Khuzestan.

Current projects and collaborations

• The Importance of Being Remembered: Memory and Devotion in the Roman Near East (2025-2028), Leverhulme-funded project
• Hatra Statuary Salvage Project HaSSP (CAMNES - Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies & Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage - SBAH)
• Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus (Palmyra related projects)
• Roman Archaeology Conference/Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC/TRAC 2026)

Selected bibliography

Books

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. Forthcoming 2026. Nurturing the Elite. Sculptural Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyra. Turnhout: Brepols.

Moriggi, M. & Bucci, I. 2019. Aramaic Graffiti from Hatra. A Study Based on the Archive of the Missione Archeologica Italiana. Leiden–Boston: Brill.

Edited volumes

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. (eds.) Forthcoming 2026. Carving the Individual. Self-Representations in Rock-Cut Monuments in the Parthian, Roman, and Sasanian Near East (2nd c. BCE‒3rd c. CE). The Archaeology and History of Western Asia (300 BCE–750 CE). Turnhout: Brepols.

Journal articles

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. Forthcoming 2025. ‘Elevating Childhood in Palmyra: Representations of Children on Bases in the Local Funerary Sculpture’. Syria.

Bucci, I., de Hoz, M.-P., Kaizer, T. & Moriggi, M. Forthcoming 2025. ‘The First Known Inscription from Hatra in Greek and Hatran Aramaic: New Insights into Sociolinguistics and Religion of the City of the Sun’. Iraq.

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. 2024. ‘Standing on Their Own: A Contextual Analysis of Single and Double Portraits of Children on Palmyrene Funerary Stelai’. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 17, 1-77.

Bucci, I., Marchetti, C. & Moriggi, M. 2021. ‘Antiquities from Hatra in the Slemani Museum (Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq)’. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 14, 66–98.

Bucci, I., Cellerino, A., Faraji, M., Foietta, E., Giusto, F., Mehr Kian, J., Messina, V. & Rouhani Rankouhi, M. 2018. ‘Preliminary Report on the Third Season of Excavation of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami (8th campaign, 2015)’. Parthica 20, 59–78.

Bucci, I., Cellerino, A., Faraji, M., Foietta, E., Mehr Kian, J., Messina, V. & Rouhani Rankouhi, M. 2017. ‘Preliminary Report on the Second Season of Excavation of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami (7th campaign, 2014)’. Parthica 19, 9–26.

Moriggi, M. & Bucci, I. 2016. ‘Unpublished Graffiti from Hatra’. Parthica 18, 107–124.

Baqherian, Y., Bucci, I., Cellerino, A., Foietta, E., Mehr Kian, J., Messina, V. & Rouhani Rankouhi, M. 2016. ‘Preliminary Report on the First Season of Excavation of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami (6th campaign, 2013)’. Parthica 18, 31–52.

Turchetti, M. A., Nejrotti, L. M. & Bucci, I. 2015. ‘Sorano (GR). Sovana. Indagini archeologiche nel sito de “la Biagiola”: campagna di scavo 2014’. Notiziario Toscana 10, 485–487.

Chapters in edited volumes and proceedings

Bucci, I. Forthcoming 2026. ‘From Rock Reliefs to Graffiti? Equestrian Iconography in the Arsacid Empire in the First Centuries CE’. In O. Bobou, I. Bucci & R. Raja (eds.), Carving the Individual. Self-Representations in Rock-Cut Monuments in the Parthian, Roman, and Sasanian Near East (2nd c. BCE‒3rd c. CE). The Archaeology and History of Western Asia (300 BCE–750 CE), 1. Turnhout: Brepols.

Chen, A., Rice, C. R., Bucci, I. & Baird, J. A. Forthcoming 2026. ‘Digital Epigraphy at Dura-Europos: Toward a FAIR-er Inscriptional Corpus’. In G. Bodard & V. Vitale (eds.), Tall Edifices Supported by Strong Foundations: Open Data in Ancient and Byzantine Studies.

Baird, J. A. & Bucci, I. Forthcoming 2026. ‘The Graffiti from the New Cathedral at Bosra’. In J. Dentzer-Feydy (ed.), Bosra. Paris: IFPO.

Bucci, I., Cellerino, A. & Foietta, E. 2025. ‘The Material Evidence at Shami: Small Finds, Metal and Glass Vessels, Sculptures, and Coins’. In V. Messina & J. Mehr Kian (eds.), Final Report on the Excavations of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami, 278–328.

Baqherian, Y., Bucci, I., Cellerino, A., Foietta, E., Giusto, F., Mehr Kian, J., Messina, V. & Rouhani Rankouhi, M. 2025. ‘The Excavations at Shami’. In V. Messina & J. Mehr Kian (eds.), Final Report on the Excavations of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami, 66–195.

Bucci, I. 2023. ‘An Archaeological Approach to Pictorial and Textual Graffiti from Hatra, Northern Iraq (2nd–3rd century CE)’. In Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Bologna, 6–9 April 2021, 609–624.

Bucci, I. 2016. ‘New Religious Images from Hatra. Unpublished Pictorial Graffiti from the Iraq Museum, Baghdad’. In E. Foietta, C. Ferrandi, E. Quirico, F. Giusto, M. Mortarini, J. Bruno & L. Somma (eds.), Cultural & Material Contacts in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the International Workshop, Torino, Firenze, 1–2 December 2014, 109–117.

Bucci, I. & Giusto, F. 2016. ‘Aspetti morfologici, tecnici e funzionali’. In A. Cellerino (ed.), La brocca d’oro dalla Tomba Reale III a Nimrud. Un caso di studio. BAR International Series 2817. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 29–94.

Bucci, I. & Giusto, F. 2016. ‘Produzione e circolazione dei beni di lusso in età neo-assira’. In A. Cellerino (ed.), La brocca d’oro dalla Tomba Reale III a Nimrud. Un caso di studio. BAR International Series 2817. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 211–239.

Foietta, E. & Bucci, I. 2013. ‘A Gazelle Pendant from Hatra. A Comparative Analysis’. In A. Peruzzetto, F. Dorna Metzger & L. Dirven (eds.), Animals, Gods and Men from the East to West. Papers on Archaeology and History in Honour of Roberta Venco Ricciardi. BAR International Series 2516. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 181–186.

Outreach publications

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. 2025. ‘The Hoby Cups: Tracing Connections in Iron Age Denmark’. Current World Archaeology 131.

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. 2025. ‘The Golden Fields of Denmark: Uncovering the Power and Prestige of the Vindelev Hoard’. Current World Archaeology 132.

Bobou, O., Bucci, I., English, R. & Raja, R. 2025. ‘Weapons from the Waters: Exploring Scandinavia’s First Professional Army at Illerup Ådal’. Current World Archaeology 133.

Bobou, O., Bucci, I. & Raja, R. Forthcoming 2025. ‘Tiny Rings, Great Power. Assessing the Vimose Mail Coat’. Current World Archaeology 134.

Media coverage and contributions

Bucci, I. 2017. 'Pictorial graffiti from Hatra', https://hatrasite.com/2017/01/30/i-graffiti-figurati-i-bucci/

Features on Hatra Statuary Salvage Project (HaSSP), Bucci, I. & Foietta, E. Scultura in pillole da Hatra, https://hatrasite.com

Cremonesi, L. 18 January 2020. ‘Dentro il museo di Bagdad, tra gli archeologi italiani in Iraq. La guerra mette a rischio la storia’ https://www.corriere.it/video-articoli/2020/01/18/dentro-museo-bagdad-gli-archeologi-italiani-iraq-la-guerra-mette-rischio-storia/00142b8c-3a09-11ea-8796-7f243723a56b.shtml?fbclid=IwAR3tofmsoho5DyszRVwmeOLVv72DyeEnerywOcHj8bckIVjN_xHOxN1k0ss

Tg3, 26 January 2020. ‘A causa dell'instabilità della situazione in Iraq, la missione archeologica italiana è dovuta rientrare. Stava mettendo in salvo reperti della città di Hatra nel Museo di Baghdad’ https://www.facebook.com/tg3rai/videos/470947953571497/

• Archaeology, epigraphy, and cultural history of Hatra and northern Mesopotamia
• Cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria, with a focus on the history of excavations, archives, and museum collections
• Graffiti and other vernacular inscriptions as evidence for religious practices, social interaction, and urban space
• Aramaic epigraphy and the archaeology of writing
• Parthian and Sasanian archaeology and visual culture
• Interactions between Rome and Parthia, and wider connections between the Mediterranean and the Iranian world