Maia Casna

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  I am a doctoral researcher in osteoarchaeology interested in paleopathology and medieval development. I analyze archaeological skeletal remains to address everyday life and disease in relation to urbanization processes. As today industrialization is having deep implications on human health, my main research interest is to investigate how raising human shift from rural to urban areas impacted health in the past.

  I obtained my BA in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bologna in 2017. I then attended Leiden University, where in 2019 I obtained my MSc in Human Osteoarchaeology (cum laude) before starting my PhD in 2020. My PhD is financially supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

  My current research at Leiden University explores the spread of respiratory infections (sinusitis, otitis, pulmonary diseases) in relation to urbanization in several medieval and post-medieval contexts from the Northern Low Countries. Specifically, I am investigating how factors linked to urban development (such as socioeconomic status, housing developments, and tobacco usage) impacted the respiratory health of both citizens and inhabitants of the Dutch countryside. In addition to gleaning a new narrative of Dutch social history, my research aims to provide a multidisciplinary and contextually driven perspective on respiratory health, a problem of increasing concern across the world today.