Ms Susi Pancaldo

Conservator (Objects)

Susanna Pancaldo is an objects conservator with a special interest in archaeological materials from ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions. Since receiving an MA in History of Art and a Diploma in Conservation from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, Susi has worked for museums and archaeological excavations in the USA, Israel, Greece, Italy and the UK. She established and ran a conservation training programme for the Archaeological Excavation and Field School in Murlo (Poggio Civitate), Italy (1997-2008) and, in 1997, received a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to undertake an Advanced Training fellowship at the Museum of London.

Settling in the UK, Susi undertook freelance work for the Museum of London, the Horniman Museum, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL, before being appointed Conservator Manager for the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology (2007-2011), then Senior Conservator for UCL’s Museums and Collections (2012-18), where she oversaw provision of conservation and collections care across a broad range of collection and regularly contributed to teaching for UCL’s Institute of Archaeology.

Susi joined The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2019 and, since January 2024, manages the Objects Conservation team. She continues to explore how materials and manufacturing technologies of ancient artifacts reflect the social, political and economic landscapes of ancient and modern worlds. She particularly enjoys detective work, exploring the 'life-cycle' of objects through the application of empirical study and scientific analyses.

Email: sp985@cam.ac.uk

Publications

Co-author: Susanna Pancaldo, Ema Baužytė, and Julie Dawson, “A Late Iron Age sword from Tamassos: Biography of an exceptional object” in Islands and Communities: Perspectives on Insularity, Connectivity, and Belonging, edited by Anastasia Christophilopoulou. Oxbow Books Ltd, 2024: 65-82.

Co-author: Jana Mokrišová, Susanna Pancaldo, and Ema Baužytė, “Island metallurgy: A case study of two Early Bronze Age toggle pins from the Cypriot Collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum” in Islands and Communities: Perspectives on Insularity, Connectivity, and Belonging, edited by Anastasia Christophilopoulou. Oxbow Books: Oxford and Philadelphia, 2024: 83-96.

Author: 'Island Metallurgy: Cypriot metal objects from the Fitzwilliam Museum,' in Islanders: the making of the Mediterranean, ed. Dr A Christophilopoulou. Catalogue for the exhibition held at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 24 February - 4 June 2023. Paul Hoberton Publishing, 2023: pp.25-29.

Co-creator: ‘The Tamassos Sword,’ a short film highlighting results from a research study of a Cypriot, Iron Age sword in The Fitzwilliam Museum (GR.334.1892). Uploaded by The Fitzwilliam Museum, [date uploaded 2 June 2023], URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICc34zau0ds

Presenter: 'Island metallurgy: The Investigation of Cypriot metal objects in the collection of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,' presented at the 3rd International Congress on Archaeological Sciences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (ICAS-EMME 3), held March 14-18, 2022, in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Co-editor: Heritage Conservation and Social Engagement. Eds. Renata F. Peters, Iris L. F. den Boer, Jessica S. Johnson, and Susanna Pancaldo. UCL Press: London, 2020.

Presenter: ‘Problems and possibilities for the Petrie Museum’s pottery display,’ at the conference Understanding Egyptian Collections. Innovative display and research projects in museums, held September 1-2, 2014, at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, UK. (https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/problems-and-possibilities-petrie-museums-pottery-display)

Presenter: 'Managing handling at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology,' at a workshop on Egyptology: Exploring and understanding your collection and your audience, hosted by the Museums and Library Association/Renaissance North West, held May 13, 2010, at the Manchester Art Gallery.

Co-author: Steven Miller and Susanna Pancaldo. 'A Sticky Problem Resolved: The Removal of Blu-Tack and Other Putty Adhesives from Objects at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology,' in Icon News, Issue 4 (April 2006): 47.

Author: 'Forum on the Care of Wind Instruments at the Horniman,' in Conservation News 78 (May 2002): 12-14.

Presenter: 'The Preservation and Treatment of Finds from the Site of Poggio Civitatae,' at the Archaeological Workshop on Recent Excavations in Tuscany, held August 11-12, 2000. Franklin College, Lugano, Switzerland.

Presenter and author: 'Cultural Context, Condition and Treatment: An Eighteenth-Century Carved Ivory Tusk from the Kingdom of Benin,' presented at the 22nd Annual Student Conference of the Association of Graduate Programs in Conservation, held April 18 - 20, 1996 at the Straus Center for Conservation, Harvard University Art Museums, and published by Straus Centre for Conservation, Boston, MA, 1997: 20-28.