Bio

I am a maritime archaeologist and current Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Anthropology. I specialize in the use of 3D visualizations, based on gaming technology, as a tool for the enhancement and dissemination of maritime heritage. My research explores how the social, craft, and biographical aspects of shipbuilding and the transportation of people can help us better understand the period of slavery and the transition to indenture. Moreover, I am broadly interested in understanding how the ‘vessel,’ the ship itself, is a vehicle of culture contact and how the study of the artifacts found in the shipwreck can give us information on life at sea and the relationships on-board. For my Ph.D., I am working on materials and shipwrecks from Mauritius, serving as an ideal case for Indian Ocean labor movements.
I am also involved in developing the Marine Spatial Plan for Mauritius, developing ways to integrate maritime heritage into the Blue Economy mandate and contribute to resilience in Small Island Developing States.
I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice. During my training in marine and underwater archaeology, I had the opportunity to participate in numerous underwater excavations in Veneto, Sicily, Puglia, Calabria, and Croatia.

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All Publications

  • Colonization During Colonialism: Developing a Framework to Assess the Rapid Ecological Transformation of Mauritius's Pristine Ecosystem FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION Seetah, K., Manfio, S., Balbo, A., Farr, R., Florens, F. 2022; 10

    View details for DOI 10.3389/fevo.2022.791539

    View details for Web of Science ID 000791939100001

  • Mapping of Underwater Cultural Heritage: The Geophysical Survey and Data Management of HMS Sirius Shipwreck Mamode, S. H., Runghen, H., Munnaroo, S., Bissessur, D., Coopen, P., von Arnim, Y., Manfio, S., Seetah, K., Motah, B. A., Badal, R., IEEE IEEE. 2022

    View details for DOI 10.1109/OCEANSChennai45887.2022.9775266

    View details for Web of Science ID 000819486100062

  • Maritime archaeology of slave ships: reviews and future directions for Mauritius and the Indian Ocean AZANIA-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA Manfio, S., von Arnim, Y. 2020; 55 (4): 492–508

    View details for DOI 10.1080/0067270X.2020.1841967

    View details for Web of Science ID 000595447500006

  • Virtual reality in maritime archaeology legacy data for a virtual diving on the shipwreck of the Mercurio (1812) JOURNAL OF CULTURAL HERITAGE Secci, M., Beltrame, C., Manfio, S., Guerra, F. 2019; 40: 169–76

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.culher.2019.05.002

    View details for Web of Science ID 000491173800018

  • La cucina del relitto del brig Mercurio (1812) Archeologia Postmedievale Manfio, S. 2014; 18: 157-175

    View details for DOI 10.1400/228617

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0960-6303