Natali Neral has been employed since February 2026 as a Senior Assistant at the Institute of Archaeology within the Croatian Science Foundation project Between reuse and innovation: understanding microregional settlement strategies in late antiquity on the eastern Adriatic (Re:Set, IP-2024-05-6792), led by Dr Ana Konestra.
After completing her Master’s degree in Geology at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, she was employed in 2021 as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Archaeology on the interdisciplinary Croatian Science Foundation project Technological Features and Cultural Practices in Prehistoric Pottery Traditions in Croatia (prePOT, UIP-2020-02-3637), led by Dr Andreja Kudelić. Within the framework of this project, she obtained her PhD in 2025 at the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb. Her doctoral dissertation, entitled Provenience and Properties of the Raw Materials in the Context of Pottery Technology from Different Periods of the Past in Croatia, represents the first comprehensive and systematic study of pottery raw materials and production technologies across various prehistoric and historical periods in Croatia.
Her research is based on a multidisciplinary approach to the study of archaeological ceramics and building materials (mortars), with particular emphasis on raw material analysis and the reconstruction of production technologies. She applies a range of advanced analytical methods, including optical microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, geochemical analyses, FT-IR spectroscopy, laser granulometry, and mechanical strength testing. Through this methodological framework, she contributes to the study of raw material procurement, ancient technologies, and human–environment interactions across different historical periods and geographic regions of Croatia.
She has further advanced her expertise through specialised courses and workshops, including an international course on the analysis of archaeological ceramics and building materials at University College London, led by Dr Patrick Quinn. In 2024, as part of the Croatian Science Foundation mobility programme (MOBDOK-2023), she conducted a research stay at University College London (UCL), where, in one of Europe’s leading archaeological science laboratories, she further refined her existing methodological expertise and gained experience in advanced archaeometric techniques (SEM-EDS). She regularly publishes the results of her research in high-impact international peer-reviewed journals and presents her work at international scientific conferences.
At the Institute of Archaeology, she is a member of the Laboratory for the Analysis of Archaeological Ceramics and Raw Materials (LaKeS) and of the research group Synergy of Diversity: Landscape Archaeology and Technological Traditions in Continental and Adriatic Croatia (SirAKT, European Union – NextGenerationEU).