Books by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
Bibliotheca Praehistorica Hispana 36. Editorial CSIC. ISBN: 978-84-00-10721-5, 2020
This book derivers from the session in honor of Antonio Gilman Guillén, Emeritus Professor at Cal... more This book derivers from the session in honor of Antonio Gilman Guillén, Emeritus Professor at California State University-Northridge, held on September 6 2018 in Barcelona. Through its twenty-two chapters different authors engage with the ideas developed by Professor Gilman throughout his career, highlighting his achievements and contributions as a comparative and field archaeologist, and reviewing his theoretical logic and key thoughts. Authors address a wide variety of periods, from the origins of humanity to the ethnographic present, through scientific, historical and materialist approaches to the archaeological record in fields such as Landscape Archeology, Archaeometry, Bioanthropology, Ethnography, or absolute chronology.
La tierra apropiada, es el tercer volumen de la serie Madrid, una historia para todos. Publicada ... more La tierra apropiada, es el tercer volumen de la serie Madrid, una historia para todos. Publicada por la Comunidad de Madrid, se trata de una prehistoria ilustrada, divulgativa y amena, que aborda el periodo conocido como Prehistoria reciente, desde el origen de las primeras sociedades agricultoras y ganaderas hasta el final de Edad del Bronce.
El inicio de la producción de alimentos generó un cambio en las formas de habitar el mundo que ha marcado la Historia de la Humanidad hasta la actualidad. Este libro presenta de forma rigurosa y atractiva los cambios sucedidos a lo largo de cinco mil años de Prehistoria, entrelazando la historia regional de Madrid con la peninsular y mundial.
Su título es un guiño al lector interesado, un juego de palabras sobre cómo las primeras sociedades productoras de alimentos buscaron las tierras más apropiadas para desarrollar su incipiente economía agropecuaria, y de cómo las tomaron para sí, las apropiaron para ellos y sus descendientes.
La tierra apropiada contiene 80 fotografías, así como 44 infografías y 8 recreaciones a doble página realizadas a propósito para este libro. Cada recreación muestra una instantánea de la vida en la Prehistoria reciente a través de momentos representativos, como la extracción de sílex en la mina del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero, los poblados rodeados de fosos y terraplenes de la Edad del Cobre o los enterramientos campaniformes con exóticos ajuares de oro, marfil y cobre del Camino de las Yeseras.
La tierra apropiada es una Prehistoria actualizada y al alcance de todos.
The volume includes 27 original papers presented at the Conference. Considering the variety of to... more The volume includes 27 original papers presented at the Conference. Considering the variety of topics, the editors decided to organize them following a geographical criterion. All in all, the volume represents the tireless activity of a reasonably large group of researchers that consider the social and economic context of fl int mining as a key source for understanding prehistoric and protohistoric societies.
This volume is the product of a one day session organised within the IVth Congresso de Arqueolog... more This volume is the product of a one day session organised within the IVth Congresso de Arqueología Peninsular, held in Faro (Portugal) between 14th-19th September 2004. The aim of this session was to discuss the subject matter of prehistoric social inequality, a topic that had never before been examined in an Iberian archaeology conference. The time span covered by this book is Late Prehistory, between the second half of the 6th and the beginning of the 1st millennia cal BC (Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age). From a thematic viewpoint, this volume discusses a wide series of issues, including theory (like for example, applicability of social evolution taxonomies, centre-periphery relationships, or the sets of factors causing inequalities), empirical evidence (critical assessment of the validity of systems of empirical indicators, testing of hypothesis, quality of the available data), as well as interpretation (comparative inter-regional and diachronic analyses of the economic, social and ideological process involved in social inequality).
COPPER AGE ENCLOSURES by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
Manuscrito inédito presentado en 2008 para la publicación resultado de la Sesión Académica Dr. Ar... more Manuscrito inédito presentado en 2008 para la publicación resultado de la Sesión Académica Dr. Argente 2007 “Los recintos de fosos del inicio de la Prehistoria Reciente en el Suroeste de Europa”.
Settlements incorporating large-scale human aggregations are a well-documented but poorly underst... more Settlements incorporating large-scale human aggregations are a well-documented but poorly understood phenomenon across late prehistoric Europe. The authors’ research examines the origins and trajectory of such aggregations through isotope analysis of human skeletal remains from the mega-site of Marroquíes in Jaén, Spain. The results indicate that eight per cent of 115 sampled individuals are of non-local origin. These individuals received mortuary treatments indistinguishable from those of locals, suggesting their incorporation into pre-existing social networks in both life and death. This research contributes to our understanding of the extent and patterning of human mobility, which underlies the emergence of late prehistoric mega-sites in Europe.
At 113-ha in size and dating to the 3rd millennium cal BC, the ditched enclosure site of Marroquí... more At 113-ha in size and dating to the 3rd millennium cal BC, the ditched enclosure site of Marroquíes is one of the latest mega-sites in Iberia. The settlement preserves multiple mortuary areas which contain over 450 individuals, allowing for the examination of inter-individual and inter-group variability in diet and health. This study presents the first large-scale palaeodietary assessment of the site through the analysis of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope values from 113 human and 23 faunal samples. It also offers the first comprehensive analysis of dental disease at Marroquíes in a sample of over 4,600 human teeth. Humans at Marroquíes exhibit mean values of 8.4 ± 0.9‰ for δ15N and -19.3 ± 0.3‰ for δ13C, suggesting a diet predominantly based on proteins from terrestrial C3 plant foodwebs, conforming to a broader dietary pattern common throughout Late Prehistoric Iberia. Dental analyses revealed significant differences in the frequency of hypoplasias and calculus between mortuary areas. Overall, the documented variability within mortuary areas is higher than variability between them, suggesting that although differences in consumption patterns did exist, the bonds created by group affinities outweighed the expression of social asymmetries at death.
Materialist perspectives have focused their arguments on the leading role of coercion and conflic... more Materialist perspectives have focused their arguments on the leading role of coercion and conflict in order to explain the Third
millennium BC Iberian archaeological record. Recently, ritual dynamics have been considered. All arguments rely on the same
evidence, having explicit or implicit generalizing interpretative intentions. This paper is a critical review of two recurring opinions
used by Spanish scholars to support the hierarchical -read class- and coercive nature of Copper Age societies: that variability in settlement size reflects control hierarchies and that highly formalized planning of villages and monumental enclosures reflect direct coercive control of labor. Finally, I briefly comment on some recent and problematic uses of the ritual/domestic dichotomy.
This contribution presents a political model for interpreting the large Copper Age settlements of... more This contribution presents a political model for interpreting the large Copper Age settlements of the Iberian Peninsula. It considers that factional competition within segmentary societies creates conditions that both promote aggregational processes and undermine them (frequently leading to group fission). The critical moment when factional leaders may consolidate their power is the initial mobilization of a collective workforce. If such consolidation fails to take place, factional competition and the development of household interests multiplies the fronts on which resistance to leaders can take place. This model is applied to the archaeological record of the Upper Guadalquivir. The results of this analysis suggest that the dynamics of large-scale aggregation only can develop in places were there exists a sufficiently large population, abundant potential resources, and the technology by which resources and population can be exploited and maintained. A model that will explain the variability observed in the Iberian Copper Age must also consider political factors, however.
Oxford journal of archaeology, 2004
Summary. The interpretation of European Neolithic enclosures must take account of their wide vari... more Summary. The interpretation of European Neolithic enclosures must take account of their wide variability in chronology, size, shape, topographical position and material. Such interpretations should rely on the comparative analysis of the processes at work in ...
La Arqueología es una disciplina comparativa. Tanto los enfoques histórico-culturales, procesuale... more La Arqueología es una disciplina comparativa. Tanto los enfoques histórico-culturales, procesuales como postprocesuales han recurrido a distintas formas de comparación. En el caso de los llamados recintos de fosos del IV y III milenios AC, la comparación se ha utilizado para sugerir su origen Neolítico, sus similitudes con casos europeos o sus diferencias o similitudes con los recintos murados, entre otras. Detrás de estas comparaciones hay frecuentemente una práctica normativa, en cuanto se obvia la comparación de trayectorias histórico-arqueológicas. En este breve texto sugiero dos tipos de comparaciones arqueológicas, ambas a escala o implicaciones regionales. La primera es diacrónica y compara los dos recintos ibéricos más antiguos entre sí y con algunos de los casos conocidos posteriores. La segunda es sincrónica y compara recintos madrileños posiblemente coetáneos. Concluyo sugiriendo que la comparación es saludable como procedimiento para hacer aflorar determinados aspectos del registro arqueológico ya conocido que frecuentemente quedan ocultos u obviados.
Materialist perspectives have focused their arguments on the leading role of coercion and conflic... more Materialist perspectives have focused their arguments on the leading role of coercion and conflict in order to explain the Third millennium BC Iberian archaeological record. Recently, ritual dynamics have been considered. All arguments rely on the same evidence, having explicit or implicit generalizing interpretative intentions. This paper is a critical review of two recurring opinions used by Spanish scholars to support the hierarchical -read class- and coercive nature of Copper Age societies: that variability in settlement size reflects control hierarchies and that highly formalized planning of villages and monumental enclosures reflect direct coercive control of labor. Finally, I briefly comment on some recent problematic uses of the ritual/domestic dichotomy.
… Southwest (AD 900-1600) and the …, Jan 1, 2011
In this chapter, I argue that the period known as the Copper Age saw the rise of lineage societie... more In this chapter, I argue that the period known as the Copper Age saw the rise of lineage societies, made possible and sustained through the cyclical involvement of different communities in collective labor processes and other public events. Collective infrastructural investments were non-agricultural facilities: enclosures, fortifications, and monumental burials. These kinship-based societies had limited technological development,
and groups were by no means economically “caged,” to use M. Mann’s terms . Consequently, inclusive — and frequently ritualized — strategies would have been more effi cient than coercion as means of legitimizing political authority in and between aggregated corporate groups. I have structured the chapter in three parts. In the first, I address what I understand as common archaeological features of the Iberian Copper Age. In the second, I draw on the site of Los Millares (Almería, southeast Spain) for a more detailed analysis of the “life history” of one of the most emblematic sites of the Iberian Copper Age. Finally, I summarize my thesis and suggest some generalizations for the time period in Iberia.
García-Sanjuán et al eds: El asentamiento prehistórico de Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla): Investigación y Tutela en el 150 aniversario del descubrimiento de La Pastora., 2013
Large-scale aggregation of population is a historical
phenomenon that is rarely seen in the arch... more Large-scale aggregation of population is a historical
phenomenon that is rarely seen in the archaeological
record of prehistoric Iberia. It is a generalized process
that, with obvious differences in scale, is specifically
characteristic of the Third millennium BC. Aggregations left substantial amounts of collective labor investments that radically transformed the different regional landscapes, and likely modified
the existing socio-political structure itself. The benefits of the aggregation are not always obvious. The incorporation of different groups to these social crucibles must have necessarily required either persuasive negotiation among different constituent units in each one of the different moments of their
aggregation or the exercise of substantial coercive means by certain social groups and their followers. Any interpretation, whether minimalist or maximalist, must face an archaeological record that offers few certainties and plenty of space for the construction of underdetermined hypotheses. This paper reviews the evidence on the rise and fall of Marroquíes Bajos, Los Millares and Camino de las Yeseras as case studies in order to build a wider interpretation of Third Millennium power dynamics in Iberia.
C14 & CHRONOLOGY by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
Actas de las novenas jornadas de Patrimonio Arqueológico en la Comunidad de Madrid, 2014
Este artículo analiza el conjunto de dataciones radiocarbónicas conocidas para la Prehistoria rec... more Este artículo analiza el conjunto de dataciones radiocarbónicas conocidas para la Prehistoria reciente de la Comunidad de Madrid y valora críticamente tanto los resultados como la propia práctica arqueológica regional relacionada con el uso del radiocarbono. El trabajo se estructura en tres secciones. En la primera, se explica con fines didácticos y de un modo práctico cómo debe “leerse” una datación radiocarbónica. Seguidamente, se describe la estructura general de la serie radiocarbónica publicada para la Prehistoria reciente de la Comunidad de Madrid y se valora su evolución y sus implicaciones para el diseño futuro de la investigación. Además, se analiza la situación actual de la periodización de la Prehistoria reciente a la vista de la serie. Por último, se plantean los beneficios de la aplicación de la modelización bayesiana, ejemplificándolo en el emblemático yacimiento del Camino de las Yeseras (San Fernando de Henares, Madrid).
This paper is the first updated review of the scope, depth and problems related to the current ra... more This paper is the first updated review of the scope, depth and problems related to the current radiocarbon chronology of the late prehistory of southern Iberia. The aim is twofold. First, it critically analyses the quantity and quality of radiocarbon dates used to interpret the diverse trajectories of western Mediterranean societies throughout more than four millennia. Secondly, it reviews a set of three different and prominent archaeological phenomena from an inter-regional comparative perspective: primary and secondary burial practices, domestic stone architecture and ditched enclosures. Our long-term, geographically wide-ranging approach locates similarities while highlighting the effects of local and historical conditions in certain divergent circumstances.
Quaternary International
We present the first summed calibrated date probability distributions for the later prehistory of... more We present the first summed calibrated date probability distributions for the later prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. The SCDPD is based on 4402 determination between 8000 and 3000 BP, a time range beginning in the regional late Mesolithic and running through the Bronze Age. This period is known to see the first introduction of farming at the beginning of the Neolithic, the development of the first large population aggregations during the Copper Age and the subsequent abrupt transition to the substantially diverse Iberian Bronze Age ‘cultures’. The results conform to an exponential model for demographic growth, with a slight “boom and bust” episode between 5300 and 5150 cal BC, some 300 years after the first dated evidence for agriculture in Iberia. The evidence suggest that if migrants from outside Iberia were involved in the introduction of domesticates, this must have happened at a small scale, one not observable through SCDPD. The dating of the observed population “boom” coincides with the decline in frequency of the cardial-impressed and the wide spread of “epicardial” wares throughout the Peninsula. It thus seems reasonable to suppose that these patterns indicate a moderate increase in fertility rates of early farming groups. The SCDPD analysis also suggests that explanatory models for the rise of Copper Age ‘complexity’ or the transition to the Bronze Age should not rely on substantial changes in overall Iberian population densities.
EARLY NEOLITHIC FLINT MINING by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
ACTUALIDAD DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN ARQUEOLÓGICA EN ESPAÑA II (2019-2020) CONFERENCIAS IMPARTIDAS EN EL MUSEO ARQUEOLÓGICO NACIONAL, 2020
Este trabajo describe e interpreta la evidencia arqueológica documentada en la mina de sílex del ... more Este trabajo describe e interpreta la evidencia arqueológica documentada en la mina de sílex del Neolítico antiguo de Casa Montero (Madrid, España). Revisa las características técnicas y sociales de la minería en el contexto de las sociedades del primer Neolítico del interior peninsular. La combinación de todas las evidencias y conclusiones acumuladas por el equipo interdisciplinar que ha desarrollado el Proyecto Casa Montero nos permite sugerir que esta primera minería fue probablemente un fenómeno generacional de agregaciones de grupos pequeños y dispersos. Estas agregaciones sirvieron como base para establecer un nuevo marco de relaciones políticas más allá de cada grupo individual. Para que se diesen estos procesos fueron necesarias un conjunto de condiciones previas de carácter estratégico, táctico y logístico.
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Books by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
El inicio de la producción de alimentos generó un cambio en las formas de habitar el mundo que ha marcado la Historia de la Humanidad hasta la actualidad. Este libro presenta de forma rigurosa y atractiva los cambios sucedidos a lo largo de cinco mil años de Prehistoria, entrelazando la historia regional de Madrid con la peninsular y mundial.
Su título es un guiño al lector interesado, un juego de palabras sobre cómo las primeras sociedades productoras de alimentos buscaron las tierras más apropiadas para desarrollar su incipiente economía agropecuaria, y de cómo las tomaron para sí, las apropiaron para ellos y sus descendientes.
La tierra apropiada contiene 80 fotografías, así como 44 infografías y 8 recreaciones a doble página realizadas a propósito para este libro. Cada recreación muestra una instantánea de la vida en la Prehistoria reciente a través de momentos representativos, como la extracción de sílex en la mina del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero, los poblados rodeados de fosos y terraplenes de la Edad del Cobre o los enterramientos campaniformes con exóticos ajuares de oro, marfil y cobre del Camino de las Yeseras.
La tierra apropiada es una Prehistoria actualizada y al alcance de todos.
COPPER AGE ENCLOSURES by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
millennium BC Iberian archaeological record. Recently, ritual dynamics have been considered. All arguments rely on the same
evidence, having explicit or implicit generalizing interpretative intentions. This paper is a critical review of two recurring opinions
used by Spanish scholars to support the hierarchical -read class- and coercive nature of Copper Age societies: that variability in settlement size reflects control hierarchies and that highly formalized planning of villages and monumental enclosures reflect direct coercive control of labor. Finally, I briefly comment on some recent and problematic uses of the ritual/domestic dichotomy.
and groups were by no means economically “caged,” to use M. Mann’s terms . Consequently, inclusive — and frequently ritualized — strategies would have been more effi cient than coercion as means of legitimizing political authority in and between aggregated corporate groups. I have structured the chapter in three parts. In the first, I address what I understand as common archaeological features of the Iberian Copper Age. In the second, I draw on the site of Los Millares (Almería, southeast Spain) for a more detailed analysis of the “life history” of one of the most emblematic sites of the Iberian Copper Age. Finally, I summarize my thesis and suggest some generalizations for the time period in Iberia.
phenomenon that is rarely seen in the archaeological
record of prehistoric Iberia. It is a generalized process
that, with obvious differences in scale, is specifically
characteristic of the Third millennium BC. Aggregations left substantial amounts of collective labor investments that radically transformed the different regional landscapes, and likely modified
the existing socio-political structure itself. The benefits of the aggregation are not always obvious. The incorporation of different groups to these social crucibles must have necessarily required either persuasive negotiation among different constituent units in each one of the different moments of their
aggregation or the exercise of substantial coercive means by certain social groups and their followers. Any interpretation, whether minimalist or maximalist, must face an archaeological record that offers few certainties and plenty of space for the construction of underdetermined hypotheses. This paper reviews the evidence on the rise and fall of Marroquíes Bajos, Los Millares and Camino de las Yeseras as case studies in order to build a wider interpretation of Third Millennium power dynamics in Iberia.
C14 & CHRONOLOGY by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
EARLY NEOLITHIC FLINT MINING by Pedro Díaz-del-Río
El inicio de la producción de alimentos generó un cambio en las formas de habitar el mundo que ha marcado la Historia de la Humanidad hasta la actualidad. Este libro presenta de forma rigurosa y atractiva los cambios sucedidos a lo largo de cinco mil años de Prehistoria, entrelazando la historia regional de Madrid con la peninsular y mundial.
Su título es un guiño al lector interesado, un juego de palabras sobre cómo las primeras sociedades productoras de alimentos buscaron las tierras más apropiadas para desarrollar su incipiente economía agropecuaria, y de cómo las tomaron para sí, las apropiaron para ellos y sus descendientes.
La tierra apropiada contiene 80 fotografías, así como 44 infografías y 8 recreaciones a doble página realizadas a propósito para este libro. Cada recreación muestra una instantánea de la vida en la Prehistoria reciente a través de momentos representativos, como la extracción de sílex en la mina del Neolítico Antiguo de Casa Montero, los poblados rodeados de fosos y terraplenes de la Edad del Cobre o los enterramientos campaniformes con exóticos ajuares de oro, marfil y cobre del Camino de las Yeseras.
La tierra apropiada es una Prehistoria actualizada y al alcance de todos.
millennium BC Iberian archaeological record. Recently, ritual dynamics have been considered. All arguments rely on the same
evidence, having explicit or implicit generalizing interpretative intentions. This paper is a critical review of two recurring opinions
used by Spanish scholars to support the hierarchical -read class- and coercive nature of Copper Age societies: that variability in settlement size reflects control hierarchies and that highly formalized planning of villages and monumental enclosures reflect direct coercive control of labor. Finally, I briefly comment on some recent and problematic uses of the ritual/domestic dichotomy.
and groups were by no means economically “caged,” to use M. Mann’s terms . Consequently, inclusive — and frequently ritualized — strategies would have been more effi cient than coercion as means of legitimizing political authority in and between aggregated corporate groups. I have structured the chapter in three parts. In the first, I address what I understand as common archaeological features of the Iberian Copper Age. In the second, I draw on the site of Los Millares (Almería, southeast Spain) for a more detailed analysis of the “life history” of one of the most emblematic sites of the Iberian Copper Age. Finally, I summarize my thesis and suggest some generalizations for the time period in Iberia.
phenomenon that is rarely seen in the archaeological
record of prehistoric Iberia. It is a generalized process
that, with obvious differences in scale, is specifically
characteristic of the Third millennium BC. Aggregations left substantial amounts of collective labor investments that radically transformed the different regional landscapes, and likely modified
the existing socio-political structure itself. The benefits of the aggregation are not always obvious. The incorporation of different groups to these social crucibles must have necessarily required either persuasive negotiation among different constituent units in each one of the different moments of their
aggregation or the exercise of substantial coercive means by certain social groups and their followers. Any interpretation, whether minimalist or maximalist, must face an archaeological record that offers few certainties and plenty of space for the construction of underdetermined hypotheses. This paper reviews the evidence on the rise and fall of Marroquíes Bajos, Los Millares and Camino de las Yeseras as case studies in order to build a wider interpretation of Third Millennium power dynamics in Iberia.
Papers in honour of Jacek Lech edited by Dagmara H. Werra and Marzena Woźny. Archaeopress Archaeology: 1-8.
La caracterización se realizó usando dos métodos: descripción macroscópica y análisis petrológico. Han sido establecidos siete tipos macroscópicos (de 1 a 7) y cuatro grupos petrológicos (de A a D). La clasificación macroscópica fué fundamental en el análisis de los restos líticos, dado el gran volumen de material lítico recuperado en el sitio. La clasificación petrológica constituye un buen método para identificar los materiales de la Mina de Casa Montero en otros sitios arqueológicos.
center of Iberia used for the disposition of secondary
burials during the mid third millennium BC. We present
bioanthropological, isotopic (87Sr/86Sr, δ 13C y δ 18O)
analyses and 16 radiocarbon dates on human remains,
as well as mineralogical characterization of 6 beads (4 of
them variscite from Palazuelo de las Cuevas, Zamora), and
a quantitative analysis of 43 pottery fragments recovered
during the 1989 excavations. A minimum of 21 individu-als
have been identified, covering all age ranges and sex. Low
percentages of pathologies have been detected, mainly
dental calculus and caries, with specific cases of cribra
orbitalia, periostosis and arthritis. Only adults received
a clearly individualized treatment, suggestive of achieved
status. We interpret the evidence as a multi-staged mortuary
program, the last phase of which is documented at the site,
with previous stages perhaps carried out elsewhere, and
we evaluate these results in the context of the regional
funerary record.
This study examines strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ13C) in dental enamel and bone apatite from 82 individuals interred at Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age burial sites near Madrid, Spain, to discern variations in dietary patterns and identify possible migrants. Questions about mobility patterns and subsistence practices have played a central role in
the scholarship of Late Prehistoric central Iberia in the last 20 years, but the archaeological record has still not been able to provide clear answers. This study adds valuable data to this line of research. The results of this study suggest that migration from regions with different geologic landscapes was uncommon in these communities. For the identified migrants, based upon the 87Sr/86Sr values, 5% of the identified non-local individuals originate from regions with substantially older lithological features and possible places of origin are being investigated.
from six Neolithic sites from the Madrid region has
allowed the identification of a new and time-persisting regional
technological tradition, based on the deliberated addition of crushed bone as temper in most pottery containers. This is the first known case in Iberia, and is outstanding because of its early chronologies and persistence in time: from 5300 to perhaps 3400 cal BC. Samples were characterized by complementary mineralogical and geochemical techniques such as thin-section, conventional and grazing angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The addition of bone temper created a light and resistant ceramic material, with technological advantages for both the storage and transportation. Such advantages might be linked to mobile or semi-sedentary groups.
the Iberian Peninsula since the 1970s has had a double impact in research dynamics. It has significantly favored the internationalization of Iberian prehistoric sites and the native archaeologists who study them in the English-speaking academic community. In addition, Gilman has championed a materialist alternative to Culture-History approaches to Archaeology that have been the theoretical mainstream in European
universities for decades. A good example is his political-economy approach to the European Late Prehistoric archaeological record, whose unit of analysis has been the emergence of social inequality. His use of site catchment analysis, among other Geographical research strategies, has been essential to show the feasibility of his alternative project. His intellectual influence also owes much to his readiness to participate in Spanish-led archaeological teams, as well as his assessment and commitment in advising public research organizations and scientific journals, such as Trabajos de Prehistoria. The Junta de Andalucía recognized his influential trajectory by awarding him the Menga Medal in
2012.
This interview with Antonio Gilman took advantage of his stay during November 2019 at the Residencia de Estudiantes (Madrid) and will be published in two parts. This first article focuses on the biographical aspects of his intellectual background, highlighting the intersection of
chance –and therefore individual decision, family, class, cultural and academic networks in creating a scientific pathway of excellence.
and an expulsion of market of great part of laborforce. The future development as service sector and its own reproduction depend on temporary external factors, turning it into a highly unstable sector: reliance on socialdemocrat economic policy and advanced Capitalism cyclical crisis. We have selected Madrid as case study, paradigmatic because of its pioneer character in Iberian archaeological investigation, introduction of archaeological free market and extreme case of the development of archaeology in post-industrial context.