GIAA (African Archaeology Research Group)
The African Archaeology Research Group, recently created at the Complutense University of Madrid, gathers some of the most experienced Spanish researchers in African archaeology, as well as doctorate and post-doctorate students who are now consolidating their careers in this continent. Directed by Professor Fabiola Salcedo Garcés from the Complutense University of Madrid, its main goals are the support to the member’s on-going projects, the coordination of scientific activities, the dissemination and promotion of Spanish archaeology in Africa and, in a wider sense, the creation of a research platform from which to coordinate and improve the archaeological knowledge about the African continent.
Members of the GIAA are currently developing fieldwork in Ethiopia and Tunisia, have recently finished research in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea and will start new projects in Somalia and Mozambique in the near future. Their interests cover a wide range of topics, from Landscape Archaeology to Physical Anthropology, including Classical iconography in Tunis, Ethnoarchaeology of Historical Archaeology. This variety of approaches enriches and complements the different research threads, strengthening a broad and inclusive view over African past.
Beyond their members, the GIAA keeps strong links with Spanish and foreign researchers and institutions, and is open to any kind of collaborations or partnerships that lead to a better understanding of the African archaeology and history. This webpage offers a brief overview of GIAA member’s academic profiles, not only as a way to disseminate their work but to build collaborative networks with other researchers, either individually or through similar institutions.
El Grupo de Investigación de Arqueología de África de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (GIAA) aglutina a algunos de los arqueólogos españoles con más experiencia en el continente africano y a jóvenes investigadores que están consolidando sus carreras en esta región. Dirigido por la Profesora Fabiola Salcedo Garcés, del Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología de la UCM, tiene como principales objetivos el refuerzo de los diferentes proyectos de investigación desarrollados actualmente por sus miembros, la coordinación de actividades científicas, la difusión y promoción de la Arqueología española en África y, en un sentido más amplio, la construcción de una plataforma investigadora desde la que coordinar y potenciar el conocimiento arqueológico de este continente.
Actualmente, el Grupo de Arqueología de África desarrolla proyectos en Etiopía y Túnez, ha terminado recientemente otros en Marruecos y Guinea Ecuatorial y en breve comenzará otros proyectos en Somalia y Mozambique. Sus intereses abarcan una gran variedad de temas y aproximaciones metodológicas, desde la Arqueología del Paisaje a la Antropología biológica de África, pasando por la iconografía clásica en Túnez, la Etnoarqueología o la Arqueología Histórica. Esta gama de aproximaciones enriquece y complementa las diferentes líneas de investigación de cada uno de sus miembros, reforzando una visión amplia y enriquecedora del pasado del continente africano.
Además de entre sus miembros, el GIAA mantiene una amplísima red de contactos con investigadores nacionales y extranjeros y está abierta a todo tipo de colaboraciones que supongan un avance para el conocimiento de la arqueología y el pasado africanos. Esta página pretende ofrecer una simple panorámica de los perfiles, intereses y principales publicaciones de sus miembros, no sólo para difundir nuestro trabajo sino como forma de construir herramientas de colaboración con otros grupos e investigadores con intereses similares a los nuestros.
Address: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Members of the GIAA are currently developing fieldwork in Ethiopia and Tunisia, have recently finished research in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea and will start new projects in Somalia and Mozambique in the near future. Their interests cover a wide range of topics, from Landscape Archaeology to Physical Anthropology, including Classical iconography in Tunis, Ethnoarchaeology of Historical Archaeology. This variety of approaches enriches and complements the different research threads, strengthening a broad and inclusive view over African past.
Beyond their members, the GIAA keeps strong links with Spanish and foreign researchers and institutions, and is open to any kind of collaborations or partnerships that lead to a better understanding of the African archaeology and history. This webpage offers a brief overview of GIAA member’s academic profiles, not only as a way to disseminate their work but to build collaborative networks with other researchers, either individually or through similar institutions.
El Grupo de Investigación de Arqueología de África de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (GIAA) aglutina a algunos de los arqueólogos españoles con más experiencia en el continente africano y a jóvenes investigadores que están consolidando sus carreras en esta región. Dirigido por la Profesora Fabiola Salcedo Garcés, del Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología de la UCM, tiene como principales objetivos el refuerzo de los diferentes proyectos de investigación desarrollados actualmente por sus miembros, la coordinación de actividades científicas, la difusión y promoción de la Arqueología española en África y, en un sentido más amplio, la construcción de una plataforma investigadora desde la que coordinar y potenciar el conocimiento arqueológico de este continente.
Actualmente, el Grupo de Arqueología de África desarrolla proyectos en Etiopía y Túnez, ha terminado recientemente otros en Marruecos y Guinea Ecuatorial y en breve comenzará otros proyectos en Somalia y Mozambique. Sus intereses abarcan una gran variedad de temas y aproximaciones metodológicas, desde la Arqueología del Paisaje a la Antropología biológica de África, pasando por la iconografía clásica en Túnez, la Etnoarqueología o la Arqueología Histórica. Esta gama de aproximaciones enriquece y complementa las diferentes líneas de investigación de cada uno de sus miembros, reforzando una visión amplia y enriquecedora del pasado del continente africano.
Además de entre sus miembros, el GIAA mantiene una amplísima red de contactos con investigadores nacionales y extranjeros y está abierta a todo tipo de colaboraciones que supongan un avance para el conocimiento de la arqueología y el pasado africanos. Esta página pretende ofrecer una simple panorámica de los perfiles, intereses y principales publicaciones de sus miembros, no sólo para difundir nuestro trabajo sino como forma de construir herramientas de colaboración con otros grupos e investigadores con intereses similares a los nuestros.
Address: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Members' profiles by GIAA (African Archaeology Research Group)
https://csic.academia.edu/AlfredoGonz%C3%A1lezRuibal
http://www.incipit.csic.es/es/Default.aspx
I currently work at the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the British Museum, where I catalogue and study 25,000 rock art photographs within the TARA’s Rock Art Image Project. My range of interests is wide, from the emergence of social inequalities in prehistoric societies to the use of statistics in Archaeology, the documentation and analysis of rock art and, in a broader sense, anything related to African history and culture.
https://britishmuseum.academia.edu/JorgedeTorres
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/african_rock_art_image_project.aspx
Morocco by GIAA (African Archaeology Research Group)
on different lines of work: the excavation of the Elefant's
Shelter or Adbasan, the survey made in Aguni Nait Warij,
the excavations made in the tombs of the Oukaimed valley
and the surveying in front of the K-4.14 station "Elephant's
Frieze". All these interventions have allowed for, among
other discoveries, determining chronologies. On the other
hand, the campaign has focused on the execution of different
analyses of pollen, showing a total of 10 profiles and
moss samples of the most significant enclaves were also
taken.
Other lines of investigation in 2009 have been directed at
the processes of deterioration of the cave wall etchings, proposing
recommendations of actuation in response, and to
the intensification of the general study of cavewall art in the
area, which has led to new discoveries. The campaign has
concluded with the ethno-archeological work developed in
contact with the pastors of the Atlas."
pattern of human settlement, obviously seasonal due the valley altitude –2.630 a/sl– and the human impact on the landscape. Finally we show some of the archaeological results achieved, as well as other on pollen, anthracology, GIS and radiocarbon data.
Sudan by GIAA (African Archaeology Research Group)
of large size have been found for the first time in the Central Sudan, all of them located away from the Blue Nile in the Butana and Gezira plains. Site structure and formation processes, ceramic seriation and settlement patterns have been analysed applying statistical multivariate methods to the survey quantitative data. Some historical trends have been noticed. The first is the change from a Nilewadi aquatic exploitation by small mobile groups towards demographic concentration of near-sedentary savanna hunting-herding populations. During the Late Neolithic period the groups adopted a mobile economy and their only archaeological record thereafter are the burial tumuli fields up to the Christian and Islamic periods.
https://csic.academia.edu/AlfredoGonz%C3%A1lezRuibal
http://www.incipit.csic.es/es/Default.aspx
I currently work at the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the British Museum, where I catalogue and study 25,000 rock art photographs within the TARA’s Rock Art Image Project. My range of interests is wide, from the emergence of social inequalities in prehistoric societies to the use of statistics in Archaeology, the documentation and analysis of rock art and, in a broader sense, anything related to African history and culture.
https://britishmuseum.academia.edu/JorgedeTorres
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/african_rock_art_image_project.aspx
on different lines of work: the excavation of the Elefant's
Shelter or Adbasan, the survey made in Aguni Nait Warij,
the excavations made in the tombs of the Oukaimed valley
and the surveying in front of the K-4.14 station "Elephant's
Frieze". All these interventions have allowed for, among
other discoveries, determining chronologies. On the other
hand, the campaign has focused on the execution of different
analyses of pollen, showing a total of 10 profiles and
moss samples of the most significant enclaves were also
taken.
Other lines of investigation in 2009 have been directed at
the processes of deterioration of the cave wall etchings, proposing
recommendations of actuation in response, and to
the intensification of the general study of cavewall art in the
area, which has led to new discoveries. The campaign has
concluded with the ethno-archeological work developed in
contact with the pastors of the Atlas."
pattern of human settlement, obviously seasonal due the valley altitude –2.630 a/sl– and the human impact on the landscape. Finally we show some of the archaeological results achieved, as well as other on pollen, anthracology, GIS and radiocarbon data.
of large size have been found for the first time in the Central Sudan, all of them located away from the Blue Nile in the Butana and Gezira plains. Site structure and formation processes, ceramic seriation and settlement patterns have been analysed applying statistical multivariate methods to the survey quantitative data. Some historical trends have been noticed. The first is the change from a Nilewadi aquatic exploitation by small mobile groups towards demographic concentration of near-sedentary savanna hunting-herding populations. During the Late Neolithic period the groups adopted a mobile economy and their only archaeological record thereafter are the burial tumuli fields up to the Christian and Islamic periods.
plan of the deposit and a plan for the site of the city.
Gondarine architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, and a complex underground water system was discovered in the Susenyos palace. Also one of the rooms and part of the courtyard in the missionary residence at Gorgora Nova was excavated, and a tridimensional topographical analysis was made of all the standing Jesuit buildings north of Lake Tana, using the Laser-
Scanner of the University Complutense CAI (Center of Assistance to the Archaeological Research).
Sarka, Qollela and Lege Negus (which has been tentatively identified with the site examined last year of Abba Gish Fasil, a fortified stronghold in the Damot region near the northern
border of Oromo invasions of the 17th century). A technical addenda to the work has been the restitution in colour of the 3D BW images from the Laser-Scanner analysis begun in the
previous season on the main missions north of the lake.
recently by the author in West Ethiopia, where prehistoric schematic red paintings are used together with Islamic rituals to pray for rain. The repeated connection between rock
art and rain-making in many parts of Africa strengthens the old theory that the greatest part of Canarian prehispanic rock art could have had the same function.
"
of the peristyle of Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina. Unlike the other extraordinary mosaic pavements
preserved in situ, this presents a very enigmatic iconographic interpretation and has not yet received all
the attention it deserves. All the elements in the mosaic will be analyzed: millet, kantharos, inscription
and figures II, III and IIII. All these elements allow us to reflect on the possible presence of sodalitates and
artisans coming from Northern Africa and later settled in Sicily. In addition, some new considerations can
be made regarding the inscription of Bonifatius and the hypothetical patron who commissioned the mosaic
pavement.
Keywords: Piazza Armerina, polychrome figurative mosaics, sodalitates, Bonifatius
Firstly, we can distinguish a thermal and marine context, in which it is very common to find the figure of the balneator, who is a bath attendant, usually a slave and usually black, also frequently described in texts. In addition, it is not rare at baths to find mosaics representing African men swimming or diving accompanied sometimes by sea animals, with a possible symbolic meaning. An important example in this category is the caldarium of the House of the Menander (I, 10) at Pompeii, with two extraordinary mosaics. Secondly, we can also find 'Ethiopians' depicted as warriors as well as prisoners, who would have been possibly enslaved after their capture. Finally, blacks or negroids are specially related with a big variety of spectacles in Roman daily life, including theatrical pieces, music, dancing, acrobatic games, boxing, wrestling, horse-driving, and gladiatorial fights. Some of these ‘entertainers’ and ‘athletes’ managed to achieve great success, making a living from it, and eventually beginning an ascent in Roman society, even making it all the way to the top, as theoretically every slave can do, once freed, no matter their ethnic origin nor the colour of their skin.