Project
Colonial connections in the ancient Mediterranean
Originally trained as a Mediterranean archaeologist, my research centres on comparative perspectives in the study of the Phoenician/Punic and Greek colonial impact on Mediterranean Iberia and Central Italy between the 9th and the 2nd centuries BC. I have analysed continuities and transformations in domestic architecture, food practices, and the manufacture and use of textiles to get a deeper understanding of craft traditions and cultural meanings, social hierarchies and violence in the everyday life of ancient Mediterranean communities.

– Me analysing with a portable microscope the textile fibres from El Turuñuelo, Spain (Photo courtesy of Esther González)

– Plain weave linen textile from Los Millares (Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Spain)

– Punic necropolis in Tangier, Morocco (Author)
Fieldwork



For this research, I have studied in Belgium, Egypt, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US, and carried out fieldwork in Cyprus, Italy, and Spain for more than 16 years by now. My network spans numerous museums, national research centres and universities in Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US.

– Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri (Author)

– Punic glass bead from the Metropolitan Museum in New York (Author)

– Olmeda’s archaeological team at work, Guadalajara, Spain (Photo by Jesús Arenas)

– Outline of two houses at Pompei, Italy (Jesús Arenas & Author)
News
Remains of ‘earliest-ever’ Iberian textiles factory that was burned to the ground 2,500 years ago reveals how ancient wool was SACRIFICED alongside animals
Descubren en El Turuñuelo los primeros tejidos de lana y de sarga de la península Ibérica
Los tejidos del Turuñuelo: la lana tejida más antigua de la Península gracias a los tartesios
Descubren los primeros tejidos de lana y de sarga de Iberia en una finca rural de Extremadura quemada de forma intencional en el siglo V a.C.