Other activities

11TH CONFERENCE ON SPANISH ARCHAEOLOGY ABROAD

Friday 7 June 2024

The APIAA Association of Independent Professionals in Archaeology of Asturias is organising the 11th Conference on Spanish Archaeology Abroad in the auditorium of the Archaeological Museum of Asturias. The main theme of the conference will be Africa.

The first conference, at 18:00, Spanish Mosques of Ifni and Sahara. Hispano-Muslim historical heritage on the northwest coast of Africa. By Luis Blanco Vázquez -archaeologist and member of APIAA- and Muhammad Derbal -researcher of Ifni-. 

The Spanish colonial presence in the former African territories of Ifni and Sahara can still be seen today through the remains of all kinds of buildings that still exist, including mosques, Muslim religious buildings that continue to perform the same functions for which they were built. However, the existing mosques from the Spanish period are not all the ones that were built, since several of them have already disappeared, having been destroyed by the Moroccan authorities. These buildings represent a bygone era, but also a recent one, and are considered by the indigenous populations as their own historical heritage. 

The second lecture, at 7.10 p.m., will be on the following day. The Oldupai Gorge (Tanzania): Technological evolution and environmental adaptations.

Given by Arturo Cueva Temprana, archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Germany. His presentation will detail the work carried out by the Stone Tools, Diet and Sociality (SDS) project, coordinated by the University of Calgary. Since 2018, in an international effort that brings together multiple scientific specialities - including archaeology, palaeontology, biology, geosciences, chemistry, museology and conservation - the SDS project has been investigating how past environmental conditions influenced human behaviour, from technological development to the diet of the first hominids.

This conference, funded by Oviedo City Council, has the support of the Archaeological Museum of Asturias. Admission is free until full capacity is reache.