Conference

Maria Herrero-Otal

I am a Biologist with a minor in Human Evolution and Palaeontology and my interests focus on plant raw materials used to manufacture daily objects of prehistoric societies. During the last year I have been working on the identification of plant fibres used in prehistoric basketry and cordage in the laboratory of Archaeobotany of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). I have also participated actively in archaeological field works in several sites and in the last two years I have been involved in the archaeological project of the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Spain).

I am particularly interested in exploring and developing new techniques to establish well-defined methodologies to identify botanical raw materials as fibres used in crafts, depending on the preservation conditions materials have been conserved. This would permit us to understand the environmental management of natural resources by human past societies.

Susagna Romero-Brugués

Susagna Romero-Brugués, PhD student since 2005 from the Autonomus University of Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona (Spain). My main area of research is Archaeobotany, especially on the direct evidence of vegetable fibers, mainly Cordage and Basketry from the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. I studied the material recovered at the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, Spain), at the Epicardial site of Coves del Fem (Ulldemolins, Spain) or the Bronze Age site of Cova des Pas (Menorca, Spain). Recently, I also incorporated indirect evidence into the study, such as plant imprints on pottery. I am an integral member of several research teams: (HAR2016-76534-C2-1-R 2016 - 2019) Computational simulation of historical phenomena of social and technological change during the Neolithic, (PID2019-105302RJ-I00 2020 - 2023) Born to be wild (B-WILD). Crafting wild plants resources during Iron Age in the North of Iberia i (CA 19131 2020 - 2024) EuroWeb - Europe Through Textiles: Network for an Integrated and Interdisciplinary Humanities.

Raquel Piqué i Huerta

Raquel Piqué i Huerta (PhD in History, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) is a professor at the Department of Prehistory, UAB (Spain) and ICREA Academia Researcher. Responsible of the laboratory of archaeobotany since 1993. She has carried out research projects in the northeast of Spain, Argentina, Chile and Senegal. Her research activity has focused on the archaeology of hunter-gatherer and firsts farming societies, archeobotany and ethnoarchaeology. Her goal is to conduct interdisciplinary research on the management of resources, that is to say, how societies organized the production and consumption of resources, with special attention to the production and consumption of plant foods, and goods and tools made of plants.  Nowadays she is co-director of the research project at the early Neolithic site of La Draga (Spain).