Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros

Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros

Universitat de Barcelona

Humanities

I am an archaeologist focused on Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean archaeology and archaeometry. After my Ph.D. (1998) (University of Barcelona), I was a postdoctoral TMR-EU Research Fellow (1998-2001) at the University of Sheffield (UK). I returned to Catalonia with an AGAUR Return Grant (2001-2002) and as a researcher for the EU project CERAMED (2003). I am an ICREA Research Professor since 2003 and current director of the ERAAUB Research Unit and of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Barcelona (IAUB). I have participated in national and EU projects, such as GEOPRO, CERAMED, and Progetto Classe (World Heritage site of Ravenna). I have been Visiting Professor at the universities of Cagliari, Sassari (Italy), and Brown (USA). I am a co-founder of the international conference LRCW, and of the series Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery and Limina/Limites: Archaeologies, histories, islands, and borders in the Mediterranean (365-1556).

Research interests

I have a major research interest in Roman and Late Antique Archaeology, and in pottery studies especially in the analysis of coarse and cooking wares. I have specialised in the application of physico-chemical, mineralogical and petrographic techniques to the study of ceramics to investigate their provenance, technology, distribution, and consumption. I have a broad interest in the analytical study of ceramics, including the theoretical foundations of the discipline and the study of living pottery-making traditions. One of my main research interests is to investigate the transformation of the Roman world, particularly on Mediterranean islands. I am currently leading excavations at the Roman and Late Antique city of Pollentia, the Christian complex of Son Peretó (Mallorca), the exceptional Late Roman shipwreck of Ses Fontanelles, as well as field surveys, and ceramic ethnoarchaeology expeditions in the Balearics and Sardinia. I am also working at the Roman villa of Llorís (Lleida).

Selected publications

- Cau Ontiveros MÁ, Fantuzzi L, Rodríguez Martorell F, Tsantini E, Macias Solà JMª 2023, 'Sorting out problems with Late Roman Eastern Mediterranean cooking wares from Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain) combining archaeology and archaeometry', Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 48, 103837.
- Cau-Ontiveros MÁ, Mas-Florit C, Chávez-Álvarez E, Sala R, Meyer C, Ortiz H & Simón P 2023, 'Comprehensive geophysical prospection of the Roman and Late Antique city of Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain)', Archaeological Prospection, vol. 30, nº.4, pp. 411-427.
- Cau Ontiveros MÁ, Mas Florit C, Chávez Álvarez ME, Valenzuela A, Fantuzzi L & Tuset J 2023, 'A Ceramic Assemblage from the Byzantine Period in the City of Pollentia (Alcudia, Mallorca)', in V. Caminneci, M. C. Parello and M. S. Rizzo (eds) LRCW 6, Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and archaeometry. Land and Sea: pottery routes, RLAMP Series, Archaeopress, Oxford (United Kingdom), pp. 738–748.
- Bellviure Pérez J, Cau-Ontiveros MÁ, Mas-Florit C & Chávez-Álvarez E 2023, 'Una nueva tessera lusoria procedente de Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca)', Archivo Español de Arqueología, 96.
- Mas Florit C, Cau Ontiveros MÁ, Pecci A, Valenzuela A 2023, 'A Late Roman Deposit from the Roman Villa of Sa Mesquida (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain)', in V. Caminneci, M. C. Parello and M. S. Rizzo (eds) 2023, LRCW 6, Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and archaeometry Land and Sea: pottery routes, RLAMP Series, Archaeopress, Oxford (United Kingdom), pp. 729–737.

Selected research activities