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

- Aquilué Abadías X & Cau-Ontiveros MÁ (eds) 2024, Les àmfores gregues a Ibèria. Novetats arqueològiques i estat actual de la recerca, Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, Servei de Publicacions del Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya
- Cau-Ontiveros MA, Bernal-Casasola D, Pecci A, Fantuzzi L, Picornell-Gelabert L, Oliver AV, Retamosa JA, Portillo-Sotelo JL, Perelló JC, Llabrés SM, Fuertes CD, Riaza EG 2024, 'Multianalytical approach to the exceptional Late Roman shipwreck of Ses Fontanelles (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain)', Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 16, 58.
- Cau-Ontiveros MÁ, Chávez-Álvarez E, Mas-Florit C, Orfila Pons M & Cardell Perelló J (eds) 2024, Cien años de excavaciones arqueológicas en Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca) (1923-2023), Ministerio de Cultura, Madrid
- Cau-Ontiveros MÁ, Fantuzzi L, Tsantini E, Torres JR 2024, 'Ceramic production and trade in Eivissa (Balearic Islands, Spain) during Vandal rule: An integrated analytical study', Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 54, April 2024, 104382.
- Van Dommelen P & Cau-Ontiveros 2024, 'Local Heroes: Alternative Histories of the Western Mediterranean', in L Gosner & J Hayne (eds), Against the Grain: Local Experiences of Connectivity and Mobility in the Ancient West-Central Mediterranean, Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology, Sheffield (United Kingdom): Equinox, pp. 295-307

Selected research activities

  • Excavations at the Late Roman shipwreck of Ses Fontanelles (Mallorca)
  • Excavations at the Roman city of Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca)
  • Director of the Institute of Archaeology, University of Barcelona (IAUB)