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

- Allepuz ET, Tsantini E, Fantuzzi L, Alvaro K & Cau-Ontiveros MA 2025, 'Assessing petrographic variability and regional connections in Medieval and Modern Catalonian Greyware Pottery: Insights from geochemical analysis', Journal of archaeological science-reports, 67 - 105339.
- Fantuzzi L, Bernal-Casasola D, Portillo-Sotelo JL, Díaz JJ, Cau-Ontiveros MA, Kiriatzi E, Müller NS & Martínez LL 2025, 'Roman pottery production in the coast of Granada (Spain) in the early Late Antiquity: a scientific analysis of ceramics from the kiln site of Los Matagallares', Archaeological and anthropological sciences, 17 - 5 - 110.
- Fernández-Tudela E, Sánchez RZ, Lapiedra MG, Gil A, Casasola DB, Cau-Ontiveros MA, Riaza EG, Perelló JC & Núñez MB 2025, 'Assessment of consolidants for the preservation of Tituli Picti on amphorae from the Ses Fontanelles late Roman shipwreck (Mallorca, Spain): An analytical approach', Journal of cultural heritage, 73 - 267 - 276.
- Hurtuna P, Cau-Ontiveros MÁ, Mas Florit C, Chávez-Álvarez E, Talavera Montes AJ, Plaza Conesa P 2025, 'Un lecho decorado con hueso en la Casa Noroeste de Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca)', Archivo Español de Arqueología 98, Enero-Diciembre 2025, 755.

Selected research activities

  • Excavations at the Roman and Late Antique city of Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca)
  • Excavations at the Roman shipwreck of Ses Fontanelles (Palma, Mallorca)