Prof. Dr. Ignasi Grau Mira
January 2022 - February 2023
Research Project: Encompassing transformations. Urban changes and landscape dynamics during the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity in Eastern Hispania
Traditionally, Roman studies have assumed a predominant role for urban centres as the main axes of territorial articulation, economic activities, irradiation of culture and the socio-ideological system. In contrast, less common is the approach of the dynamics of transformation of landscapes that could contribute to the observation of patterns on the larger scale. In this framework, this project proposes an archaeological analysis that integrates urban and territorial transformations: from the urban areas and the proximities of cities to peripheral spaces far away. The working premise is that the comparative and complementary study of urban, peri-urban and peripheral spaces must be carried out in an integrated way, as complementary and different domains, but territorially and economically integrated.
To investigate these broader issues, this project concentrates on the Roman towns and territoria of the Eastern Hispania, in the current South Valencia Region. The aim is the integration of both urban and landscape components for their study in the long-term. In this sense, the project proposes an interdisciplinary approach with the combination of different historical, environmental and archaeological strategies. The documentation provided by previous and ongoing research will be integrated in the framework of GIS and other spatial-based techniques for their comprehensive study.
Profile
Prof. Dr. Ignasi Grau Mira is Full Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology, Ancient History, Greek and Latin in the University of Alicante. He obtained his PhD at the University of Alicante (2000) after completing his studies in the Universities of Southampton (UK) and Arkansas (USA). He has been visiting researcher at the Universities of Southampton (2001-2003), Northern Arizona (USA) (2008), Brown (USA) (2016), Leiden (Netherlands) (2017-2018) and Bordeaux-Montaigne (France) (2021). He focuses on the study of the material culture, the landscape and the social dynamics of the Iberian Iron Age and Roman periods in Eastern Iberia. He is also interested in methodological and theoretical approaches to Landscape Archaeology in the context of the ancient Mediterranean, especially using geospatial technologies. Currently he is co-IP of the Project PID2019-107264GB-I00 Roman landscapes in the South of Tarraconense. Archaeological analysis of the territorial structure and socio-economic model founded by Spanish Science Program. He has recently co-edited, with J. Bermejo, The Archaeology of Peasantry in Roman Spain, 2022, De Gruyter, Berlin.
CV
Selected Publications
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Bermejo Tirado, Jesús (2022a), The Archaeology of Peasantry in Roman Spain, De Gruyter: Berlín.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Sarabia-Bautista, Julia (2022b), "Multiscaled archaeological survey in Eastern Iberia: Ancient settlements dynamics, agrarian practices and rural landscapes", Journal of Field Archaeology.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Riva, Corinna (2022c), "Global archaeology and microhistorical analysis. Connecting scales in the 1st-milennium B.C. Mediterranean", Archaeological Dialogues 29, 1–14.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Riva, Corinna (2022d), "Response. Connecting proposals for a post-colonial global archaeology in the Mediterranean (and beyond"), Archaeological Dialogues 29, 24–32.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Amorós López, Iván / Segura Martí, Josep Maria (2022e), "Rituales agrarios en la iconografía ibérica de época tardía (ss. II-I a.C.). A propósito de un excepcional vaso figurado del cabeço de mariola (Alfafara, Alacant; Bocairent, València)", Complutum 33-1, 249-268.
Grau Mira, I. (2022f), “The Role of Cult Places in Shaping Landscapes During the Roman Expansion: An Iberian Perspective on a Mediterranean Process”, in: Tesse Stek / André Carneiro, eds., The Archaeology of Roman Portugal in Its Western Mediterranean Context, Oxbow: Oxford, 247-262.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Segura Martí, Josep Maria (2021a), El Cabeço de Mariola (Alfafara-Bocairent): de la formación del oppidum a la dominación romana (ss. IX-I a.n.e.), Museu Arqueològic d’Alcoi: Alcoi.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Machause, Sonia / Rueda, Carmen / Roure, Réjane, eds., (2021b), Rock & Ritual. Caves, Rocky Places and Religious Practices in the Ancient Mediterranean, Ed. Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée: Montpellier.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Ruiz-Alcalde, Diego, eds., (2021c), La Necrópolis Protohistórica y Romana de Les Casetes-Sector Jovada (La Vila Joiosa, Alacant: espacios, prácticas y rituales funerarios en el litoral de la Contestania (ss.VII a.n.e.-V d.n.e.), Universidad de Jaén: Jaén.
Grau Mira, Ignasi (2021d), Cuaderno de arqueología del paisaje. Introducción al análisis espacial de las sociedades del pasado, Publicaciones de la UA: Alicante.
Grau Mira, Ignasi / Mayoral Herrera, Victorino / Belón Ruiz, Juan Pedro (2021e), Arqueología y sociedad de los espacios agrarios: en busca de la gente invisible a través de la materialidad del paisaje, CSIC: Madrid.
