During the last three decades, growing interest in the human occupation of islands has incited the development of numerous surveys and excavations throughout the entire Mediterranean and beyond. Island archaeology has grown exponentially as islands are now considered ideal settings for the study of socio-cultural transformations and cross-cultural interaction. The focus has been traditionally centered on prehistory and in the colonization of islands. The study of islands, however, can address many different processes across historical periods.
In fact, the study of islands can make momentous contributions to the understanding of the Mediterranean Sea during the transition from the Roman to the Medieval periods. Our projects are developed primarily in the Balearics and Sardinia. The idea is to understand the Roman world and its transformation through the Vandal and Byzantine periods. The main interests are the following: a) the study of settlement patterns, b) the study of urban transformations using as a case study the city of Pollentia, c) the role of the ecclesiastical architecture in the rural landscape, and d) the archaeological and archaeometric characterization of ceramic products of the Western Mediterranean.
We work in several sites in the Balearics, such as the Roman and Late Antique city of Pollentia (Mallorca), the Roman villa of Sa Mesquida (Mallorca), and the early Christian complexes of Son Peretó (Mallorca), Illa del Rei (Mallorca) and Es Cap des Port (Menorca). We are also involved in some archaeological projects in Sardinia.
