Alejandro Prieto de Dios

Postdoctoral Researcher – SPEGEOCHERT StG-ERC 

Email: alejandro.prieto@ub.edu 

Short biography

2013 – 2018 . PhD. Dissertation title: Procurement and management of quartzite in the Cantabrian Region: The Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in the Deva, Cares and Güeña Valleys. Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona (Spain). Supervisors: Dr Alvaro Arrizabalaga and Dr Iñaki Yusta. Qualification obtained: Excellent cum laude.
2010-2011 . Master degree (M.S.c.) in Environmental Change and Human Impact in the Quaternary Period at the University of the Basque Country, Spain.
2005-2010 . Bachelor degree (B.A.) in History at the University of Salamanca, Spain.

Research interests

Palaeolithic Archaeology; Lithic Raw Material; Quartzite; Lithic technology; Geographic Information System (GIS); Survey; Petrology; Statistics; Palaeolithic Cantabrian Region, Palaeolithic Rhine Valley

Selected publications

  • Prieto, A., Cristóbal, P., Llamazares González, J., Cuartero, F., 2024: The Quartzite and Quartz Reference Collection from the CENIEH (Spanish National Research Centre on Human Evolution), Spain: An Online Database for Characterising a Wide Diversity of Lithic Raw Materials. Journal of Open Archaeology Data, 12, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5334/joad.128
  • Martín-Jarque, S., Tarriño, A., Delclòs, X., García-Alonso, B., Peñalver, E., Prieto, A. and Álvarez-Fernández, E. 2023: Les silex et autres matières premières comme preuves de contacts entre les groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs pendant le Paléolithique supérieur de la région cantabrique (nord de l’Espagne): Synthèse de l’information disponible. L’Anthropologie, 127, 1: 103092.
  • Prieto, A., Yusta, I., García-Rojas, M., Arrizabalaga, A. and Baena-Preysler, J. 2022: Quartzite procurement, not only in fluvial deposits: raw material characterisation of the lithic assemblage from Level XXII-R at El Esquilleu, Cantabrian Region, Spain. Journal of Lithic Studies, 8(2): 34.

  • Edited book: Prieto, A., Calvo, A., Domínguez-Ballesteros, E., de Lombera-Hermida, A. and Arrizabalaga, A. (Eds.) 2023: Las materias primas líticas en la Prehistoria del Pirineo y la Región Cantábrica. Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco, Veleia: Serie Monográfica: 1-334. ISBN: 978-84-13-19617 6

  • Prieto, A., Sánchez, A., de Lombera Hermida, A., and Calvo, A. 2023: Construyendo la sección de cuarcitas en la Litoteka de la UPV/EHU: desde la prospección hasta su archivo. In Veleia: Serie monográfica. University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

  • Prieto, A., Cristóbal, P., Llamazares, J. and Cuartero, F. 2024: The quartzite and quartz reference collection from the CENIEH (Spanish National Research Centre on Human Evolution), Spain: An online database for characterising a wide diversity of lithic raw materials. Zenodo. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11198773
  • Pastoors, A., Kehl, M., Prieto, A., Henselowski, F., King, G., Peresani, M., Vaquero, M. and Claßen, E. 2022: New light on the Middle Palaeolithic quartzite extraction site Troisdorf-Ravensberg (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). Bonner Jahrbücher, 221: 3-64.
  • Prieto, A. 2022: La cuarcita en el Cantábrico central: Aplicación de una metodología transdisciplinar y multifocal a la otra materia prima lítica. Arkeogazte Revista, 12: 99-128.
  • Prieto, A., Aldea-Moreira, X., Arzarello, M., Berruti, G. L. F., Caracausi, S., Daffara, S., De la Peña, P., Favreau, J., García-Rojas, M., Huysecom, E., Janardhana, B., Kumar Jha, D., Lahari, L., Molefyane, T. R., Pruvost, C., Rodríguez-Álvarez, X. P., Thomas, M., Vaishnav, H. K., Villeneuve, Q. and de Lombera-Hermida, A. 2022: How to deal with an elephant in the room? Understanding “non-flint” raw materials: Characterisation and technological organisation. Revista ArkeoGazte, 12: 73-98.

    Selected projects

    • 2022-2024: Consolidación, profundización y ampliación del análisis geoarqueológico de la cuarcita. María Zambrano Project funded by the University of the Basque Country and European Funds. MAZAM21/22
      Characterising the quartzite lithotheque from the CENIEH. Contract managed through EUSKOIKER and UPV/EHU. Client: Centro Nacional de Investigación en Evolución Humana.
    • 2019-2022: From Cantabrian Region to Central Europe: economic territories and acquisition and management of quartzite by Palaeolithic societies. Postdoctoral project funded by the Government of the Basque Country. POS_2018_1_0021

    • Participation in the project: Implementación de una infraestructura digital para litotecas arqueológicas en España- Digital Litho (RED2022-134387-T). The project was created on 2023. Funder: The Spanish Ministry of Science (Redes de Investigación). Main researcher: Xavier Terradas Battle.

    • Participation in the Research group: “evolución humana, cambio climático y adaptación cultural en las sociedades preindustriales, GIZAPRE (IT-1435-22)”. Funder:  The Government of the Basque Country. The project was created on 2022. Main researcher: Alvaro Arrizabalaga.

    • Participation in the project: “Desafíos y oportunidades de investigación en los yacimientos arqueológicos pleistocenos de la cuenca de Guadix-Baza (Granada, España). Cuenca de Orce y Solana del Zamborino, ORCEpluSZ (PID2021-125098NB-100)”. Funder: The Spanish Ministry of Science. The project was created on 2022 and it will finish on 2025. Main researcher: Juan Manuel Jiménez Arenas.

      Teaching

      • 2022-2023: “Prehistoria de la Península Ibérica” on the Bachelor degree of History at the University of the Basque Country.
      • 2022-2023: University teaching responsible for internship of 100 hours on the Bachelor degree of History at the University of the Basque Country.
      • 2022-2023: University teaching of 20 hours in the seminar: “Cuestiones de Arqueología Histórica y Prehistórica” on the Bachelor degree of History at the University of the Basque Country between.
      • 2022-2023: Organisation of the doctoral program course: “Seminario permanente de análisis del Registro Lítico”. The course was held in the doctoral program of Environmental Change and Human Impact in the Quaternary, from the University of the Basque Country.
      • 2022-2023: University teaching in doctoral program course: “Seminario permanente de análisis del Registro Lítico”. The course was held in the doctoral program of Environmental Change and Human Impact in the Quaternary, from the University of the Basque Country.