Expert for early social complexity among Neolithic and Copper Age societies collaborates with colleagues in the Cluster ROOTS

Leonardo García Sanjuán is JMA Chair from March to June 2023. Photo: Jan Steffen, Cluster ROOTS

This month, we welcome the well-known Spanish archaeologist Leonardo García Sanjuán from the University of Seville to Kiel. He is the current holder of the Johanna Mestorf Academy Chair for the coming months until mid-June 2023

Leonardo García Sanjuán's research centres on a number of themes, including early social complexity, burial practices, megalithic monuments and prehistoric landscapes, with a focus on Late Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Iberia. He is also interested in topics such as rare rocks, exotic materials, radiocarbon dating and stelae.

He has carried out fieldwork in the southern Spanish provinces of Badajoz, Córdoba, Huelva, Seville and Málaga and written or edited several books and numerous papers in journals and edited volumes.

Currently, Leonardo García Sanjuán coordinates research projects at two major sites. At the UNESCO World Heritage site of Antequera (Málaga) he has studied the biography of Menga, the largest megalithic monument of Iberia, and discovered a new monument at La Peña de los Enamorados. At the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán (Seville) he has recently completed a full multidisciplinary study of Montelirio, a remarkable tholos-type megalithic tomb.

The academic career of Leonardo García Sanjuán has started as a pre-doctoral research fellow at the University of Seville. After his PhD he worked as a European Commission Marie Curie Program post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Southampton (UK) and as a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford (UK). Since 2000, he is back at the University of Sevilla.

While in Kiel, Leonardo García Sanjuán will collaborate with colleagues in the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS. During the Kiel Conference he already held a keynote on "Environment, Aggregation and Monumentality in Early Complex Societies: The Case of Valencina". A public JMA Chair lecture with Leonardo García Sanjuán will be announced separately.

Johanna Mestorf Academy: here
Leonardo García Sanjuán's personal website at the University of Seville: here

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