The Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives of the Universitat de València dedicates a conference and a seminar to Prehistory at the Cultural Centre La Nau today 22 March and tomorrow, 23. The full university professors Joâo Zilhão from the Universitat de Barcelona and Valentín Villaverde from the Universitat de València will participate.
The free entry conference will take place at 19:00. The seminar will be held on 23 March from 11:00 to 13:00 and it requires previous enrolment (http://links.uv.es/MeM1G6y). The places are limited.
Joâo Zilhão will give a conference on ‘The revolution of the Upper Palaeolithic or rather the Middle Palaeolithic?’ in which he will analyse how at this time, in the Middle Palaeolithic -200,000 to 35,000 years ago- Neanderthals introduced modern human behaviours that were not present at primates, our closest relatives. At this moment some new forms of human behaviour such as the burial or the ornamentation of the bodies appeared. Both symbolism forms appeared at the same time and were related. Cadavers are used as rituals of a group with a particular place of residence, ‘our cadavers are here so this territory is ours’ while the ornamentation of the body identifies individuals as social beings.
On Thursday 23, after de conference Zilhão y Villaverde will give the seminar ‘The beginning of the symbolic expression’, in which they will go into detail about the birth of the modern behaviour. In the last decades two theoretical positions have been developed. One of them affirms that symbolism is related to a fundamental cognitive change in the human evolutionary process and considers its appearance as recent and linked to the appearance of the anatomically modern humans. The other one defends that the process not only is it linked to these latter but it did appear in different geographical areas and it is found both in modern humans and in Neanderthals. The aim of the seminar is to deal with the approaches through the evaluation of the different models and the critical analysis of the available archaeological evidence.
The Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives (http://www.escoladepensamentlluisvives.com) is a cultural project boosted by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Equality of the UV, with the management of the General Foundation of the UV, which is configured as a space for reflection and open, participatory and critical debate about current issues at world level and also for the Valencian society. Moreover, the Escola counts on the participation of other people from the Public administration and civil society: The President of the Valencian government, the City Hall of Valencia, the Valencian Department of Transparency and Education, Research, Culture and Sports, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, the Alfons el Magnànim Institute, the Escola Europea d’Humanitats and the Caixa Popular.
About Joâo Zilhão y Valentín Villaverde
Joâo Zilhão is full university professor of the Universitat de Barcelona since 2011. Before, he was professor of Palaeolithic archaeology in the University of Bristol from 2005 to 2010 and in the University of Lisbon.
He was designated by the Portuguese Government to manage the Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa, to coordinate the researches carried out to stablish the chronology of the Palaeolithic rock art in Vale do Côa and to prepare its nomination for the World Heritage ranking in December 1998.
Between May 1997 and May 2002 he created and managed the Portuguese Institute of Archaeology (IPA), a department of the Ministry of Culture which dealt with the supervision of the country’s archaeological activity.
In 1998, he directed the Palaeolithic excavation in Lagar Velho (Portugal), and in 2004-2005 he was a part of the archaeological research team in Peştera cu Oase (Romania), where the most ancient remains of modern human beings in Europe were found. He was the organizer of the conference for the annual meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists which was held in Lisbon in 2000. In 2003, he received the Humboldt Foundation Research Award (University of Cologne) in recognition of the milestones achieved in teaching. In 2005, he was awarded with the Europa prize of the Prehistoric Society of London, in recognition of his ‘important and long-lasting contribution to the study of the European Prehistory’.
Valentín Villaverde Bonilla is full university professor of Prehistory at the Universitat de València. His researching work is focused on several fields of the ancient Prehistory: the Middle Palaeolithic, Upper Palaeolithic and Prehistoric art.
He has directed archaeological excavations in several sites such as Cova Negra in Xàtiva, Cova de les Cendres in Teulada-Moraira, Ratlla del Bubo in Crevillent, Abrigo de la Quebrada in Chelva and la Cueva Antón in Mula. Moreover, he has also conducted the documentation works in Cova de les Meravelles in Gandia, Cova dels Cavalls (Tirig), Coves de la Saltadora (Coves de Vinromà), Abric de Vicent (Millares), Cingle de la Mola Remigia (Ares del Maestre), Cova Remigia (Ares del Maestre), Abric de la Sarga (Alcoi), Abric de Centelles (Albocàsser) and Abric de la Xivana (Alfarb).
He is the author of several monographs and more than a hundred of articles related to these topics. He usually collaborates with the Prehistoric Research Department of the Valencian Provincial Council and he has participated in the exhibition of the materials in Sala de Paleolítico. He has been the coordinator of several exhibitions related to his field of research. The exhibition which took place in 2001 at the Universitat de València whose title was ‘Neanderthals to Cro-Magnons. The beginnings of the human settlements in the Valencian region.’
He is member of the Scientific Committee of the National Centre of the Study of Human Evolution (CENIEH) as well as several international scientific commissions and scientific commissions of some specialised magazines in prehistoric archaeology. Nowadays he is the director of the Master's Degree in Archaeology and the Doctoral studies in Prehistory and Mediterranean Archaeology in the Universitat de València.
He is author or coauthor of books such as ‘The Palaeolithic art of Cova del Parpalló’, ‘The last hunter and harvester communities in the Iberian Mediterranean’ or ‘The hunter communities of the Valencian Prehistory’ among others.
Last update: 22 de march de 2017 08:00.
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