foto Sonia Machause Lopez
SONIA MACHAUSE LOPEZ
PDI-Prof. Permanent Laboral Ppl
Director/a Titulacio Master Oficial
Knowledge area: ARCHEOLOGY
Department: Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History
Facultat de Geografia i Història (Edifici Departamental. 1ª i 2ª planta). Despatx 106. Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 28 46010 València
83897
Biography

International PhD in Mediterranean Prehistory and Archaeology with the dissertation “Caves as Ritual Spaces in the Iberian Iron Age: the Cases of Kelin, Edeta, and Arse” (2017). She is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Valencia.

She has conducted research both in Spain and abroad, including stays at Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes (UMR 5140, Montpellier, France) (2010–2011), the Department of Archaeology, Durham University (UK) (2015, 2019–2020), and the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced (USA) (2016). She also held a POSTD-Generalitat Valenciana–European Social Fund Fellowship for a postdoctoral stay at Durham University (2019–2020).

Her research focuses on Iberian ritual caves (6th–1st centuries BC). She explores not only the artefacts, contexts, and sacred landscapes, but also the sensorial and emotional dimensions of ritual experiences enacted within these natural settings, addressing their temporal continuity, memory, and ancestral significance. Since 2018, she has co-directed archaeological excavations at Cueva del Sapo (Chiva, Valencia) and, since 2024, at Cueva Merinel (Bugarra, Valencia).

She is currently co-Principal Investigator of the project “STALAC-RITE: Spectroscopic Analysis for the Characterization and Provenance of Speleothems in Edetan Iberian Ritual Contexts (6th–1st centuries BC)” (Fundación PALARQ), and Principal Investigator of the project “A Journey Between Worlds — Caves, Rituality, and Symbolic Landscapes in the Iberian Iron Age” (Fundación Ramón Areces) (2025–2028).

Research Interests:

  • Cave archaeology
  • Iberian Iron Age
  • Landscape Archaeology
  • Iberian Material Culture
  • Rituals
  • Sensorial archaeology

*Coordinator of the Teaching Innovation Project: METARQ (since 2020) and the Consolidated Teaching Innovation Group METARQ (since 2023).

Subjects taught and teaching methods
Tutorials
01/09/2025 - 27/01/2026
MARTES de 11:00 a 14:00 DESPATX DESPATX ANNEX DEPARTAMENTAL
Observations
Participate in the e-tutoring programme of the Universitat de València