Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

The Heritage Laboratory (LaPa) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is an interdisciplinary research unit based in Santiago de Compostela.

Our main scientific interest is to analyze how Cultural Heritage and the values associated with it are produced, managed and socialized, as well as the material elements and social practices that integrate it.

Background

The Heritage Laboratory has existed as a research group since 1992, originally within the University of Santiago de Compostela. Through the 90's our activity was mostly linked with Landscape Archaeology.

Since 2001 most of the unit was incorporated into the CSIC and widened its research interests and fields, while keeping a strong and active link with the University of Santiago.

The head of the LaPa is professor Felipe Criado-Boado. Currently we are a group of over fifty people, including experts in archaeology, anthropology, architecture, history, art history, documentation, palaeoenvironment or information technologies.

Fields of activity

Our research activity is organized around some major issues:

· Landscape Archaeology and Cultural Landscapes

· Material Culture and Formalization Processes of Cultural Heritage

· Theoretical and Historiographic Research on Cultural Heritage Studies

· Archaeology of Buildings

· Applied Archaeology and Methodological Developments

· Processes of Heritage Formation: Memory, Identities and Conflicts

· Semantic Technologies for Cultural Heritage

· Socio-economics of Cultural Heritage

Other projects

Among the numerous recent and current projects where the LaPa personnel is involved, the following offer a good overview:

· Technologies for the preservation and valorization of Cultural Heritage

· Archaeology in Contemporary Europe: Professional Practices and Public Outreach (ACE)

· Archaeology in the Muni estuary (Equatorial Guinea)

· From the workshop to the body: metalwork as an expression of power in the later prehistory of NW Iberian peninsula

· Open air rock art in the Metal Ages between Central Asia and Europe

· Fortified landscapes in the Andean Altiplano (northern Chile)

· Cultural Heritage, coastal archaeology and vulnerability: an interrregional approach (Britanny - Galicia)

· Processes of Heritage formation in the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela

· Identity and Conflict. Cultural Heritage and the reconstruction of identities after conflicts (CRIC)

· Ruin Memories: Materiality, aesthetics and the archaeology of the recent past. Vestiges of the Spanish Civil War

· A model for the representation of the spatial components of Cultural Heritage (SPATRIAL)

· A Methodology for the Formal Representation of Cultural Heritage (MIRFOL)

· Studying Archaeology in Europe

· Advanced Research Infrastructure for Archaeological Dataset Networking in Europe (Ariadne) (starting 2013)

Publications

The Heritage Laboratory publishes three monographic series on cultural heritage. Issues from the three series are available for download for free from here.

The series Traballos de Arqueoloxía e Patrimonio (TAPA), published by the Publications Department of the CSIC since 2002, aims to the publication of monographic studies, PhD theses and conference proceedings. Manuscripts submitted for publication are put through a stringent process of peer review, according to the standards that the CSIC requires to all its series. CAPA

The series Cadernos de Arqueoloxía e Patrimonio (CAPA) is currently a desktop-published series oriented towards the dissemination of grey literature, including fieldwork reports, technical reports, academic works and specifications. Texts are peer-reviewed prior to acceptance and publication. The editorial process is typically fast (2-3 months between original reception and publication).

Anaina is a digital series distributed on an open access basis and targeted to the publication of outreach and educational materials related to cultural heritage. The series welcomes contents such as outreach resources developed in the context of research projects, exhibition catalogues or teaching units for school use.

The three series are open for publication to anyone. We will be happy to receive your publication proposals at the email addresses listed in the corresponding web pages.

Address

The Heritage Laboratory

San Roque, 2

15704 Santiago de Compostela

Spain