In order to understand past human behavior, it is necessary to identify and explain variability in the cultural materials resulting from this behavior. Chipped stone artifacts are the most ubiquitous cultural materials from the Middle Paleolithic. However, the interpretation of variability in these artifacts has been difficult. To address this problem, morphological variability in 1,146 Middle Paleolithic chipped stone tools, from four sites in the Iberian Peninsula, is examined in detail. This study differs from other analyses of Middle Paleolithic artifacts in emphasizing a quantitative investigation of both continuous and discrete morphological variability at the level of tool edges. These data permit analyses of the distribution of variability at the levels of individual edges, whole pieces, and assemblages. Patterns of lithic variability are also examined in the context of early Upper Pleistocene chronology and environment and compared with a larger population of Middle Paleolithic sites in Spain and the northwestern Mediterranean as a whole. For the assemblages studied, variability in edge morphology is predominantly continuous and normally distributed. Signficantly patterned relationships between edge attributes are restricted to cases in which one attribute limits, rather than determines, the range of variability in the other. These seem primarily based in the degree to which use, resharpening, and consequent edge reduction has taken place. Additionally, a dichotomy in patterns of edge use is suggested, associated with the extensiveness of use and modification. For whole pieces, most variability mirrors that of edges, suggesting that retouched artifacts are more the result of the extent and nature of the use of their edges than planned tools for which the maker had some form of "mental template." At the level of assemblages, temporal variability is minimal, while spatial and environmental associated variability is more apparent. These results are examined in light of the three most often proposed explanations for variability in Middle Paleolithic assemblages--style, function, and diachronic change. Subsequently, other aspects of Middle Paleolithic behavior--ranging from raw material usage to settlement patterns--are examined as potential sources for the patterns of lithic variability in the assemblages studied.

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Sixty individual ring-width series of oak (Quercus robur L.) from six sites in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, ranging from 50 to 120 years, were grouped using hierarchical cluster analysis with different types of distance measures. Euclidean distances as well as other linkage distances based on statistics used to crossdate tree-ring series (Gleichläufigkeit and coefficient of correlation with its corresponding t-value) were compared. In addition, a new distance measure based on a corrected inversion of the Student’s t is proposed in the present paper, which takes into consideration the number of years used for series comparison. The Euclidean distances, commonly used in ecological analyses, inefficiently identified homogeneous units of trees based on their ring-width patterns. Among crossdating statistics, the correlation coefficient was more effective than Gleichläufigkeit, but the most satisfactory results were obtained when 1/t was used as distance measure. Finally, these methods of cluster analysis have been implemented into a computer program for future use of the dendrochronological community.

The Greek colonization of the West Mediterranean and specifically Iberian Peninsula is within the scope of Greek colonization rather kind of peripheral subject. However, it is the principal subject of our work. The Greeks not by a long sight were the only merchants, settlers, visitors and discoverers of the West world at that times. They were taken over by the Phoenicians and is evident, that they were the protagonists of the Iberian Peninsula at that times. Based on the modern scientists the Phoenicians should not be seen as the only ones and charge to the account of the Greeks just the merchants's role. The new epigraphic aknowledgements and archeological research in "Contestania" are in witness of the essential presence of the Greeks in this area. The reflection of the historical sources is completed by the archeological remains. We would like to join all the new aknowledgements based on comparison of various sources that are at our disposal. Keywords Iberian Peninsula - colonization - Greeks - Contestania

This dissertation uses all of the available evidence provided by coins to construct a numismatic history of the early Islamic precious metal coinage of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The dissertation begins with a review of the analysis undertaken by earlier scholars, followed by an explanation of the adopted methodology, including the approach to the primary and secondary sources and the description of the methods used in the metrological, metallurgical, and die estimation analyses. The balance of the dissertation is divided into three sections. The first section is the typology, which divides the coinage into four series: Series 1, the Two Imperial Bust type; Series 2, the Latin Epigraphic type; Series 3, the Bilingual type; and Series 4, the Post-Reform type. The typology analyses each series in detail. This section also discusses the iconographical elements of the coinage, with a further chapter providing an analysis of certain anomalous examples that do not readily fit into the typology. The second section encompasses the analysis of the metrological and metallurgical aspects of the coinage and the estimation of the number of dies for each series. The final section combines the numismatic evidence and the historical record provided by a variety of secondary sources into a numismatic history of the two regions. This section includes a discussion of the historical context prior to, during, and after the Muslim conquest of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as a discussion of find spots and circulation. The dissertation concludes with a comparison of the evolution of the precious metal coinage in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to the evolution of Islamic coinage in other regions of the Umayyad Caliphate and an exploration of the underlying nature of the coinage (i.e. regional, Imperial, etc.).

Claudius Ptolemy composed his Geography in the city of Alexandria, one of the most prominent intellectual centres of the Roman Empire. His work offers a comprehensive description of the known world as well as insight into the practice of scholarly geography during the second century CE. Ptolemy’s most important innovation in this field was his use of geographical coordinates to create maps of the world, and his catalogue, with its latitudes and longitudes of thousands of localities, is one of our most valuable sources on the antique oikoumenē. Very little is known, however, about the sources and working methods that Ptolemy employed to produce his Geography. This book focuses on Ptolemy’s description of the Iberian peninsula and examines two problematic and interlinked topics relating to the origins of the catalogue of localities: Ptolemy’s sources and scientific methods on the one hand, and the textual transmission of the Geography, from Ptolemy to the extant manuscripts, on the other.

Este trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a análise de textos e imagens extraídos dos meios de comunicação e produção escrita de alunos aprendizes de espanhol, e as diferentes representações que aparecem nesses documentos acerca da América Latina e da Espanha. / This paper has texts and images analysis taken from communication media and texts written by Spanish learners, and different representation about Latin America and Spain that appears on them as study object.

This dissertation research is a bioarchaeological investigation of Late Neolithic through Early Bronze Age (3600-1800 BC) burial populations from the Portuguese Estremadura. In this project macroscopic and isotopic analyses of skeletal and dental materials are used to gather information pertaining to diet, health status, and inter-lifetime mobility patterns for individuals interred at different burials within a small geographic area with the goal of evaluating the level of social differentiation in the region. The archaeological record for the transition between the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in southwestern Portugal demonstrates clear evidence of the rise of a socially-complex, non-state society. During the Early Bronze Age, however, this region underwent a period of social `devolution' which cumulated in widespread settlement abandonment. To date, it is unclear to what extent sociopolitical or environmental factors contributed to this social collapse. This study seeks to expand our knowledge of social differentiation in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age of the Estremadura region of Portugal and provide insight into social structure during the emergence and collapse of early complex societies in Iberia. The results of this study found that there were statistically significant differences in dietary, mobility and demographic patterns between burials that suggest socially distinct populations were interred at different sites. In particular, one burial site, Cova da Moura, diverged significantly from the other sampled burial populations. However, based upon the data presented here, it was not possible to tie these biological markers of differentiation to particular aspects of Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age social organization. Therefore, while this study successfully identified differences between burial populations, at this time, it is not possibly to relate these to particular hierarchical structures. It is suggested that aspects of burial practices in the region confound biologically-based investigations of social organization in a similar way that they have impeded researchers' abilities to identify elite versus non-elite individuals through grave goods alone. Nonetheless, despite these obstacles, this work provides strong evidence of population heterogeneity in the region, and has implications for our understanding of the evolution of complex societies in the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere.

Este trabajo supone un estudio y análisis, así como una transcripción semipaleográfica, del manuscrito inédito P.iii.21 de la Biblioteca del Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, que contiene una copia del Libro declarante o el Libro de las tres creencias, una obra generalmente atribuida al converso castellano Abner de Burgos y que se cree se redactó a mediados del siglo XIV. Consiste de dos partes principales: Una introducción crítica donde se analizan la estructura y el propósito del Libro, así como varios temas que todavía generan controversia y a los que no se ha llegado a dar una respuesta definitiva, como lo son la autoría del Libro y el posible propósito del autor al redactar esta obra. Se comparan estrategias retóricas utilizadas a través del Libro con las estrategias que se usan en otras obras de Abner de Burgos para, así, poder ampliar el campo de argumentación con nuevas evidencias que apoyen la atribución del Libro a Abner. La segunda parte es una transcripción semipaleográfica del contenido del manuscrito escurialense P.iii.21 con anotaciones al margen y referencias en hebreo a los pasajes transliterados del hebreo al alfabeto latino que se encuentran a través de este manuscrito. Se ha intentado emparejar los pasajes bíblicos en latín con el pasaje correspondiente en la Vulgata, y también se ha tratado de identificar las fuentes utilizadas en el texto que quedan fuera de la Biblia hebrea y el Nuevo Testamento. Como marco de referencia, en la primera parte de este trabajo se ofrece una breve introducción biográfica a la figura histórica de Abner de Burgos y la influencia que ejerció en la literatura polemista, tanto judía como castellana. También se incluye una breve introducción a la relación entre Abner, el Libro y los estilos de argumentación que eran populares en la Península Ibérica en los siglos XIII y XIV.

Esta tesis doctoral recoge el estudio antracológico de los materiales leñosos carbonizados de cinco yacimientos arqueológicos de la Región de Murcia cuya secuencia cronológica cubre los últimos 3800 años, desde la Edad del Bronce hasta la época medieval. Los yacimientos estudiados son concretamente La Punta de los Gavilanes (Mazarrón), con ocupación desde la Edad del Bronce hasta mediados del siglo I a.C.; Barranco de la Viuda (Lorca), con un único momento de ocupación asociado al Bronce Argárico; el Balneario Romano de Archena, cuya cronología se sitúa en torno al siglo I d.C.; los materiales constructivos carbonizados del Teatro Romano de Cartagena y, finalmente, el enclave de los siglos XII y XIII localizado en la Calle Santa María nº 19 de Jumilla.Los resultados obtenidos se insertan en el contexto del Sureste de la Península Ibérica a partir de su discusión con las secuencias polínicas y antracológicas publicadas para esta zona. / This doctoral thesis contains the charcoal analysis of the charred materials from five archaeological sites of the Región de Murcia, whose chronological sequence covers the last 3800 years, from the Bronze Age to the medieval period. The studied sites are concretely Punta de los Gavilanes (Mazarrón), occupied from the Bronze Age to the I century BC; Barranco de la Viuda (Lorca), with one moment of occupation associated to the Argaric Bronze; Balneario Romano de Archena, whose chronology is around the I century AD; the charred building materials of the Teatro Romano de Cartagena and, finally, the medieval site (XII and XIII centuries) located in the Calle Santa Maria nº 19 of Jumilla.The results are inserted in the context of the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula by means of their discussion with published pollen and charcoal sequences from this zone.