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SUMMARY: Science and Nationalism. Atapuerca\, the Making of a Magic Mounta
 in: Human-Origins-Research and National Identity in Contemporary Spain - O
 liver Hochadel (Institució Milà i Fontanals\, CSIC\, Barcelona\, Spain)\
 ; Discussant - Robert Foley (Leverhulme Professor of Human Evolution\, Uni
 versity of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20130131T133000Z
DTEND:20130131T153000Z
UID:TALK42651@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:William Carruthers
DESCRIPTION:In 1994 a Spanish research team found in the Sierra de Atapuer
 ca in Northern Spain hominid fossils that turned out to be more than 780.0
 00 years old\, making them the oldest in Europe. Three years later the res
 earchers named a new species: Homo antecessor. In 2002 Spanish historian F
 ernando García de Cortázar chose for his Historia de España the subtitl
 e De Atapuerca al euro.\n\nHow is it possible that within less than ten ye
 ars Atapuerca turned from a practically unknown archeological site to the 
 (however imaginary) starting point of Spanish history? I will argue that t
 his did not happen “by itself”. The sheer age of the fossils was not e
 nough. The numerous and intense efforts of the researchers themselves to p
 opularize their findings were crucial. These efforts were taken up by the 
 Spanish media as well as by museums and political actors and strongly enha
 nced.\n\nNumerous studies have shown how closely nation building goes hand
  in hand with research into human prehistory. Yet they mostly focus on the
  late 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The example of Atapuerc
 a will show that the strong link between hominid fossils and national iden
 tity still exists in the 21st century. The paper will also try to show tha
 t there are different ways of appropriating prehistoric human remains. One
  may distinguish the concept of “biological continuity” in which the f
 ossils represent some kind of ancestor from the concept of “scientific n
 ationalism”. The latter consists in the pride in the scholarly achieveme
 nt and international recognition of “our own” scientists. In Atapuerca
  – UNESCO- world heritage site since the year 2000 – we may even disce
 rn a third concept: the marketing of origins in order to lure tourists to 
 the site: nationalism enterprised-up.
LOCATION:Room B16\, Faculty of Law\, Sidgwick Site\, West Road\, Cambridge
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