Though only less more than 50 years old, the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB) has already consolidated itself amongst the 200 best universities in the world within the main university rankings and is located within the top 10 new universities with greatest international projection and prestige.
The departments at UAB dealing with archaeology are located within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters in the area of Arts and Humanities. This was part of the initial nucleus of centres belonging to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona founded in 1968. The Department of Prehistory covers research on human origins in Africa to the Ethnoarchaeology of modern hunting-gatherer societies, as well as the development of agricultural societies and the origin of the states in prehistory. The Department is structured in different research groups and centres.
Specifically, the Centre for the Study of Prehistoric and Archaeological Heritage (CEPAP), carries on research on prehistoric and experimental archaeology, digital applications in the field of archaeological data management and site interpretation and heritage management and education. CEPAP-UAB has been member of EXARC since 2003.
CEPAP also manages the UAB Archaeological Campus of La Noguera, a research, educational and touristic cluster in the Pyrenees which includes a visitor centre (Espai Origens), an experimental archaeological park open to schools and general public (Parc Arqueològic de Sant Llorenç de Montgai) and the Palaeolithic site of Roca dels Bous, which is open to public visits since 2010.
The experimental archaeological park is directly related to the research projects and archaeological fieldwork that are carried on by CEPAP in the Noguera region (prehistoric sites of La Roca dels Bous, Cova Gran, Abric Pizarro) and to the educational programme of the Noguera Field School (Camp d’Aprenentatge de la Noguera), that opened its doors in the 2006-07 academic year. It is an educational service of the Autonomous Regional Government of Catalonia's Department of Education.
UAB has also a group of internationally recognised professors from the field of archaeology some of whom also work with experimental archaeology like Dr. Antoni Palomo Pérez (curator of the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya). His team analyses technical processes of recent prehistory through experience, especially related to the technology of wood, stone, malacalogy and bone. Further, they develop experiments of knapping and wood work..
