Jorge De Torres Rodríguez
Biographic Data
| ID | 823265 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jorge De Torres Rodríguez |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jorge De Torres |
| FAMILY NAME | Rodríguez |
| SIGNATURE | RODRÍGUEZ J T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8687-9332 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 80 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Breaking Borders: The Medieval Archaeology of the Ethiopian-Somaliland Borderland
This article examines the impact of colonial borders on the interpretation of medieval archaeology in the Horn of Africa, focusing on the region now divided between Ethiopia and Somaliland. The boundary established in the 1930s fragmented what had historically been an integrated cultural and economic landscape, leading to uneven research trajectories and hindering the reconstruction of historical processes whose scope transcended modern political…
Gone with the wind. Urbanization and deurbanization processes in the medieval Muslim Horn of Africa: The case of Handoga (Djibouti)
Rise of the Nomad Kings—Pastoral Polities in the Horn of Africa ( a.d. 650–1000)
The archaeology of nomadic societies in northeastern Africa is understudied in comparison with sedentary populations. This is particularly the case in the Horn of Africa. The image of nomadic groups is still quite static, as if they had changed little over the millennia. Recent archaeological research in Somaliland and Djibouti is helping to change this narrative. In this article, we focus on the emergence of nomadic polities that occurred during…
From cairns to graves: Funerary transformations in medieval sedentary communities in the Islamic Horn of Africa
The funerary practices of a human group often tell us more about the living than about the dead. Analysing the funerary practices of a society is therefore key to understanding what dynamics marked not only death but also the life of a human group. The arrival of Islam in the Horn of Africa planted the seeds for a series of changes that would alter the social, religious and cultural dynamics of the region, especially during the period of its two …
El Cuerno Virtual: Estrategias Digitales Para La Documentación Y Difusión De La Arqueología Del Cuerno De África
El proyecto StateHorn busca entender, desde una perspectiva multidisciplinar, el origen y la consolidación de los estados medievales islámicos del Cuerno de África, para comparar su estabilidad entre los siglos XI y XVI con las actuales tensiones en la región. Para manejarse en un complejo escenario que incluye varios países, diferentes tradiciones académicas y lenguajes, el proyecto StateHorn ha desarrollado una serie de estrategias y herramient…
City of Traders: Urbanization, Social Change, and Territorial Control in Medieval Fardowsa (Central Somaliland)
This paper presents the results of the research conducted at the site of Fardowsa, a medieval town located in a strategic trade route in Central Somaliland. The excavations and surveys conducted at the site have confirmed the role of Fardowsa as a trading center between the 14th and 16th centuries, and have revealed the existence of privileged households within the site, with differential access to imports and livestock. The combination of data c…
Entanglements, ontologies, and grinding stones at the medieval site of Handoga (Djibouti)
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period
During the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, the territory of western Somaliland was integrated into a series of Muslim states which controlled large areas of the southeastern Horn of Africa. One of the ways this control manifested itself was in the emergence of a network of permanent settlements on the westernmost side of Somaliland and the neighboring Ethiopian region. Although 20 of these sites have been identified so far, our information abo…
Urban mosques in the Horn of Africa during the medieval period
Between the 13th and the 16th centuries, the Horn of Africa experienced a series of major transformations which made this zone one of the most dynamic regions in the continent. These historical processes included the consolidation of Muslim principalities in the region, the expansion of Islam among Somali nomads, the development of an urban network and the strengthening of existing political and trade links with the rest of the world. Throughout …
The Medieval Archaeology of Somaliland
During the medieval period, Somaliland and the rest of the Horn of Africa went through a number of important processes that laid the foundations of many of the historical dynamics of the 20th and 21st centuries in the region. These transformations included the consolidation of Islam, the expansion of international trade networks, the movement of the Somali people to the west, and the emergence of a score of Muslim principalities that progressivel…
Guiding Sky: Funerary Orientations and Nomadic Movements in Somaliland during Antiquity
This paper presents an astronomical study of a sample of ancient cairns, stelae and burials at the cairnfield of Xiis (Heis) in Somaliland, a historic centre of long-distance trade between different cultures. The analyses reveal a set of significant orientations that the paper relates to the seasonal movements of the region’s nomads, which are believed to have remained unchanged for millennia. The structures, which date from the first to the thir…
Nomads Trading with Empires: Intercultural Trade in Ancient Somaliland in the First to Seventh Centuries CE
This article presents new data from fieldwork in the de facto state of Somaliland, a region in the Horn of Africa historically inhabited by nomadic pastoralists who played a key role in commercial exchange from the first century BCE onward. Relations between ancient empires and nomadic populations have received comparatively little attention in relation to other groups living within or outside imperial boundaries. Our understanding of these inter…
Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade
Characterization of Glass, Shell, and Fishbone Beads on Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) in the Context of the Indian Ocean Trade
Asia in the Horn. The Indian Ocean trade in Somaliland
The Indian Ocean trade in the Horn of Africa during the Middle Ages has received much less attention than in other regions of the Islamic world, such as the Gulf and East Africa. The Horn is still too often represented as a void in maps showing routes and distributions of trade goods. In this article we present the results of archaeological surveys conducted between 2016 and 2020 in places of trade around Berbera, one of the main Red Sea ports in…
Against All Odds: The History of Archaeological Research in Somaliland and Somalia
This article presents an overview of the history of archaeological work in Somaliland and Somalia from the late nineteenth century to the present, situating that work within its ever-changing social and political contexts. It also assesses the current challenges and opportunities that archaeological practice faces in both regions. Despite numerous obstacles—including political instability, a fragmented academic community, and deficiencies in the …
Museological Approaches to the Management of Digital Research and Engagement: The African Rock Art Image Project
The African Rock Art Image Project at the British Museum has documented and disseminated c. 24,000 digital images of rock art from throughout the continent, donated by the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA). The images were registered into the British Museum’s permanent collection and treated as objects in their own right, not just digital reproductions of objects. As a wholly born-digital collection, this led to several opportunities and challeng…
Introduction to Special Issue: African Rock Art and Digital Practice
The fair and the sanctuary: Gathering places in a nomadic landscape (Somaliland, 1000-1850 AD)
Gathering places play a paramount role among pastoralists. Markets, sanctuaries, graves and watering places are foci of ritual, economic and social activity. They facilitate inter and intragroup relations, including trade, marriage arrangements, political alliances, conflict resolution ceremonies, the dispersal of news and religious activities. In this article the authors will explore two types of gathering places used by nomadic pastoralists in …
Myth and meaning: San-Bushman Folklore in global context
The name of J. D. Lewis-Williams has been linked for decades to his ground-breaking theory relating shamanism and Southern African rock art, and the interpretation of San paintings in the light of
Sherds of a Kingdom: Historical Pottery of the Lake Tana Region (Northern Ethiopia)
Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): Preliminary Results From the 2015–2016 Field Seasons
Somaliland was a key region in the trade routes connecting the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean from antiquity to the nineteenth century. However, little archaeological work on this topic has been carried out in the region to date. A new project by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) intends not only to assess the role of Somaliland in the Indian Ocean network, but also to understand the participation of local communit…
Judith and the Dragon: A Jesuit architectural relief from Gorgora Iyäsus church, 1626–1632
In the 2014 excavations at the Jesuit church of Gorgora Iyäsus on the northern shore of Lake Ṭana a remarkable relief in stone was unearthed. The relief was originally part of the church’s façade. It represents the biblical heroine Judith over a dragon and it contains two inscriptions in Gǝʿǝz from the Book of Judith and Genesis. This piece represents one of the few recorded inscriptions on stone from the end of the Aksumite period to the present…
Intervenciones Arqueológicas. A la búsqueda de las huellas de la presencia humana en el valle
The text describes the excavations undertaken in different sites of the valley. The reasons for their choice and the results obtained. Seventeen sites were tested, either burial mounds or shelters. We can contextualize the human presence in the valley at different time periods: Late Neolithic, Late Neolithic-Copper Age, Bronze Age and Middle Ages. Also, and despite the plundering, some interesting features regarding the tumuli could be observed t…
Desenredando patrones en el arte rupestre de Oukaïmeden
Statistical analysis was applied to the study of Oukaïmeden rock art as a way to obtain chronological information. By means of correspondence analysis we identified trends in the representation of the various individual motifs in the valley rock art. Subsequently we analyzed recurrent associations and overlappings, which led us to the last scale of analysis: the dating of rock art stations
The fair and the sanctuary: Gathering places in a nomadic landscape (Somaliland, 1000-1850 AD)
Gathering places play a paramount role among pastoralists. Markets, sanctuaries, graves and watering places are foci of ritual, economic and social activity. They facilitate inter and intragroup relations, including trade, marriage arrangements, political alliances, conflict resolution ceremonies, the dispersal of news and religious activities. In this article the authors will explore two types of gathering places used by nomadic pastoralists in …
Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): Preliminary Results From the 2015–2016 Field Seasons
Somaliland was a key region in the trade routes connecting the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean from antiquity to the nineteenth century. However, little archaeological work on this topic has been carried out in the region to date. A new project by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) intends not only to assess the role of Somaliland in the Indian Ocean network, but also to understand the participation of local communit…
Asia in the Horn. The Indian Ocean trade in Somaliland
The Indian Ocean trade in the Horn of Africa during the Middle Ages has received much less attention than in other regions of the Islamic world, such as the Gulf and East Africa. The Horn is still too often represented as a void in maps showing routes and distributions of trade goods. In this article we present the results of archaeological surveys conducted between 2016 and 2020 in places of trade around Berbera, one of the main Red Sea ports in…
Nomads Trading with Empires: Intercultural Trade in Ancient Somaliland in the First to Seventh Centuries CE
This article presents new data from fieldwork in the de facto state of Somaliland, a region in the Horn of Africa historically inhabited by nomadic pastoralists who played a key role in commercial exchange from the first century BCE onward. Relations between ancient empires and nomadic populations have received comparatively little attention in relation to other groups living within or outside imperial boundaries. Our understanding of these inter…
Urban mosques in the Horn of Africa during the medieval period
Between the 13th and the 16th centuries, the Horn of Africa experienced a series of major transformations which made this zone one of the most dynamic regions in the continent. These historical processes included the consolidation of Muslim principalities in the region, the expansion of Islam among Somali nomads, the development of an urban network and the strengthening of existing political and trade links with the rest of the world. Throughout …
Characterization of Glass, Shell, and Fishbone Beads on Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) in the Context of the Indian Ocean Trade
Sherds of a Kingdom: Historical Pottery of the Lake Tana Region (Northern Ethiopia)
Entanglements, ontologies, and grinding stones at the medieval site of Handoga (Djibouti)
Guiding Sky: Funerary Orientations and Nomadic Movements in Somaliland during Antiquity
This paper presents an astronomical study of a sample of ancient cairns, stelae and burials at the cairnfield of Xiis (Heis) in Somaliland, a historic centre of long-distance trade between different cultures. The analyses reveal a set of significant orientations that the paper relates to the seasonal movements of the region’s nomads, which are believed to have remained unchanged for millennia. The structures, which date from the first to the thir…
The Azazo Project: Archaeology and the Community in Ethiopia
In this article we discuss the motivations, aims, and preliminary results of working with a local community in Ethiopia. Trying to escape from the (neo)colonial archaeology that is still practised in Africa, this project aims to achieve a cooperative and participative archaeology. This work with the community has been one of our main priorities in our last seasons, and although we have focused on elementary school and university students, we have…
Rise of the Nomad Kings—Pastoral Polities in the Horn of Africa ( a.d. 650–1000)
The archaeology of nomadic societies in northeastern Africa is understudied in comparison with sedentary populations. This is particularly the case in the Horn of Africa. The image of nomadic groups is still quite static, as if they had changed little over the millennia. Recent archaeological research in Somaliland and Djibouti is helping to change this narrative. In this article, we focus on the emergence of nomadic polities that occurred during…
From cairns to graves: Funerary transformations in medieval sedentary communities in the Islamic Horn of Africa
The funerary practices of a human group often tell us more about the living than about the dead. Analysing the funerary practices of a society is therefore key to understanding what dynamics marked not only death but also the life of a human group. The arrival of Islam in the Horn of Africa planted the seeds for a series of changes that would alter the social, religious and cultural dynamics of the region, especially during the period of its two …
City of Traders: Urbanization, Social Change, and Territorial Control in Medieval Fardowsa (Central Somaliland)
This paper presents the results of the research conducted at the site of Fardowsa, a medieval town located in a strategic trade route in Central Somaliland. The excavations and surveys conducted at the site have confirmed the role of Fardowsa as a trading center between the 14th and 16th centuries, and have revealed the existence of privileged households within the site, with differential access to imports and livestock. The combination of data c…
Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade
Introduction to Special Issue: African Rock Art and Digital Practice
Desenredando patrones en el arte rupestre de Oukaïmeden
Statistical analysis was applied to the study of Oukaïmeden rock art as a way to obtain chronological information. By means of correspondence analysis we identified trends in the representation of the various individual motifs in the valley rock art. Subsequently we analyzed recurrent associations and overlappings, which led us to the last scale of analysis: the dating of rock art stations
Ensamblando datos. SIG y la historia humana del valle de Oukaïmeden
Geographic Information Systems have become recently a methodological device to analyze the social configuration of historical landscapes. This paper deals with mobility and visibility as basic agents of the landscape organization, which is in turn, one of the theoretical bases of ARPA’s project. Hence, the need of applying these methodological tools to achieve a deeper knowledge of that process. GIS techniques show a direct connection between roc…
Ismael del Pan (1889-1968). Arqueología, etnografía, educación y política en la primera mitad del siglo XX
La vida del arqueólogo y etnógrafo Ismael del Pan (1889-1968) sirve como guía para realizar un recorrido por las estructuras académicas y educativas de tres periodos de nuestra historia reciente (Monarquía, República y dictadura franquista) y sobre la forma en que se imbricaron y transformaron política, ciencia y educación en la España de la primera mitad del siglo XX. De origen humilde, Ismael del Pan aprovechó al máximo las posibilidades que le…
The Azazo Project: Archaeology and the Community in Ethiopia
In this article we discuss the motivations, aims, and preliminary results of working with a local community in Ethiopia. Trying to escape from the (neo)colonial archaeology that is still practised in Africa, this project aims to achieve a cooperative and participative archaeology. This work with the community has been one of our main priorities in our last seasons, and although we have focused on elementary school and university students, we have…
La construcción de secuencias cronológicas. Una aplicación estadística multivariante a la Edad del Hierro en el valle medio del Tajo
This paper shows the potential of a type of multivariate analysis (Correspondence Analysis) as a statistical tool useful to process, present and interpret qualitative information, especially when dealing with poorly systematized datasets. This statistical method is applied to the middle Tagus valley Iron Age, a region where the last decades’ archaeological information improvement has not yet brought about a clear, well defined chronological seque…
A Place for Everyone. The Structure of A rroyo C ulebro D Cemetery and The Social Organization in the Middle T agus V alley I ron A ge ( S pain)
The relationship between agriculture, sedentarization and the emergence of inequality has been a common subject when analysing the transition between egalitarian and non‐egalitarian societies. However, the strategies used during that process and their archaeological expressions are difficult to detect and interpret. The aim of this paper is to provide an example – the emergence of Early Iron Age cremation cemeteries in the Middle Tagus valley – o…
Intervenciones Arqueológicas. A la búsqueda de las huellas de la presencia humana en el valle
The text describes the excavations undertaken in different sites of the valley. The reasons for their choice and the results obtained. Seventeen sites were tested, either burial mounds or shelters. We can contextualize the human presence in the valley at different time periods: Late Neolithic, Late Neolithic-Copper Age, Bronze Age and Middle Ages. Also, and despite the plundering, some interesting features regarding the tumuli could be observed t…
Desenredando patrones en el arte rupestre de Oukaïmeden
Statistical analysis was applied to the study of Oukaïmeden rock art as a way to obtain chronological information. By means of correspondence analysis we identified trends in the representation of the various individual motifs in the valley rock art. Subsequently we analyzed recurrent associations and overlappings, which led us to the last scale of analysis: the dating of rock art stations
Ensamblando datos. SIG y la historia humana del valle de Oukaïmeden
Geographic Information Systems have become recently a methodological device to analyze the social configuration of historical landscapes. This paper deals with mobility and visibility as basic agents of the landscape organization, which is in turn, one of the theoretical bases of ARPA’s project. Hence, the need of applying these methodological tools to achieve a deeper knowledge of that process. GIS techniques show a direct connection between roc…
Conclusiones y nuevas vías de análisis
Main conclusions achieved by the ARPA project are discussed in the present paper. Although we do not discard previous sporadic visits, up to now, the oldest evidences of human regular use of the Oukaïmeden valley date back to the Late Neolithic, coinciding with changes in the African Monsoon. Combining archaeology, paleoecological information, 14C, art, and statistics and using GIS tools, we offer an interpretation of the human use of the valley …
Judith and the Dragon: A Jesuit architectural relief from Gorgora Iyäsus church, 1626–1632
In the 2014 excavations at the Jesuit church of Gorgora Iyäsus on the northern shore of Lake Ṭana a remarkable relief in stone was unearthed. The relief was originally part of the church’s façade. It represents the biblical heroine Judith over a dragon and it contains two inscriptions in Gǝʿǝz from the Book of Judith and Genesis. This piece represents one of the few recorded inscriptions on stone from the end of the Aksumite period to the present…
Sherds of a Kingdom: Historical Pottery of the Lake Tana Region (Northern Ethiopia)
Exploring long distance trade in Somaliland (AD 1000–1900): Preliminary Results From the 2015–2016 Field Seasons
Somaliland was a key region in the trade routes connecting the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean from antiquity to the nineteenth century. However, little archaeological work on this topic has been carried out in the region to date. A new project by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) intends not only to assess the role of Somaliland in the Indian Ocean network, but also to understand the participation of local communit…
Against All Odds: The History of Archaeological Research in Somaliland and Somalia
This article presents an overview of the history of archaeological work in Somaliland and Somalia from the late nineteenth century to the present, situating that work within its ever-changing social and political contexts. It also assesses the current challenges and opportunities that archaeological practice faces in both regions. Despite numerous obstacles—including political instability, a fragmented academic community, and deficiencies in the …
Museological Approaches to the Management of Digital Research and Engagement: The African Rock Art Image Project
The African Rock Art Image Project at the British Museum has documented and disseminated c. 24,000 digital images of rock art from throughout the continent, donated by the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA). The images were registered into the British Museum’s permanent collection and treated as objects in their own right, not just digital reproductions of objects. As a wholly born-digital collection, this led to several opportunities and challeng…
Introduction to Special Issue: African Rock Art and Digital Practice
The fair and the sanctuary: Gathering places in a nomadic landscape (Somaliland, 1000-1850 AD)
Gathering places play a paramount role among pastoralists. Markets, sanctuaries, graves and watering places are foci of ritual, economic and social activity. They facilitate inter and intragroup relations, including trade, marriage arrangements, political alliances, conflict resolution ceremonies, the dispersal of news and religious activities. In this article the authors will explore two types of gathering places used by nomadic pastoralists in …
Myth and meaning: San-Bushman Folklore in global context
The name of J. D. Lewis-Williams has been linked for decades to his ground-breaking theory relating shamanism and Southern African rock art, and the interpretation of San paintings in the light of
Quirimbas islands (Northern Mozambique) and the Swahili gold trade
Characterization of Glass, Shell, and Fishbone Beads on Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) in the Context of the Indian Ocean Trade
Asia in the Horn. The Indian Ocean trade in Somaliland
The Indian Ocean trade in the Horn of Africa during the Middle Ages has received much less attention than in other regions of the Islamic world, such as the Gulf and East Africa. The Horn is still too often represented as a void in maps showing routes and distributions of trade goods. In this article we present the results of archaeological surveys conducted between 2016 and 2020 in places of trade around Berbera, one of the main Red Sea ports in…
The Medieval Archaeology of Somaliland
During the medieval period, Somaliland and the rest of the Horn of Africa went through a number of important processes that laid the foundations of many of the historical dynamics of the 20th and 21st centuries in the region. These transformations included the consolidation of Islam, the expansion of international trade networks, the movement of the Somali people to the west, and the emergence of a score of Muslim principalities that progressivel…
Guiding Sky: Funerary Orientations and Nomadic Movements in Somaliland during Antiquity
This paper presents an astronomical study of a sample of ancient cairns, stelae and burials at the cairnfield of Xiis (Heis) in Somaliland, a historic centre of long-distance trade between different cultures. The analyses reveal a set of significant orientations that the paper relates to the seasonal movements of the region’s nomads, which are believed to have remained unchanged for millennia. The structures, which date from the first to the thir…
Nomads Trading with Empires: Intercultural Trade in Ancient Somaliland in the First to Seventh Centuries CE
This article presents new data from fieldwork in the de facto state of Somaliland, a region in the Horn of Africa historically inhabited by nomadic pastoralists who played a key role in commercial exchange from the first century BCE onward. Relations between ancient empires and nomadic populations have received comparatively little attention in relation to other groups living within or outside imperial boundaries. Our understanding of these inter…
Kola’s Kingdom: The Territory of Abasa (Western Somaliland) during the Medieval Period
During the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, the territory of western Somaliland was integrated into a series of Muslim states which controlled large areas of the southeastern Horn of Africa. One of the ways this control manifested itself was in the emergence of a network of permanent settlements on the westernmost side of Somaliland and the neighboring Ethiopian region. Although 20 of these sites have been identified so far, our information abo…
Urban mosques in the Horn of Africa during the medieval period
Between the 13th and the 16th centuries, the Horn of Africa experienced a series of major transformations which made this zone one of the most dynamic regions in the continent. These historical processes included the consolidation of Muslim principalities in the region, the expansion of Islam among Somali nomads, the development of an urban network and the strengthening of existing political and trade links with the rest of the world. Throughout …
El Cuerno Virtual: Estrategias Digitales Para La Documentación Y Difusión De La Arqueología Del Cuerno De África
El proyecto StateHorn busca entender, desde una perspectiva multidisciplinar, el origen y la consolidación de los estados medievales islámicos del Cuerno de África, para comparar su estabilidad entre los siglos XI y XVI con las actuales tensiones en la región. Para manejarse en un complejo escenario que incluye varios países, diferentes tradiciones académicas y lenguajes, el proyecto StateHorn ha desarrollado una serie de estrategias y herramient…
Archaeology (27 works) · Geography (22 works) · History (21 works) · History (18 works) · African history and culture analysis (15 works) · Ancient history (15 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (15 works) · Sociology (13 works) · French horn (11 works) · Art (10 works)