R. Valcarcel Rojas Ma

Biography

Roberto Valcárcel Rojas (born in Holguín, Cuba, in 1968) obtained a Bachelors degree in History and a Masters in Cuban and Caribbean Studies (1999) from the Universidad de Oriente. In 2005 he was a Marie Curie fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Doctoral degree in archaeology (Leiden University, 2012; Cum laude) with an investigation about indigenous hispanic interaction in Cuba and in the caribbean region. Has conducted archaeological projects in Cuba as part of local institutions (researcher of the Departamento Centro Oriental de Arqueología, Holguín) or in collaboration with specialist and institutions from United States of America and Europe, including studies in pre-Columbian iconography and indigenous cultural regions, the investigation of early ceramic sites, early colonial interactions and archaeological heritage management. Has participated in fieldwork in Cuba and Dominican Republic with the Caribbean Research Group, Leiden University. From 2005 he is director of archaeological research on behalf of the Departamento Centro Oriental de Arqueología at the site of El Chorro de Maíta. Has participated in archaeometallurgical studies in the Wolfson Labs (IoA-UCL, UK) and in AGLAE, Paris, France.

Research Interest

His main research interests are cultural interaction, ceramic analysis, indigenous social organization in the Caribbean and archaeology of the early colonial times in the América´s. From 2013, as postdoctoral researcher in the ERC Synergy-NEXUS 1492 project, he focuses in the study of the Indian (people with indigenous ancestors) as a colonial category and in the evolution and characters of this social component combining archaeological investigation and diverse historical sources.