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In recent decades, archaeological and written records have been used in combination to improve our understanding of Late Antique and Early Medieval Hispanic architectural culture (5th–10th c.). Within this renewed research context, the rebuilding of Late Antique churches and the reuse of earlier materials in both Early Medieval Christian and Islamic religious buildings; the transformation of Late Antique churches into early Islamic mosques in al-Andalus; and the rebuilding of other churches by the Christians themselves, both in al-Andalus and in the northern Iberian plateau, from the late 8th century onwards, have often been used to thread narratives concerning tradition, continuity, and re-sacralisation of earlier religious architectural spaces and, through this, religious change in the middle ages. However, the application of modern archaeological methodology reveals that these processes need to be qualified, for the stratigraphic gaps between building phases make them sometimes hard to interpret. By analysing some examples of Hispanic religious sites, this paper reflects on the many concepts related to sacralisation, explains the way archaeology is able to trace the sacralisation processes, and intends thus to highlight the complexity of these phenomena.

This study analyses the reshaping of the religious landscape of the cities of Hispania, from the disappearance of polytheistic sanctuaries to the construction of Christian churches, from the fourth to the middle of the sixth centuries CE. The focus is placed on the agents who financed these complexes and the motivations behind their euergetic activities. The study highlights that the configuration of places of worship in the urban landscape was a contingent process often dependent on individual (layperson) initiative, challenging the widespread assumption that the Church and its bishops were the main promoters of urban redevelopment in Hispanic cities during this period.

The Blaubeuren monastery (Germany) is home to one of the most beautiful religious artistic expressions of Swabian art from the end of the 15th century, a collaborative work of various artists and workshops, including Jörg Syrlin the Younger, Michel Erhart, Hans Schüchlin, Bartholomäus Zeitblom, and Bernhard Strigel. It is a high altar triptych with a double opening. On its right inner bas-relief is “The Adoration of the Magi”, a work by Bartholomäus Zeitblom (ca. 1455–1520), a prominent member of the Ulm School. In the scene, on King Balthazar’s leg, there is a short literary text and a number, “DIER ZVO LIEB 100”, as well as a crowned monogram among floral elements. In this decipherment study, we propose meanings for all of these inscriptions, based on a collection of various previous solutions. The conclusions lead us to a pious expression toward the Child God based on an old Tyrolean Christmas carol compiled in the 19th century, which we trace back to at least the 15th century, an author’s signature by Zeitblom, and an acknowledgment of the royalty of the Virgin Mother Mary.

Death is not only a universal biological fact; for the individual it is the “event horizon”. This fact has important symbolic meanings and complex social consequences. Any society, secular or not, must manage this reality. What response is given to the question of religious phenomenon in general, and to funerary practices in particular, in a secular society in which individuals with different religious sensibilities coexist? This article aims to analyse the response given by the Spanish state to the questions raised regarding burials by Muslim communities, the most widespread minority group in Spain as a whole. This response, which would be framed within what could be called a ‘cooperation model’, has encountered some difficulties as a result of the territorial organisation of the Spanish state. Despite this, the willingness to cooperate on the part of both the administrations that make up the state and the Islamic communities has made a situation of stable coexistence possible.

International audience; While the emergence of the Acheulean is well documented in East Africa at ~1.7 Ma, subsequent developments are less well understood and to some extent controversial. Here, we provide robust evidence regarding the time period between 1.6 Ma and 1.2 Ma, based on an interdisciplinary approach to the stratigraphic sequences exposed in the Gombore gully of Melka Kunture, in the upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia. Throughout the Pleistocene, the environment differed significantly from elsewhere in Africa because of the elevation at 2000 m asl, the cooler and rainy climate, the Afromontane vegetation, the development of endemic animal species, and the recurrent impact of volcanic activity. At Gombore IB, dated ~1.6 Ma, remains of Homo erectus/ergaster have been discovered, associated with a rich early Acheulean assemblage. The techno-typological analysis of the lithic record from Gombore Iγ (~1.4 Ma) and Gombore Iδ (~1.3 Ma), where substantial areas have been excavated, and the contrasting evidence from Gombore OAM Test Pit C (~1.2 Ma), suggest that the scarcity or lack of large flakes and large cutting tools at the two earlier sites is possibly not just the outcome of sampling bias, but rather of the adaptation of H. erectus/ergaster to the local resources, in a relatively isolated environment. The sites of Gombore gully provide new evidence on the complex pattern of human evolution and adaptation in East Africa during the Lower Pleistocene.

In this paper, I examine the ideas regarding image reception that can be extracted from the De altera uita, a theological treatise written by the Iberian bishop Lucas de Tui in ca. 1230. In this book, he devotes one chapter to rejecting the changes that were taking place at the time in the image of the Crucifixion, especially concerning the variation in the number of nails and the shape of the cross. I will show that this text provides illuminating references regarding image reception, mainly through Lucas’s concerns about the visual misleading of the faithful and their devotional responses to artworks. By examining this work, which I will set against the theological and devotional background of its time, I will argue that this treatise reflects the importance of sight within the religious experienc of late-medieval Europe This scientific publication is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 950248). The project, entitled “The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art and Somatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th–15th century)-SenSArt” (PI Prof. Zuleika Murat) is being carried out at the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua in 2021–2026. SI

Case study methodology allows for the eval- uation of the intervention and influence of Bishop Feliciano de Vega over a five-year period (1634-1639) in the geographical distribution of the clergy of the diocese of La Paz, through permutas and permits for trips and stays. The study assesses clerical mobility, which allowed the prelate to relocate these Indigenous parish priests, and to grant them prolonged absences -inside and outside of the territory-, mainly due to health reasons. A partir de estudios de caso, se valora la intervención e iniciativa del obispo Feliciano de Vega (1634-1639) en la distribución geográfica del clero de la diócesis de La Paz a través de permutas y permisos de ausencia. El artículo analiza los espacios de movilidad que permitieron al prelado reubicar a los doctrineros y autorizar ausencias prolongadas de sus parroquias –principalmente por motivos de salud-, tanto dentro como fuera del obispado.

We wish to thank HRH Prince Badr b. Abdullah b. Mohammed b. Farhan Al-Saud, Ministry of Culture, and to HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the former President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) for giving us permission to carry out research at the Camel Site, and we also wish to thank his Excellency Prince Faisal bin Nawwaf bin AbdulAziz al-Saud, governor of the Jawf Province for the support of his administration. We also thank Mr Rustom al-Kubaisi, vice-president of the former SCTH, and the General Director for Archaeological Excavations at the Heritage Commission Dr Abdullah al-Zahrani and his assistants especially Saud M. al-Tamimi. Local support in Jawf province was provided by Mr. Yasser al-Ali and Mr. Ahmed al-Qaeed (SCTH now Heritage Commission). We thank Wael Abu-Azizeh for providing comparative data with lithic assemblages from the Levant; RC thanks CEFREPA Kuwait for funding part of this research. YHH’s work leading to this publication was supported by the PRIME programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). AMA acknowledges the support of the Research Center at the College of Tourism & Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We also thank Mathew Stewart for constructive comments on an initial draft of the manuscript. Fieldwork and research were funded by a grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Grant No AZ 43_V_18, to MG and GC), the CNRS (to GC), Labex Resmed ANR-10- LABX-72 / ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02 (to GC), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French embassy in Riyadh (to GC), the CEFAS (to RC and GC), the Dahlem Research School at Freie Universität Berlin (to MG), the Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program of King Saud University (to MOA and AA), and the Max Planck Society (to MG and MOA). The life-sized, naturalistic reliefs at the Camel Site in northern Arabia have been severely damaged by erosion. This, coupled with substantial destruction of the surrounding archaeological landscape, has made a chronological assessment of the site difficult. To overcome these problems, we combined results from a wide range of methods, including analysis of surviving tool marks, assessment of weathering and erosion patterns, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and luminescence dating of fallen fragments. In addition, test excavations identified a homogenous lithic assemblage and faunal remains that were sampled for radiocarbon dating. Our results show that the reliefs were carved with stone tools and that the creation of the reliefs, as well as the main period of activity at the site, date to the Neolithic. Neolithic arrowheads and radiocarbon dates attest occupation between 5200 and 5600 BCE. This is consistent with measurements of the areal density of manganese and iron in the rock varnish. The site was likely in use over a longer period and reliefs were re-worked when erosion began to obscure detailed features. By 1000 BCE, erosion was advanced enough to cause first panels to fall, in a process that continues until today. The Camel Site is likely home to the oldest surviving large-scale (naturalistic) animal reliefs in the world.