Pasteral Cave of Cellera de Ter, new headquarter of the UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus
The UAB and the town of Cellera de Ter (La Selva, Girona) inaugurated the Pasteral Cave Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus of the UAB. The new campus will promote the site as a key place for teaching and research, and in the dissemination of knowledge in archaeological heritage.
The presentation took place in an event presided by Cellera de Ter Mayor Sergi Serramitja and which included the attendance of UAB Vice-Rector for Research Assumpció Malgosa, Faculty of Arts & Humanities Dean Margarita Freixas, and Antoni Palomo, director of the research team working at the site.
The creation of the Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus of the Pasteral Cave will strengthen the research and scientific development of this archaeological site. It will be an essential tool for the practical training of UAB undergraduate and master's students, as well as the students of the UAB PhD programme in Prehistoric Archaeology. In addition, the facilities of the site include the Centre for the Dissemination of the Natural and Archaeological Space of the Pasteral and Muntanya de Canet caves, and the former schools of the Pasteral Mestre Cicres. The agreement will also contribute to boost the archaeological heritage of the municipality through the dissemination of scientific results in the academic field and among the general public.
The Pasteral Cave is a complex of intricate galleries and rooms, some of which currently have visible access from the surface, while others are partially or completely covered and remain unknown. This labyrinthine space was used during the Neolithic as a burial place. Specifically, it is known that it was used during a chronological range that goes from 5000 to 3000 years B.C., from the Early Neolithic to the late Neolithic-Chalcolithic.
The collaboration of the UAB with Cellera de Ter in archaeology dates back to 2021, with work led by a research team of the University in which the Milà i Fontanals Institution for Research in Humanities (IMF-CSIC) is also involved, and with the collaboration of the company Insitu SCP.
With the signing of the new agreement, La Cellera de Ter becomes one of the sites of the UAB Archaeology and Palaeontology Campus. This is an instrument that helps research and scientific development in the fields of archaeology, palaeontology and cultural heritage, as well as its management and dissemination. Currently, some twenty archaeological sites in Catalonia are part of the campus.