The archaeology of the Spanish Civil War is one more expression of the field of contemporary archaeology, which studies the societies of the present and recent past on the basis of material culture. In the case of the Civil War, archaeology can provide valuable information on aspects that have been left untreated in historiography and that have to do with everyday life, the cultural history of objects, forgotten episodes of war and the political violence that was hidden by the dictatorship.

Rather than offering a chronological overview of the conflict, this conference will look at the Civil War through ten objects recovered in archaeological excavations and exhumations over the last decade that tell a different story.

Discovering the site of the battle and the traces that the troops left on the ground, learning more about the combats and armed confrontations that have become milestones in the course of history are some of the objectives of the so-called archaeology of battlefields, a new thematic aspect within the discipline, which is arousing more and more interest every day.
Under the title Archaeology of the Great Battles, the Museum is organising this round table discussion in which, by means of three well-known military confrontations, the new approaches and contributions of these studies in recent years will be discussed. On this occasion, the chronological framework takes us to the archaeology of more recent times, from the contemporary era to the medieval period.
Medal commemorating the Battle of San Quintín, reverse, MAN
Eduardo Juárez Valero will talk about the Battle of La Granja (1937), which took place during the Spanish Civil War, and the proposal to catalogue the site as a site of cultural interest. For his part, José Antonio Rebullida Porto, author of the recently published book Felipe II y el éxito de San Quintín (1557), will talk about this well-known battle, a good example where archaeology is complemented by historical research to fill in the documentary gaps and interpret a transcendental war event of the 16th century. Finally, Mario Ramírez Galán will focus on the Battle of Alarcos (1195), from an archaeological and museographic perspective. Finally, conclusions will be drawn on the archaeology of battlefields in Spain and the interest of the musealisation of this type of site.

Between 1640 and 1668 the Portuguese Restoration War took place, which began after the proclamation of the Duke of Bragança as João IV and ended with the independence of Portugal. The first consequence was the construction of a border defence network that modernised the network of medieval castles, giving rise to a new landscape that materialised the principles of bastioned fortification. Various research projects have analysed the Galician-Portuguese border archaeologically, which has not allowed us to understand the defensive system that was developed from 1640 onwards and continued to be transformed in the following centuries.

Study of the fortress has revealed its importance as one of the oldest and most important Christian fortifications in Europe. Built around the year 930 by King Ramiro II of León, it served as a frontier for Christianity against the power of the Caliphate of Córdoba. The complex evolutionary process of its construction, the extraordinary constructive qualities of Ramiro and the exceptional nature and technological sophistication of its defence arrow slits are some of the elements on which the current proposals for study and recovery contained in the Master Plan are based.