A ‘science of exportation’? International scholarship in the professionalization of prehistory in Spain (1902-1922)

Résumé En

The evolution of prehistory as a scientific discipline in Spain is marked by the contribution of German and Frenchscholars in the first decades of the 20th century. Their role in the study of the Stone Age, and particularly ofprehistoric cave art, was paramount; however they were mostly perceived as ‘intruders’ by the leading Spanisharchaeologists. The latter defined prehistory as a patriotic endeavour and felt threatened by the ‘foreign’researchers, whom they accused of stealing Spanish past, both materially and symbolically. In this paper, Iintend to explore in which ways the rising Spanish prehistorian community defined itself and established itscontrol on the discipline by constructing the ‘foreign archaeologist’ as antagonist. In doing so, I aim at throwingsome light on the origins of this perception, and its lingering influence on the historiography of Spanisharchaeology.