Pilar
Diarte Blasco

Institute of History (IH)
Tenured Scientist
Archaeology R&D Labs: Landscape Archaeology and Teledetection Laboratory
Office
2D29
Phone
916022340 / Extensión interna: 441497
https://digital.csic.es/browse?type=author&authority=rp14864&authority_lang=es_…
ORCID

Redes sociales

Biografía

Pilar Diarte-Blasco is a Tenured Senior Research Scientist, specializing in Landscape Archaeology of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, particularly in rural landscapes and urban analysis, with extensive experience in archaeological excavation and survey, as well as in the management and visualization of archaeological data. Her extensive training has been complemented by long-term research stays in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. In 2023, she obtained the R3 certificate. Additionally, she is accredited by ANECA as Assistant Professor (Ayudante Doctor), Contracted Doctor Professor (Profesor Contratado Doctor), and Private University Professor (Profesor de Universidad Privada).

After earning her History degree at the University of Zaragoza (2005), she began her predoctoral stage at the Università di Bologna (Italy), where she participated in several projects (in Italy and Croatia). In 2007, after receiving an HPC Europe fellowship at CINECA, she was awarded a predoctoral research fellowship to pursue her thesis (European Doctorate, summa cum laude), entitled “The Morphology of Urban Change in Hispania: The Adaptation of Roman Public Spaces to the New Reality of Late Antiquity.” Her postdoctoral stage began at the Spanish School of History and Archaeology in Rome (EEHAR-CSIC) and at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (PIAC); during this period, she continued her research on landscape transformation processes associated with the end of the Roman world and joined the significant Tusculum Archaeological Project, where she implemented the application of non-invasive techniques and initiated virtual archaeology-related project work.

In 2015, she joined the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester after being awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship for the project “Urban Centres and Landscapes in Transition: The Mediterranean Far West in Late Antiquity (MED-FARWEST; https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/658045/en).” Her research focused on the transformation processes of cities and rural areas in Hispania during Late Antiquity, tracking structural impacts and responses in various economic, social, and religious contexts. In July 2017, she returned to Spain with a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporation contract at the University of Alcalá and, from 2018 onward, became co-director of the Recópolis Archaeological Project. At the end of 2018, she was awarded first place in the Humanities category of the call “Aid for Attracting Research Talent for Incorporation into Research Groups of the Community of Madrid,” which promotes the incorporation of prestigious researchers into Madrid’s research centers. In 2020, she joined as a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the University of Alcalá and, in 2022, at the Institute of History.

Specialization field
Landscape Archaeology, Late Antiquity, Early Middle Ages
Publications

Articles (more recent):

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Castro-Priego, M., Sedes sine urbe: una aproximación arqueológica a la imagen urbana del centro peninsular durante el periodo visigodo. Archivo Español de Arqueología, 98, 2025, 733. https://doi.org/10.3989/aespa.098.025.733

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Castro-Priego, M., Is Historical Cartography a Useful Tool for Landscape Analysis? A Perspective from Inland Spain (Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara) from the Middle Ages to the Present. Land, 12 (2023), 1627. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081627

  • Castro-Priego, M., Diarte-Blasco, P., Olmo-Enciso, L., Coins from the multi-stratified medieval site of Reccopolis: analysis of long-term numismatic records. Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies (2023). https://doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2023.2245392

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Castro-Priego, M., Olmo-Enciso, M., La muralla de Reccopolis (Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara): técnicas constructivas y transformaciones de un circuito defensivo de periodo visigodo. Arqueología de la Arquitectura, 19 (January–December 2022). https://doi.org/10.3989/arq.arqt.2018.006

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Castro-Priego, M., Olmo-Enciso, M., Urban Defence and the Visigoths: New Light on Fortification Design and Technology from the Royal City of Reccopolis (Guadalajara, Spain). Medieval Archaeology, 66(1) (2022), pp. 30–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2022.2065067

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., et al., Interpretation of magnetic anomalies of geological and archaeological origins in a volcanic area (Tusculum site, Lazio, Italy): Methodological proposals. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2020.103942

  • García-Ruiz, J.M., Tomás-Faci, G., Diarte-Blasco, P., Montes, L., Domingo, R., Sebastián, M., Lasanta, T., González-Sampériz, P., López-Moreno, J.A., Beguería, S., Transhumance and long-term deforestation in the subalpine belt of the central Spanish Pyrenees: An interdisciplinary approach. Catena, 195 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104744

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Ariño Gil, E., Pérez-Polo, M., Asturica (Astorga, León) y Albocela (Villalazán, Zamora) entre la Antigüedad y la Edad Media: análisis comparativo de sus territorios. SPAL, 29-1 (2020), pp. 271–299. https://doi.org/10.12795/spal.2020.i29.10

  • Olmo-Enciso, L., Castro-Priego, M., Diarte-Blasco, P., Transformación social y agrosistema en el interior peninsular durante la Alta Edad Media (s. VI-VIII d. C.): nuevas evidencias desde Recópolis. Lucentum (2019). https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2020.151.


Books (selection of the most recent)

  • Beolchini, V., Diarte-Blasco, P. (eds.), Tusculum VII: ridefinendo la città medievale scomparsa. Madrid: Editorial CSIC, 2025.

  • Carneiro, A., Christie, N., Diarte-Blasco, P. (eds.), Urban Transformations in the Late Antique West: materials, agents and models. Coimbra: Coimbra University Press, 2020. ISBN: 978-989-26-1897-5

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Late Antique and Early Medieval Hispania: Landscapes without Strategy?. Oxford: Oxbow, 2018. ISBN: 9781785709968

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., Christie, N. (eds.), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxbow, 2018. ISBN: 9781789250343

  • Diarte-Blasco, P. (ed.), Cities, Lands and Ports in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Archaeologies of Change. Bologna: BraDypUS – Communicating Cultural Heritage, 2017. ISBN: 9788898392599

  • Diarte-Blasco, P., La configuración urbana de la Hispania tardoantigua. Transformaciones y pervivencias de los espacios públicos romanos (s. III-VI d. C.). Oxford: Archaeopress. BAR International Series 2429, 2012. ISBN: 978-1407310282


Special Issues

Research projects

Research Projects as PI (most recent)

(2026–2024) Cities that Dirt: Urban Productivity, Consumption, and Pollution in Early Medieval Hispania (CONURBAN)
Reference: CNS2023-144171
Funding body: Research consolidation of the 2023 call, within the framework of the State program to develop, attract, and retain talent / Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities
Execution center: Department of Archaeology and Social Processes, Institute of History (CSIC)
Funding: €198,478.69

(2026–2023) The Construction of Suburban Spaces in the Visigothic Period: The Case of Reccopolis (SUBRECC)
Reference: PID2022-136708NA-I00
Funding body: Knowledge Generation Projects (MICIU)
Execution center: Department of Archaeology and Social Processes, Institute of History (CSIC)
Funding: €57,512 https://digital.csic.es/cris/project/pj00285

2023 A Mansion on the Via Aurelia (Montalto di Castro, Viterbo): Analysis of Infrastructures and Communication Routes around Ancient and Medieval Rome
Reference: PIAR-2023-13
Funding body: Program for Funding Archaeological Intervention Projects Abroad, CSIC “Conexión-Arqueología” network
Execution center: Department of Archaeology and Social Processes, Institute of History (CSIC)
Funding: €6,500

(2025–2022) Reccopolis and Its Material Culture: From Object to Built Space (RECCULT), co-directed with Manuel Castro Priego
Reference: SBPLY/21/180501/000205
Funding body: Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha https://reccopolis.es/
Execution center: University of Alcalá
Funding: €97,179.52

(2020–2021) Between Byzantines and Lombards: Tuscania (Viterbo, Italy) and Its Territory from the 5th to the 10th Century AD
Reference: T002020N0000045563
Funding body: Grants for Financing Archaeological Excavations Abroad / Ministry of Culture and Sport
Execution center: University of Alcalá
Funding: €15,390.00