University of Oxford
School of Archaeology
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Professor Manuel Fernández-Götz

fernandez gotz photo
Professor of Later European Prehistory
St Cross College
manuel.fernandez-gotz@arch.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

Later European Prehistory from the Bronze Age to the Roman conquest; Eurasian connectivity; origins of urbanism; social identities; concept of 'Celts'; archaeology of migrations; colonial encounters; conflict archaeology; archaeological theory.

 

Geographical Areas

Temperate Europe and the Mediterranean.

 

 

My main areas of research are the archaeology of identities, early urbanisation, migrations, and conflict archaeology, with a primary focus on Bronze and Iron Age Europe. In my work, I adopt a multi-scalar and interdisciplinary approach that combines large, pan-European syntheses with the analysis of specific case studies. I have authored over 270 publications and directed fieldwork projects in Germany, Spain, the UK, and Croatia (including at the Iron Age sites of the Heuneburg, Monte Bernorio, and Kaptol). I am also interested in the history of archaeology, current debates in archaeological theory, colonial encounters in the ancient world, and the different pathways for integration into the Roman world. From 2021-25 I have been PI of the Leverhulme Trust-funded project “Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain”. Since 2024, I am co-director of the excavations at the Late Iron Age oppidum of Cerro del Gollino (central Spain). 

I hold a binational PhD between the Christian-Albrecht University Kiel and the Complutense University of Madrid. Prior to moving to Oxford, I worked at the State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg (2011-13) and the University of Edinburgh (2013-24), where I served as Head of the Archaeology Department and most recently held the Abercromby Chair of Archaeology. I am currently Trustee of National Museums Scotland (NMS) and co-editor of the Journal of Urban Archaeology. 

Selected Awards

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (2026)

Honorary Professor, University of Edinburgh (2025)

Member of the Academia Europaea (2023)

Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute (2023)

Royal Society of Edinburgh's Thomas Reid Medal (2021)

Philip Leverhulme Prize in Archaeology (2016)

 

 

Key words: urbanisation, urbanism, migration, mobility, materiality, inequality, gender and identity, decolonisation, conflict archaeology, later prehistory, Classical-Roman, Europe, Eurasia