Submitted by Maxwell Poruban the 2024 Spring program in Granada, Spain…
This semester I am taking a Spanish Studies seminar that explores the history and culture of Spain in the 21st century. Our central question is: Why are we the way we are? More specifically: What is Spain in the 21st century and how did it get here? And how do I have connections of my own as a foreigner? Our first assignments have focused on answering the prehistoric aspect of these questions through local archeological study. As an Anthropology major, I know the importance of understanding the local material culture and how it weaves a tapestry of understanding of the past. This past week, as a course assignment, I visited the Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico de Granada which is situated in the Albaicin neighborhood where I live. The museum houses a collection of artifacts that span the period of human occupation of the Iberian Peninsula; a span of over 1.4 million years. Daily objects combined with religious, political, and scientific remnants chart the cultures that came before Spain including the Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Greeks, Tartessos, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, the Berber Arabs, and finally the catholic kings of Spain. All these civilizations and more are represented in objects that show the mosaic of Spanish history. While, like every human occupied land, there is a history of war, death, and disease, there is also a continuum of beauty, science, and simple humanity. My favorite objects from the museum were a series of oil lamps from the 10th century. Lamps, candles, hearths, and today’s light bulbs to me represent an important aspect of humanity: our pursuit of knowledge. Although objects that allow us to create artificial light serve purposes such as for cooking, safety, or fending off the beast of the night (real and imagined), they also have a dual purpose. They allow us to remove obscurity and free our minds from the fear that it brings. I think this is why I have such a fascination with artifacts of this type. It shows us that our ancestors were not so different from us although we are separated by so many years. (Submitted on February 11, 2024)