Spain

Physical anthropology as a scientific discipline in Spain can be considered as starting in the 1860s under the influence of the French anthropologist Paul Broca (for further detailed information on its beginnings in Spain see Reverte Coma 1991). The year 1865 saw the creation of the Spanish Anthropological Society (Sociedad Española de Antropología) with several famous scholars such as Pedro González de Velasco and Ángel Pulido Fernández. In 1885 the Museum of Natural History in Madrid (Museo de Historia Natural de Madrid) was founded. In 1892, the museum’s founder Manuel Antón y Ferrándiz, who had trained in Paris, took the first Chair of Anthropology in the Science Faculty of the Central University of Madrid (Universidad Central de Madrid). In 1894, Dr Federico Olóriz y Aguilera (see Arquiola 1981) carried out work on cephalic indices in Spain, publishing his famous work entitled Distribución geográfica del índice cefálico en España. In 1921, the Spanish Society of Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory was founded (Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnología y Prehistoria). The end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century saw many famous scholars including Hoyos Sáinz, Telesforo de Aranzadi, Francisco de las Barras de Aragón, José Pons and Santiago Alcobé. In México, a Spanish immigrant, Juan Comas, published Manual de Antropología Física (Comas 1959), followed by an English translation in 1960 (Manual of Physical Anthropology). In 1973 a number of Spanish physical anthropologists had created a Biological Anthropology group (Grupo de Antropología Biológica) within the Spanish Society of Natural History. In the same year, in order to improve the activity in the field of physical anthropology, a meeting was organized at the University of Seville between 30 January and 3 February (I Reunión de Antropólogos Españoles). This meeting gathered together Spanish social, cultural and biological anthropologists to discuss research and teaching. The success of this meeting led to a second meeting in Segovia in November of 1974 (II Reunión de Antropólogos Españoles) with an attendance of more than 200 scientists. While in the first meeting only one person, José Pons from the University of Barcelona, provided the vision of Biological Anthropology in Spain (Jiménez 1975), the second meeting saw an increase in the number of biological anthropologists. This considerable number motivated the organization of the first Spanish Anthropology Congress (I Congreso Español de Antropología) in Barcelona in 1977. The first symposium of Biological

Anthropology (I Simposio de Antropología Biológica de España) was hosted by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid between 28 and 31 March 1978, with both national and international participants; and the conference proceedings were published in 1979 (Garralda and Grande 1979). On 30 March 1978 the Spanish Society for Biological Anthropology (Sociedad Española de Antropología Biológica, or SEAB) was founded under the presidency of José Pons, although it only received official recognition on 4 December 1979. The first committee meeting in 1978, nevertheless, addressed the following issues: the creation of a publication (Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Antropología Biológica) with the first issue published in 1980; the hosting of a congress (Congreso de Antropología Biológica de España) every two years and the publication of the conference proceedings (Actas y Comunicaciones). In 1987, the Spanish Palaeopathological Society was founded (Asociación Española de Paleopatología) and is currently a very active and dynamic society (see Etxeberria 2009). Also of relevance is the foundation in 2006 of the Spanish Association of Forensic Anthropology and Odontology (Asociación Española de Antropología y Odontología Forenses or AEAOF).1