Professor Manuel Fernández-Götz
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 240 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”.
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).
Selected Awards
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)
Course Lecturer: Introduction to World Archaeology
Stipendiary Lecturer at St John's College
I am happy to supervise on a broad range of topics related to late prehistoric and early historic temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. Particular current thematic areas of interest include the origins of the first cities, the archaeology of identities, migrations, conflict archaeology, and colonial encounters.
Past students at other institutions
| Souterrains in Scotland: Character, Chronology, and Context Andrew Dunwell (2024) | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Manuel Fernández-Götz and Ian Ralston |
| Carving Out Communities: Funerary Architecture as Expressions of Identity in Pre-Nuragic Sardinia Kirsty Lilley (2024) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Guillaume Robin and Manuel Fernández-Götz |
| A Provincial Capital in its Territorial Context: Reassessing the Environs and Funerary Evidence of Augusta Emerita (1st Century BC - 3rd Century AD) Carlos Cáceres-Puerto (2023) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Manuel Fernández-Götz and Jim Crow |
| Connecting Worlds: Early Phoenician Presence Across Atlantic Iberia (8th-6th Centuries BC) Alicia Núñez-García (2022) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Manuel Fernández-Götz and Robert Leighton |
| Inferring Personhood through Funerary Evidence in Late Prehistoric Southeastern Iberia (3200-1500 BC) Guillermo Díaz De Liaño (2022) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Manuel Fernández-Götz and Guillaume Robin |
| Hate or Glory: A Categorical and Experimental Consideration of Bronze Age Halberds in Scotland in Relation to Middle Bronze Age Weaponry Rachel Faulkner-Jones (2021) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Manuel Fernández-Götz and Ian Ralston |
| El final de la Protohistoria en el Cantábrico oriental. Etnicidad, territorio y conquista militar romana: estudio arqueológico Antxoka Martínez-Velasco (2018) | PhD Archaeology (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) | Supervisors: Marco V. García Quintela and Manuel Fernández-Götz |
| Settlement and Society in Bronze Age Orkney Caroline Mamwell (2017) ERA | PhD Archaeology (University of Edinburgh) | Supervisors: Ian Ralston, Manuel Fernández-Götz and Guillaume Robin |
Monographs and Edited Volumes
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Fletcher, R. (eds.) (2025): Archaeological Perspectives on Urban Sustainability. Journal of Urban Archaeology 11 (special issue). Brepols, Turnhout.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Roymans, N. (2024): Archaeology of the Roman Conquest: Tracing the Legions, Reclaiming the Conquered. Cambridge University Press, New York.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Nimura, C.; Stockhammer, P. and Cartwright, R. (eds.) (2023): Rethinking Migrations in Late Prehistoric Eurasia. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Thurston, T.L. and FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (eds.) (2021): Power from Below in Premodern Societies: The Dynamics of Political Complexity in the Archaeological Record. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Zamboni, L.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Metzner-Nebelsick, C. (eds.) (2020): Crossing the Alps: Early Urbanism between Northern Italy and Central Europe (900-400 BC). Sidestone Press, Leiden.
Cowley, D.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Romankiewicz, T. and Wendling H. (eds.) (2019): Rural Settlement: Relating Buildings, Landscape, and People in the European Iron Age. Sidestone Press, Leiden.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Roymans, N. (eds.) (2018): Conflict Archaeology: Materialities of Collective Violence from Prehistory to Late Antiquity. Routledge, Abingdon.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Krausse, D. (eds.) (2016): Eurasia at the Dawn of History: Urbanization and Social Change. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Krausse, D.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Hansen, L. and Kretschmer, I. (2016): The Heuneburg and the Early Iron Age Princely Seats: First Towns North of the Alps. Archaeolingua, Budapest.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Wendling, H. and Winger, K. (eds.) (2014): Paths to Complexity: Centralisation and Urbanisation in Iron Age Europe. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2014): Identity and Power: The Transformation of Iron Age Societies in Northeast Gaul. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2025): Urbanism in the Temperate European Iron Age: An Overview. In A. Maeir, S. Albaz and A. Berlejung (eds.), Urbanism in the Iron Age Levant and Beyond. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen: 479-503.
Brown, C.J.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Cartwright, R.; Reid, J. and Nicholson, A. (2025): Assessing Ancient Conflict Landscapes Through KOCOA Analysis: The Case of Burnswark Hillfort (SW Scotland). Journal of Conflict Archaeology 20(1): 7-32.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Smith, M.E. (2024): The Archaeology of Early Cities: “What is the City but the People?”. Annual Review of Anthropology 53: 231-247.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Cowley, D.; Hamilton, D.; Hardwick, I. and McDonald, S. (2024): Changing Landscapes on the Northern Frontier: Outline and Preliminary Results of the “Beyond Walls” Project. In H. van Enckevort et al. (eds.), Strategy and Structures along the Roman Frontier. Sidestone Press, Leiden: 79-88.
Roymans, N. and FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2023): The Archaeology of Julius Caesar: New Research on the Gallic Wars. In J.K. Jacobsen, R. Raja and S. Grove Saxkjær (eds.), Caesar, Rome and Beyond. Brepols, Turnhout: 51-69.
De Groot, B.; Braekmans, D.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Hansen, L.; Stegmaier, G. and Krausse, D. (2023): Technological Dynamics of Early Iron Age Ceramics from the Heuneburg (SW Germany): A Synthesis of 50 Years of Research. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15(129). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01832-2
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Cowley, D.; Hamilton, D.; Hardwick, I. and McDonald, S. (2022): Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain. Antiquity 96(388): 1021-1029.
Moore, T. and FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2022): Bringing the Country to Town: ‘Rurban’ Landscapes in Iron Age Europe. Journal of Urban Archaeology 5: 101-125.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2022): From Sanctuaries to Towns: The Role of Religion in Early Urbanization. In A. Gyucha and R. Salisbury (eds.), The Archaeology of Nucleation in the Old World: Spatiality, Community, and Identity. Archaeopress, Oxford: 32-42.
Díaz de Liaño, G. and FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2021): Posthumanism, New Humanism and Beyond. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 31(3): 543-549.
Torres-Martínez, J.F.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. et al. (2021): ‘Invisible Burials’ and Fragmentation Practices in Iron Age Europe: Excavations at the Monte Bernorio Necropolis (Northern Spain). Journal of Field Archaeology 46(6): 399-413.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Maschek, D. and Roymans, N. (2020): The Dark Side of the Empire: Roman Expansionism between Object Agency and Predatory Regime. Antiquity 94(378): 1630-1639.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Arnold, B. (2019): Internal Conflict in Iron Age Europe: Methodological Challenges and Possible Scenarios. World Archaeology 51(5): 654-672.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2019): Migrations in Iron Age Europe: A Comparative View. In P. Halkon (ed.), The Arras Culture of Eastern Yorkshire. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 179-199.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2018): Urbanization in Iron Age Europe: Trajectories, Patterns and Social Dynamics. Journal of Archaeological Research 26: 117-162.
Arnold, B. and FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2017): The Grave’s a Not-So-Private Place: Elite Multiple Burials in Early Iron Age West-Central Europe. Germania 95: 181-198.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Ralston, I. (2017): The Complexity and Fragility of Early Iron Age Urbanism in West-Central Temperate Europe. Journal of World Prehistory 30(3): 259-279.
Torres-Martínez, J.F.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M.; Martínez-Velasco, A.; Vacas, D. and Rodríguez-Millán, E. (2016): From the Bronze Age to the Roman Conquest: The Oppidum of Monte Bernorio (Northern Spain). Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 82: 363-382.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Roymans, N. (2015): The Politics of Identity: Late Iron Age Sanctuaries in the Rhineland. Journal of the North Atlantic 8: 18-32.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2014): Reassessing the Oppida: The Role of Power and Religion. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 33(4): 379-394.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Krausse, D. (2013): Rethinking Early Iron Age Urbanisation in Central Europe: The Heuneburg Site and its Archaeological Environment. Antiquity 87(336): 473-487.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. (2012): Die Rolle der Heiligtümer bei der Konstruktion kollektiver Identitäten: das Beispiel der treverischen Oppida. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 42(4): 509-524.
FERNÁNDEZ-GÖTZ, M. and Ruiz Zapatero, G. (2011): Hacia una arqueología de la etnicidad. Trabajos de Prehistoria 68(2): 219-236.
