Alex Smith is Associate Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Brockport (State University of New York). He earned his Ph.D. in Archaeology in May 2015 at Brown University’s Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World with a dissertation on Late Iron Age in Menorca and Mallorca.
He started working on Menorca in 2007 as a student with Boston University’s Mediterranean Archaeology Field School. He returned from 2008-2009 as a student supervisor and again from 2012-2014 to help manage survey operations at Torre d’en Galmés and Illa del Rei. In the meantime, Alex worked in Guatemala (2010), Petra (2011), Montserrat (2011), and then from 2013-2017 with the S’Urachi Project in Sardinia. Finally, he co-directed the Sinis Archaeological Project from 2018-2019 in Sardinia.
Since 2020, Alex is the co-director of the
Menorca Archaeological Project (MAP) with Amalia Pérez-Juez, excavating medieval domestic structures at Torre d’en Galmés. His academic interests include geographic information systems (GIS), survey, ancient colonialism, indigeneity, and public access to archaeology. In that vein, he has also directed a historical archaeological project and undergraduate field school in New York known as Frost Town Archaeology since 2017. There he also helps run summer camps for children as well as public archaeology days where members of the community can excavate alongside professional archaeologists.
Alex has authored and co-authored multiple works on Menorcan Post-Talayotic domestic structures, funerary remains, and later Muslim settlements. His research is concerned with understanding Menorcan Post-Talayotic groups on the cusp of interaction with Punic and later Roman trade networks, as well as the afterlives of archaeological sites and ritual spaces in the landscape.
How you became interested in archaeology, particularly in the Balearic Islands?
I became interested in archaeology in high school. I was obsessed with art history and eventually classical cultures. In college, that brought me to Menorca in 2007 as I saw an advertisement for BU’s Mediterranean Archaeology Field School and thought it was perfect. In the end, it wasn’t what I expected! I was anticipating Roman baths, amphitheaters, and all the typical “classical” things. Instead, I was exposed to the incredible prehistory of Menorca and I never looked back. Soon thereafter I declared an Anthropology major in college and became obsessed with cultures like the Talayotic and Post-Talayotic peoples, whose rituals and practices were enigmatic, idiosyncratic, and so much more interesting than the Romans.
How did your relationship with Menorca begin?
My relationship with Menorca began as a 19-year-old student and has evolved quite a bit. I spent three summers here as a young undergraduate, completely confused as an American (and probably quite annoying). I spent another three summers here as a graduate student, writing my dissertation on the island’s late Iron Age (alongside Mallorca). Since then, I have spent five summers on the island as a professor, bringing my students from SUNY Brockport here to learn about the beauty of the island’s culture, community, and archaeology.
What drew you specifically to study the Talayotic culture of Menorca? Was there a particular aspect of this culture that captured your attention?
Initially what drew me to Talayotic and Post-Talayotic culture was the distinctiveness of the archaeological remains. Taulas, monumental houses, and the large rock-cut tombs particularly grabbed my attention in graduate school because they have few if any contemporary parallels in the Mediterranean. They are so unique. That was fascinating to me and exciting. It still is!
Can you describe some of the key archaeological projects you've been involved with in Menorca? What were the primary objectives of these projects?
I have been part of three separate, though related projects on the island. The first was Boston University’s longstanding field school at Torre d’en Galmés, which was created to explore House 2, a small, “middle-class” Post-Talayotic establishment. That project also discovered an incredible Islamic house structure my first year, which we have been studying since.
From 2013-2014 I helped survey Illa del Rei with Boston University, looking particularly on the northern third of the island for evidence of historic or prehistoric material culture. That project was also exploring the archaeological potential of the hospital grounds and cellars to reconstruct 18th century lifeways on the island.
Since 2020, I have been working with Amalia Pérez-Juez and Boston University to co-direct the Menorca Archaeological Project, which has focused on Torre d’en Galmés, this time focusing on the medieval era of the site and its articulation with the Post-Talayotic phases. Many Iron Age sites across the island have a substantial medieval period of Islamic settlement and MAP was designed to really highlight this at Torre d’en Galmés through the excavation of multiple domestic structures dating from that era. What we have found too is that by focusing on the medieval period, we are also discovering a lot more about the Post-Talayotic period as well.
The Talayotic period in Menorca is characterized by its distinctive architecture, such as the talayots, taulas, and navetas. What do these structures tell us about the society that built them?
To me, these structures tell the story of an island culture that was both coherent and self-defined, specifically in the later Post-Talayotic period. In other words, the consistency of the taula precinct’s architecture and form across Menorca is a reflection of an island culture that saw itself as distinctive. They may have seen themselves as separate from outsiders (even Mallorca). Despite the influx of traded goods, Menorcan prehistory, especially into the Post-Talayotic period, remains
idiosyncratic and embedded in local, island-wide rituals.
But, obviously navetas, talayots, and taulas all emerge at different times and reflect different aspects of social change. Talayots may be the result of the emergence of clan systems or even redistribution centers for agricultural goods (as other scholars have suggested). Taulas and the later megalithic houses may be the result of social differentiation or class establishment, maybe influenced by the emergence of external trade and wealth that may have created elites while at the same time pushed Menorcans to double-down on their traditions and identities. In any case, these structures are evidence of a flourishing, distinctive group that sees few parallels in the Mediterranean.
During your fieldwork in Menorca, were there any surprising discoveries or findings that significantly altered your understanding of the Talayotic culture?
In terms of Talayotic culture, perhaps the most surprising thing we came across was a cache of storage ceramics underneath a medieval floor at Torre d’en Galmés in 2022. This collection of pottery allowed us to say so much about 3rd century B.C.E. consumptive habits and the ways in which Post-Talayotic groups probably used imported goods alongside their own hand-made indigenous wares. That’s an important social and cultural distinction we can see through simple pots.
How do you think the archaeological findings in Menorca contribute to the broader understanding of the prehistoric Mediterranean?
Menorca has so much to give the rest of the Mediterranean. As someone who has worked on multiple islands and multiple projects across the sea, I can say that Menorca is special and is an
excellent access point for understanding Late Iron Age cultural and colonial dynamics. The preservation on Menorca is incredible. The academic community is supportive and dynamic. And, ultimately, the archaeology tells a story that we seldom hear in Mediterranean archaeology: an island culture that retained its identity and customs in the face of immense globalizing pressures from Carthage and Rome. That’s worth comparing to so many other places and people throughout the Mediterranean (and beyond).
What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered while conducting archaeological research in Menorca? How have you and your team overcome them?
My biggest challenge has always been time. As an American teaching at SUNY Brockport, I can only be on Menorca maybe two months each year and often during the worst times to excavate (July in particular). This is not only sad for me, but always inhibits what I can do with the materials and the excavation itself. MAP has an intense schedule as a result, which allows us to get as much done as possible.
How do you see the role of local communities and public engagement in the preservation and study of Menorca's archaeological heritage?
Community is everything. I believe as an archaeologist that we should do
archaeology for the community and not just for ourselves in academia. It should be a collaborative process as much as possible, especially for someone who is foreign and outside of the community (like myself).
Our project holds open community days every year and we try to encourage young Balearic scholars to join our excavation. As an American, I am not as connected as I would like to be, and I strive to do better. But I pride my New York excavation on its accessibility to the public. That’s something I want to bring to any project I do on Menorca as well, as much as I can, open opportunities and use my networks and knowledge for the local community on the island.
Looking to the future, what areas of Talayotic Menorca research are you most excited about? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations you’re particularly enthusiastic about?
I am excited to continue our work with MAP, further elaborating an excitingly big Islamic medieval house complex. I am also super excited to publish a series of papers on our findings from out Post-Talayotic house assemblage. In the far future, I’ve always been fascinated by the prospect of doing archaeological pedestrian survey, a non-invasive landscape analysis to understand parts of the island better. That’s been a dream of mine since graduate school, so perhaps one day!
Finally, for aspiring archaeologists who are interested in studying prehistoric cultures like that of Menorca, what advice would you give?
Ah great question! I would say, embrace the weirdness of Menorcan prehistory. Also, don’t let larger discussions in Mediterranean archaeology undermine your opinion of Menorca. There will always be scholars studying Roman, Greek, and to a lesser extent Punic archaeology. We need more people studying Menorcan archaeology (of all periods) and putting it in dialogue with other traditions. Finally, don’t be shy about applying for graduate school or postdocs in the U.S. or U.K. There are scholarly communities that are begging for more students who work on the Western Mediterranean, including Menorca and Mallorca.