Dr. Monica Alonso Eguiluz

Education

• PhD, Archaeology, University of the Basque Country. (2021)

• MA Quaternary: environment and human footprint. University of the Basque Country (2008). 

• BA History, University of Basque Country (Spain).

Short Bio

I am a microarchaeologist specializing in the study of human-environment interactions through high-resolution microarchaeological techniques. My research focuses on phytolith analysis and the reconstruction of past land-use strategies, plant management, and animal husbandry practices. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in Archaeology, Environmental Changes and Geo-Chemistry (AMGC) Research Group.  I developed my training at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, under de supervision of Prof. Rosa María Albert, and I completed my PhD at the University of the Basque Country in 2021. My PhD was focused on the study of plant management and animal diet from Neolithic fumier deposits from northern Spain, for which I applied a multi-proxy approach that combined phytoliths, fecal spherulites, ash pseudomorphs, and FTIR analysis. Following my PhD, I co-edited a special issue of Quaternary International dedicated to archaeological approaches to past husbandry practices. Throughout my career, I have participated in numerous international research projects across Europe. My research has explored a wide range of archaeological contexts, from Neolithic pastoral sites and agricultural terraces to medieval urban Dark Earth deposits and Paleolithic cave occupations. Together with Prof. Devos and Dr. Vrydaghs, I contributed to the advancement of phytolith research through the combined analysis of phytoliths in soil thin sections and bulk sediment samples, promoting a more integrated microarchaeological approach. Alongside my position at the AMGC Research Group, during the first semester of 2026 I joined the Institut für Archäologien, Universität Innsbruck, Austria, where I contributed to the creation of a phytolith laboratory and I taught Microarchaeology in the master’s programme. I am also involved in the supervision of graduate students and the training of young researchers in microarchaeological methods.   

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Yannick Devos

Main publications:

Alonso-Eguiluz, M., lo Russo, S., Vrydaghs, L., Tribel, P., Bontempi, G., Schenkel, A., Celis, D., Nys, K., Devos, Y., 2025. Two methods, two views: Integrating phytoliths in thin sections and bulk samples on the urban Dark Earths from the DIVA-site (Antwerp, Belgium). PLoS One 20, e0320122. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320122 

Brown, A.G., Pears, B., Cucchiaro, S., Tarolli, P., Lang, A., Zhao, P., Walsh, K., van Ost, K., Albert, R., Alonso‐Eguiluz, M., Vokotopoulos, L., Tsartsidou, G., Molinari, A., Stagno, A., Ghislandi, S., Wei, W., Fallu, D., 2025. The Geoarchaeology of Agricultural Terraces in Europe: Construction, Resilience and Implications for Sediment Delivery. Geoarchaeology 40. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.70008 

Banerjea, R.Y., Alonso-Eguiluz, M., Morandi, L.F., Ros, J., Vrydaghs, L., Devos, Y., Larrieu, M., Losilla, N., Bertelli, I., Ribechini, E., Cuesta, A.M., García, M.G., García, F.M., Contreras, G.G., Pluskowski, A., 2025. Livestock husbandry in Islamic Cártama, Málaga, Spain: the micro and bioarchaeology of an open-air Fumier sequence. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-025-02345-w 

Alonso-Eguiluz, M., Albert, R.M., Vergès, J.M., Fernández-Eraso, J., 2024. New insights into shepherds’ activities: Multi-proxy approach applied to fumier deposits from the north of Iberian Peninsula. Quaternary International 683–684, 145–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.06.012 

Alonso-Eguiluz, M., Toffolo, M.B., White, C.E., Asouti, E., Boaretto, E., Nilsson, L., Stutz, A., Abert, R.M., 2024. The Early Upper paleolithic deposit of Mughr el-Hamamah (Jordan): Archaeobotanical taphonomy and site formation processes. J Archaeol Sci Rep 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104471 

Vrydaghs, L., Hodson, M.J., Ham-Meert, A. van, Alonso-Eguiluz, M., Devos, Y., 2024. Under What Conditions do the Inflorescence Bract Phytoliths of Oat [Avena sativa (L.)] Become Autofluorescent? Environmental Archaeology 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2024.2367791