Laura Hernando FolchArchaeologyCatalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution

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Laura Hernando (BA in Archaeology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2019; MSc in Paleobiology, UAB-UB-ICP, 2020) is an archaeologist and paleobiologist particularly interested in ancient Egyptian urbanism and architecture. She is currently working as a curatorial technician at the collections department in the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES, Tarragona, Spain).

Her BA paper (2019) focused on architectural and spatial analyses of the roman praesidia of the Egyptian Eastern Desert, studying their interconnection and their population. The same year she carried out the Introduction to Hieroglyphs course (Coursera – IEPOA/UAB). Likewise, during the first edition of the Formación Superior en Egiptología (Postgraduate Egyptology Course - University of Alcalá, 2021), her final project focused on the architectural and archaeological comparation of the Middle Kindgom towns of Wah-Sut and Lahun.

Laura worked in the Servei d’Arqueologia i Paleontologia de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Archaeology and Palaeontology Service of the Catalan administration), carrying out administrative work related to archaeological and paleontological interventions and permissions as part of an assistantship (2018). Since 2016, she has participated as an auxiliar in various national (Catalonia - Spain) and International (Italy, Egypt) archaeological and palaeontological sites. She has also assisted in the registration and drawing of archaeological artefacts in the UAB’s laboratory of the Department of Antiquity and Middle Age Studies.

Her experience and interests granted her the opportunity to be part of the Catalan mission at the settlement of Wadi Sikait, directed by Joan Oller (Autonomous University of Barcelona), at Wadi el-Gemal National Park, Egypt, during the 2020 campaign. Laura carried out photography, inventory, and archaeological support tasks.

Thanks to her previous studies and research, Laura is now learning and specializing in space synthax techniques to be able to understand and study the planning approaches of various Egyptian settlements.

The past two years she has been assisting at various congresses like the III Virtual Conference for Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists, the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History, the Congreso Iberoamericano de Jóvenes Investigadores en Egiptología, the Jornadas de Jóvenes en Investigación Arqueológica or the Encuentro de Jóvenes Investigadores en Paleontología; presenting her various research, “Archaeological and spatial analysis of the Egyptian city of Lahun (Middle-Kingdom, Fayum)”, “Estudio de los praesidia del Desierto Oriental Egipcio” and “Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of an hadrosaurid dinosaur jugal form the latest cretaceous barranc de la Costa Gran locality (Lleida, Spain)” (showing the results of her master dissertation).