IPHES-CERCA took part in the 19th Barcelona Science Festival with a workshop on the origins of technology
The activity introduced the public to how prehistoric societies lived and innovated
The Barcelona Science Festival took place on Saturday, April 18 (from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.) and Sunday, April 19 (from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.), featuring a programme for all audiences and more than 180 activities for families. Over 120 institutions, organizations, and research groups participated, involving more than 350 contributors across 30 thematic spaces .
Among these spaces were new additions such as the Neurolab, linked to the FENS Forum (Europe’s largest neuroscience congress), and “The Secrets of Architecture”, celebrating Barcelona as the 2026 World Capital of Architecture. Established areas dedicated to health, environment, technology, the universe, reading, and citizen science were also featured.
The programme included workshops, demonstrations, talks, performances, storytelling sessions, and self-learning activities, as well as highlights such as the Science Slam, a scientific Escape Room, and the “Discover the Enigma” treasure hunt.
In this context, IPHES-CERCA participated with the workshop “The Origins of Technology”, an activity that invited visitors to explore the daily life of prehistoric societies.
Held on Saturday, April 18 at Space 21 (Living Archaeology), the workshop showed how tools and technological innovations were already essential to human life thousands of years ago. Through an evocative staging (featuring fire, tools, hunting, and art), participants gained insight into how past human groups addressed the challenges of their environment.
Aimed at audiences aged 10 and over, the activity combined explanation and hands-on demonstration, allowing participants to discover how prehistoric tools were made and used.
The workshop was led by a team including Andrea Alías, public engagement officer at IPHES-CERCA; Alejandro Mayor, researcher affiliated with IPHES-CERCA and the University of Valencia; Marina Zafra, researcher at Rovira i Virgili University (URV) and IPHES-CERCA; Tamar Bitchashvili, researcher at IPHES-CERCA and URV; and Javier Sánchez, researcher at IPHES-CERCA and the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), University of Algarve.
IPHES-CERCA’s participation in this edition of the Science Festival reflects its commitment to science communication and knowledge transfer, with the aim of bringing research on human evolution closer to society.