To be effective, research into cultural heritage, and in particular the stones used in prehistoric, traditional and monumental construction, requires a broad and multidisciplinary perspective. The question of why our ancestors chose one stone over another will be answered when specialists in archaeology, geology, physics, engineering, anthropology, astronomy and theology contribute their experience to the understanding of ancestors, which not had a structured language as we know it today. The seminar will present prehistoric and historical examples of stone heritage projects carried out by the researcher Freire-Lista at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain. The aim is to create synergies between different scientific fields, based on the practical cases presented in this seminar. 

Dr Freire-Lista has been an expert, researcher and promoter of geology to understand its relationship with built heritage, man and the environment for over 10 years. Freire-Lista researches in the field of geology applied to built heritage, his main research interests include characterisation of geomaterials, location of historical quarries, accelerated artificial ageing tests, durability assessment, development of innovative environmental technologies, geoheritage and geotourism aimed at managing, assessing and mitigating natural and anthropogenic deterioration on built heritage geomaterials. His research activity has been developed mainly at the Geosciences Centre of the University of Coimbra (CGeo), the University College London (UCL), the Geosciences Institute IGEO (CSIC, UCM) and the University of Texas at Austin. Freire-Lista is honoured to have been elected as a member of the Board of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS-UNESCO) Sub-Commission on Heritage Stones for his continued contributions. He is currently the principal investigator of a Ramón y Cajal attracting talent project at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (CN IGME-CSIC).