Olga Spaey has received a Special Mention in the MSH Bordeaux Interdisciplinary Thesis Prize for her research into Palaeolithic rock art - IIIPC - UNICAN
The doctoral thesis, supervised by Aritz Irurtzun and Diego Garate, analyses the spatial organisation of negative hand impressions in decorated Upper Palaeolithic caves using geomatics techniques.
Olga Spaey has received a Special Mention in the Interdisciplinary Thesis Prize awarded by the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Bordeaux (MSH Bordeaux) on 27 October 2026, for her doctoral research entitled ‘The imprint of a society: the spatial organisation of negative handprints in Upper Palaeolithic decorated caves. A comparative study of the El Castillo, Fuente del Trucho and Fuente del Salín sites using geomatics techniques’.
The thesis, supervised by Aritz Irurtzun and Diego Garate, director of the Research Group PREGRAPHITY and a member of the IIIPC, This study examines the depictions of hands in negative form found in Palaeolithic caves, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of their spatial distribution and of what insights they might provide into the prehistoric societies that created them.
To this end, the research carries out a comparative analysis of three sites of particular interest for the study of rock art: the caves of El Castillo, in Cantabria; Fuente del Trucho, in Huesca; and Fuente del Salín, in Cantabria. The use of geomatics techniques enables the location and spatial organisation of these representations to be studied
underground, incorporating spatial analysis tools and digital documentation into the study of archaeological heritage.
This interdisciplinary approach broadens the scope of research into Palaeolithic art, combining methodologies from different scientific fields to explore in greater depth the relationship between the artistic expressions and the spaces in which they were created.
The Special Mention awarded by MSH Bordeaux recognises the research carried out by Olga Spaey, as well as her contribution to our understanding of the artistic expressions and spatial organisation of Upper Palaeolithic societies.
Further information about the research:
https://mshbordeaux.hypotheses.org/18742
