Paloma Gonzalez

In this paper, we present a series of reflections on the relevance of past images from popular and academic culture in connection with western pictorial conventions and pre-established historical narratives. There is an urgent need to critically analyse these images, as has already been pointed out by other researchers, in order to revisit the role of the academic world in their production and dissemination processes.Within the framework of this critical position, we present the Pastwomen project as a case study in representation. Since 2007 more than 30 Spanish archaeologists, historians, lecturers, museum curators and educators have contributed to the project’s activities, which have focused on producing images of Iberian prehistory and protohistory from a feminist perspective. These images are freely available on the project’s website. The final section of the text describes the ‘making of’ processes behind each image in collaboration with art and design professionals, as well as the underlying archaeological, historical, artistic and communication criteria.