 Alexander Robles, a student of the institution of the Funduk in Alhambra Luz. In my presentation today, rather than presenting some results of my research, I'm going to share some of the questions that occur to me when dealing with the study of the Funduk, as well as some possible answers. The goal is to contribute to the debate still open within archaeology about what we should understand by medieval archaeology and Islamic art archaeology and see how other participants in this session have raised some of these issues. To begin with, we need to define what a Funduk is. The Funduk is an Islamic in origin and it has an urban character. It is generally understood as an inn with a warehouse and a stable for merchants, pilgrims and travelers of all religions and geographical origins. In this building, commercial transactions between foreign merchants and local merchants of the city used to take place. The products obtained in the Funduk were later sold in the soup or in the al-Qaitheria. Its study is being carried out through an interdisciplinary methodology joining the historical study of documental sources and the archaeological study of material remains. Some of the objectives proposed in my PhD project are to analyze the origin of the Funduk in Al-Andalus to characterize the institution of the Funduk to identify its structure and to know about its use and functioning during the Middle Ages and to identify the survival and transformation with the larger development of other institutional forms derived from it such as the Alondiga or the Italian Fondaco, especially after its adoption by non-Islamic societies. In short, it is about contributing to the economic, social and political history of Al-Andalus and the extension of their medieval Mediterranean. It is understood as a sea of context, trade and also confrontation in which travel was an important means of both commercial and cultural exchange. The fact that the Funduk is found along the Mediterranean and was a meeting place of different religious and political groups made me to be interested in the approach of the global history. The Funduk is a quadrangular building with one or two floors in height with modest dimensions and decoration. Its dependencies are arranged around a central courtyard, generally porticoed with arches or lintels. Usually they did not have openings to the outside except the entrance opening. On the round floor we would find the warehouse and the stables where the rooms would be located on the first floor. In the center of the courtyard was a well or a pool that travelers could use and a water system that was used for the evacuation of the latrines of the building. This system will be very important to determine archaeologically if we are facing a public or a private building. Although this type of infrastructure and its layout remain, there were changes in the use of these buildings. For example, there was a progressive specialization both of the groups that frequented these buildings and of the products that were sold inside them. At the same time, the use as accommodation was lost leaving only for commercial transactions. We could see that in their denominations. We know for instance the Alondiga of the Genoese, the Fondac of the Itadeschi, and also the Salt Alondiga. In addition, the use of this building will no longer occur only in territory under Islamic rule. But Castilians, Aragonese and Italians will also create or maintain this institution in their territories. Furthermore, we should take into consideration the particularity of the Iberian Peninsula with his process of Christian conquest in the name Reconquista. Some of these commercial buildings have different phases of use extending until the 13th century. As some of those identified in Murcia and Denia, for this reason the possibility that the building would have continued in use and the political control based from Islamic to Christian hands should be considered. So, the archaeological study of this type of building in Alandalus, this is to be Islamic archaeology to become medieval archaeology in the same site. What about the Italian Fondac in the early Middle Ages? Is the change in archaeology depending on the territory in which our object of study is located real? This peculiarity has also been addressed by Carvajal in his review of archaeology of Alandalus which he considers both Islamic and medieval. However, he mentions the importance of counterbalance the essentialism of Middle-age concept of Islamic archaeology with the broader approach of archaeology of Islam of Insole. Middle-age defines the Islamic archaeology as a subdiscipline of archaeology that is dedicated to the study of Islamic occupation phases understood as periods of territories under control of an Islamic elite. While Insole proposes that all facets of life can be structured by religion. That is, that the Muslim community should be recognizable in the archaeological record even in areas where it is a minority. Understanding that Islam influences everything not only the Muslim community, Carvajal supports an archaeology of identities for the study of the different identities in Alandalus really used or not. I see his point, but applying this perspective to the study of the Fondac doesn't seem to me a clear solution either. I do not consider that the archaeological study is determined by who the promoter of the Fondac was who controlled it or the group that used it. The archaeological study of its infrastructure follows the same methodology independently of the conclusions that we could establish after the analysis and the interpretation of the material remains. Therefore, it's really different to do Islamic archaeology of an Andalusian Fondu and medieval archaeology of a Castilian Alondiga or an Italian Fondaco. In my opinion, these aspects do not determine the type of archaeology that it executes. The levels we add to archaeology serve rather to establish a context in which to frame a narrative that allows both researchers and non-specialised public to pre-classify or relate a site to a culture. If we could accept that the chronological compartmentalization of historical periods and consequently archaeology is artificial, isn't it as artificial to make a distinction based on cultural, geographical or religious criteria? Although, knowing the cultural context of archaeology, of archaeological record, that we are studying is something basic to propose hypotheses or interpretations, are the techniques that are used to figure out what really should define the archaeological practice. In short, I consider that the material remains can be related to certain social and religious practices with the identity of a root, but not archaeology as a discipline. It is really difficult to know if the objects that were used within the Fondu ascribed to the Islamic culture were used by people of other cultural traditions who simply took advantage of them by paying too much attention to its symbolism or production process. I hope that bio-archeological research in medieval context could help to provide further information to know, for example, some aspects of the customer's diet, to know more about them. It is true that taking the chronological criteria in making medieval archaeology available to cover everything can be criticized for eliminating the heterogeneity or specificity of a historical period. However, I believe that we should try to reduce the compartmentalization that we establish in the discipline of study without abandoning the continued reflection on the universality that we weave to a concept during our research due to our egocentric bias. We should find the balance between not overlooking the specificity of our object of study and falling into new ways of centrism. As I said at the beginning, the presence of the Fondu in different geographies and its incorporation and use by different societies is what has led me to deepen into the global history, especially suggestive is the tracing methodology proposed by the global history. It would consist in following the trail of this institution to the places where it materializes without restricting its study. As a result, it allows to obtain as much information as possible from the Fondu, not only in relation to commercial activities as a main function, but also in terms of, for example, social and gender history. This generates new special and temporal frames that transcend traditional divisions in research. Therefore, it is about applying the global perspective to know both the causes of origin and evolution of this institution, as well as the interactions that take place within it at different scales, and that allow the study of the Fondu to contribute to the knowledge of processes of global interaction. In this case of the connections and exchanges between the source of the Mediterranean and the impact they had on people, groups and societies. The interest of this perspective is that beyond showing that there were connections in the Middle Ages, it is about determining the impact of those connections, of which the Fondu was the setting. Due to the recent interest in the global Middle Ages, there has been a recent development of archaeological theory based on assemblage theory. Jarvis suggests that this theoretical approach could be more productive to evaluate the multi-scale interaction, the local and global processes that occur and define life in Middle Ages. Following the theoretical proposals of the Lewis and Wattery and later of the Lambda, Jarvis sees the assemblage theory as an alternative approach since it not only pays attention to the relationship between the center and the periphery, but in a greater variety of ways. That is considered the object of study as a set of associations and relationships. Although it is still early days for evaluating assemblage theory and its role for archaeologists, it is presented as a useful approach to show the variety of effects that commercial interactions had at different levels. In the case of the Fondu, the number of these buildings in different territories must be identified. After that, to determine the functioning of the Fondu will allow to see the relations between these buildings among themselves and with the areas in which they are located. And at the same time, the analysis of its present and impact in the global and temporal context should be conducted. The aim is to analyze the integration of the Fondu communities as well as in a global sphere in the political and commercial medieval networks. In conclusion, the issues that have been raised when developing the theoretical framework of the doctoral thesis make me think that archaeology should not be restricted by cultural or geographical criteria. Although these are basic for the accurate interpretation of the data obtained at the materials found during the archaeological excavation process. On the other hand, the characteristics of our target of study raised briefly in this talk have made me consider that the application of the approach of the global middle ages as a perspective of analysis will allow us to obtain as much information as possible about the Fondu as an institution that arises in the Islamic world but ends up being acquired by European territories which had consequences in the institution itself and in the areas and societies in which it is located. Thank you very much for listening.