health reasons and resigned. When the Mellistas broke away in 1919, De Cerralbo, already outside the Carlist leadership, did not take a clear stand; instead, he withdrew from politics altogether. Though Don Jaime refrained from open criticism, privately he did not spare de Cerralbo harsh words, repeated in public by other prominent Jaimistas; it was de Mella who spoke in his defense. Cerralbo did not take part in the 1919 Magna Junta de Biarritz, a congregation entrusted with marking the future direction of Carlism. His last public nomination was appointment to alcalde of the Madrid district of Argüelles in 1920. Archaeologist and historian Since his university days de Cerralbo has developed keen interest in culture and history; his first encounter with archaeology took place in the Madrid site of Ciempozuelos in 1895. He started to collect objects retrieved from various demolitions and organized archeological excavations himself: the first ones were those in upper Jalón valley, commenced in 1908. His key success was discovery of the Celtiberian site of Arcóbriga, listed as Arcobrigensis in the Roman sources and sought by generations from the 16th century; based on multi-faceted analysis Cerralbo correctly narrowed the search area and discovered the site, where excavations were to continue for tens of years to come. In 1909, following numerous notes about odd findings, he commenced excavations in Torralba del Moral and Ambrona, continued until 1916, at that time considered the most ancient human settling discovered so far in Europe. El hombre fossil by Hugo Obermaier (1916), a paleontological reference book for generations, was partially based on de Cerralbo's findings. Remained a promoter, sponsor, director and assessor on many other sites. Though de Cerralbo's excavation methodology is now considered outdated, he introduced new techniques like photography both on site and in laboratory or complex indexing methods. He co-operated with specialists like geologists, cartoonists, historians, engineers, photographers or paleontologists, sharing discoveries on many scientific fora. Cerralbo became member of many scientific institutions. He was visited in Madrid and Soria by a number of world-class archaeologists. In 1912 he was recognized for 5 volumes of his monumental Páginas de la Historia Patria por mis excavaciones arqueológicas by Premio Internacional Martorell and applauded for his work on Torralba by International Congress of Anthropology and Archaeology in Geneva the same year. He was invited by the Ministry of Education to work on new law on excavations, which, adopted in 1911, prevented