Between 1875 and 1914 Catalonia was the scene of unprecedented economic, political, social and cultural activity. A series of factors including the Spanish colonial disaster of 1898, its African wars, the romantic movement, industrialization, the consolidation of a powerful, cultured bourgeoisie, and a literary Renaissance linked to a reawakening of collective awareness throughout the country – all in the context of a notably complex political and social situation and the consolidation and progress of a Catalan political ideal – awoke a desire in many people to acquire greater knowledge of their own country.

Archaeology in Catalonia has always been closely linked to a number of other related activities such as natural history study, walking, geology and palaeontology, and, logically, to the scientific speleological explorations conducted by the priest Norbert Font i Sagué.

These were the years of great activity by illustrious pioneers such as Bonaventura Hernández Sanahuja, Francesc Carreras i Candi, Ceferí Rocafort i Sansó, Joaquim Botet i Sisó, Josep Soler i Palet, Norbert Font i Sagué, Lluís Marià Vidal i Carreras, Amador Romaní i Guerra, Pere Alsius i Torrent, Manuel Cazurro Ruiz, Francesc Martorell i Peña, Joan Rubió de la Serna, Eduard Toda i Güell, Josep Pella i Forgas, and Ferran de Sagarra i de Siscar, to name but some.

These were also the years in which a new vision of the relevance of the ruins of Empúries to the history of Catalonia gradually and inexorably began to take root.