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Prehistoric man portrait inside of the Madrid Regional Archaeological museum in Alcala de Henares, Madrid province, Spain...The Regional Archaeological Museum of the Community of Madrid (M.A.R.) was created on November 27, 1997 by Decree of the Governing Council of the Community of Madrid, following the transfer that had been made in 1985 to the autonomous communities of the powers state in archaeology. Its headquarters are in Alcalá de Henares, occupying the building of the old Dominican Convent College of the Mother of God, in the Plaza de las Bernardas, which is also overlooked by the Archbishop's Palace and the San Bernardo Convent. Its inauguration took place on May 25, 1999. In addition to its function of research and conservation of archaeological heritage, it exhibits a permanent collection with a chronological and didactic route: paleontological fossils, Paleolithic and Neolithic tools, vestiges of the Bronze Age and the del Hierro, an important collection from the Roman period (highlighting the mosaics) and elements of material culture from the Ancient, Middle and Modern ages, reaching the archeology of the industrial era. This collection is increasing as new discoveries are made in the archaeological surveys carried out in the Community of Madrid and thus, for example, at the beginning of 2012 more than fifty pieces from recent excavations were incorporated, among them a phiále mesómphalos (or patera umbilicata in Latin) known as the Pátera de Titulcia. (KEYSTONE/VWPICS/Sergi Reboredo )