A graduate of the University of Leicester with honors, Jose Miguel earned several prestigious awards, including the “Allan McWhirr Dissertation Prize” for the highest-graded thesis and the “Garner Prize” for the best thesis in Social Sciences related to arts. His exceptional work led to a nomination for the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology’s award for the best undergraduate thesis in the UK and Ireland. He is currently an active member of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and holds a UNESCO certification in submerged cultural heritage management. His expertise has been recognized through presentations at renowned international universities such as Leiden and Leicester, and institutions like the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Digital Globe (MAXAR).

Jose Miguel specializes in landscape and historical archaeology, particularly in using satellite remote sensing technologies. Since 1997, he has been researching the monumental shipwreck of the French fleet in the Aves de Sotavento archipelago, one of the largest maritime disasters in history. His recent publication on this shipwreck, featured in “Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America” (2023), represents the first academic work on underwater archaeology in Venezuela. He presented this groundbreaking research at the 89th Congress of the Society for American Archaeology in New Orleans in 2023.

In addition to his work on shipwrecks, Jose Miguel has made significant discoveries in southern Venezuela. In 2019, his team uncovered the basin of the legendary Lake Parima using satellite technology, a finding presented at the TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X congress of the German Aerospace Center. In 2023, he also published an article and a book on the newly discovery rock art sites in Canaima National Park, in June 2024 he presented his work in the Valcamonica rock art congress, in Italy, revealing not only new rock art sites, but also a previously unknown culture to the northeastern part of the continent.

This presentation has drawn significant attention from major digital science magazines and international portals due to its global archaeological relevance. Numerous outlets, such as Live Science, Axios, Popular Mechanics, National Geographic History (2025), New Scientist, and others, have highlighted the importance of these ancient rock art sites, which are initially estimated to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. This discovery not only fills a gap in the archaeological studies of the region but is also a major contribution to understanding early human migrations and settlement in South America.