@misc{10481/57899,
year = {2018},
month = {8},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/57899},
abstract = {Provenancing exotic raw materials and reconstructing the nature and routes of exchange is
a major concern of prehistoric archaeology. Amber has long been recognised as a key commodity
of prehistoric exchange networks in Europe. However, most science-based studies
so far have been localised and based on few samples, hence making it difficult to observe
broad geographic and chronological trends. This paper concentrates on the nature, distribution
and circulation of amber in prehistoric Iberia. We present new standardised FTIR analyses
of 22 archaeological and geological samples from a large number of contexts across
Iberia, as well as a wide scale review of all the legacy data available. On the basis of a considerable
body of data, we can confirm the use of local amber resources in the Northern
area of the Iberian Peninsula from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age; we push back the
arrival of Sicilian amber to at least the 4th Millennium BC, and we trace the appearance of
Baltic amber since the last quarter of the 2nd Millennium BC, progressively replacing Sicilian
simetite. Integrating these data with other bodies of archaeological information, we suggest
that the arrival of Baltic amber was part of broader Mediterranean exchange networks, and
not necessarily the result of direct trade with the North. From a methodological perspective,
thanks to the analyses carried out on both the vitreous core and the weathered surfaces of
objects made of Sicilian simetite, we define the characteristic FTIR bands that allow the
identification of Sicilian amber even in highly deteriorated archaeological samples.},
organization = {This work was supported by the 7th
Framework Programme of the European
Commission under a Marie Curie Intra- European
Fellowship at UCL Institute of Archaeology
(London, UK); by the University of Granada under
the programme CaptacioÂn de Talento UGRFellows;
by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness under the R&D projects: Metal y
AÂ
mbar: Modelos de CirculacioÂn de Materias Primas en la Prehistoria Reciente de la Peninsula IbeÂrica
(HAR2017-82685-R) and the project CRE: Global
bioevent of massive resin production at the initial
diversification of modern forest ecosystems,
funded by the Spanish AEI/FEDER, UE Grant
CGL2017-84419.},
publisher = {PLOS},
title = {Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0202235},
author = {Murillo Barroso, María de las Mercedes and Peñalver, Enrique and Bueno, Primitiva and Barroso, Rosa and Balbín, Rodrigo de and Martinón Torres, Marcos},
}