Technological approach to the unguentaria of the necropolis of Puente de Noy (Almuñecar, Granada, Spain)

Abstract

As a result of the interventions carried out in Almuñécar (Granada), a thorough review of objects from the necropolis of Puente de Noy excavated in the 1980s has been carried out. In the course of this review, the presence of a large number of unguentaria was noted. The necropolis was used between 600 and 250 BCE. A diachronological perspective allows us to observe an evolution of these artefacts that would form part of the funeral ritual and in which ointments and perfumes would be deposited to accompany the deceased in the afterlife. In this paper the authors attend to one of the aspects perhaps most ignored by historiography – the techniques of manufacture of the unguentaria of the necropolis – in order to deepen our knowledge of these exceptional productions.