Plus ça change: pots, crucibles and the development of metallurgy in Chalcolithic Las Pilas (Mojácar, Spain)
Metadatos
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Pino Curbelo, Miguel del; Day, Peter M.; Camalich Massieu, María Dolores; Martín Socas, Dimas; Molina González, FernandoEditorial
Springer Nature
Materia
SE Iberia Chalcolithic Ceramic petrography SEM
Fecha
2019-03-27Referencia bibliográfica
del Pino Curbelo, M., Day, P. M., Massieu, M. D. C., Socas, D. M., & González, F. M. (2019). Plus ça change: pots, crucibles and the development of metallurgy in Chalcolithic Las Pilas (Mojácar, Spain). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(4), 1553-1570.
Patrocinador
This research was funded by the European Commission through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship entitled BTechnological change at the South-western limits of the Mediterranean basin during the Neolithic and early Chalcolithic: pottery production and consumption^ (NEOMEDPOT, number 659466) and by the I+D research project HAR2016-78197-P, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.Resumen
This paper considers the structure of production, distribution and consumption of ceramics within Chalcolithic communities of
SE Iberia, an important region for modelling social and technological change in the recent prehistory of Eurasia. Our research
provides new data through the comparative analysis of domestic and metallurgical ceramics, as well as building and other clayrich
materials from the archaeological site of Las Pilas (2875–2620 cal. BC 2σ to 2460–2205 cal. BC 2σ) (Mojácar, Almería). In
total, 56 samples are characterised by optical petrography, with SEM analysis of 22 of those individuals, in order to assess firing
conditions. Results point to the existence of a local tradition in which domestic and metallurgical wares exhibit important
similarities in their production processes. In terms of technology, the assemblage shows a relative homogeneity, although firing
conditions, surface treatment and decoration seem to have played an important role in the differentiation of highly symbolic wares
from other ceramics. We conclude that raw material procurement and processing at Las Pilas differ from those at other Copper
Age sites already studied in SE and SW Iberia. This is in agreement with earlier archaeometallurgical studies on Las Pilas,
suggesting the development of local and community-based technological traditions. As such, the paper attempts to bridge the
recent divide between re-emergent top-down models and our detailed understandings of technological practice.