Seminar. The aim of the seminar is to present the most recent research on the manufacture of pottery on the wheel, its introduction into the Iberian Peninsula and its evolution in the Iron Age.
The seminar will reflect on the results provided by the analysis of ceramic pieces from different points of view, including studies of social, economic and ideological dynamics, archaeometry and ethnoarchaeology. All of them provide new and suggestive realities of that society, which gradually abandoned the manufacture of handmade pottery in favour of pottery made on a potter’s wheel.
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2. Social and economic impact of technological revolutions in Europe.
The alloy of copper with tin appeared for the first time in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in the Argaric period. In this study we have compiled all the published compositional analyses in order to assess the frequency and use of this alloy. The data show that some objects such as halberds were never made of bronze and that it is in personal adornments (bracelets, rings and earrings) that this alloy is most frequently detected. The chromatic effect of the metals and alloys (copper, bronze, silver) and their combination in grave goods or the greater or lesser social value given to the different metals seem to explain their choice and use better than the criteria of technological or functional improvement in this phase of the Bronze Age. It is suggested that the first bronzes may have been objects imported from other regions of the Iberian Peninsula or Europe.
Video of the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum. Prehistoric Area.
Bulletin of the National Archaeological Museum 1.2 (1983).
The circulation of copper in the western Mediterranean between 1500 and 500 BC reflects a great complexity due to the different interactions that take place in this period in an area that acts as a point of contact between the Atlantic world and the eastern Mediterranean. The local populations of Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula are influenced by the commercial interests of Phoenician colonial expansion, of which metal is a fundamental part. However, these local commercial interests have more of a social than an economic dimension, which explains why products such as copper, which they themselves produce, form part of the exchange. The presence in Sardinia of other types of metal that are neither local nor Cypriot, and whose origin must be sought in other areas, connects with the debate on the relations between Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula.
The southeast of the Iberian Peninsula is the region of reference in Western Europe for the first peasant societies that began to use metal. This international visibility of the southeast is due to the intense archaeological activity of the Siret brothers at the end of the 19th century, who managed to incorporate their results into the Prehistory that was being constructed at that time. The spectacular nature and novelty of findings, such as that of Los Millares, have since then been a permanent focus of attention for all those interested in our past.
The Siret collection, deposited in the National Archaeological Museum, continues to be a constant “magnet” of attraction for prehistorians despite the passing of the years, as it allows for cutting-edge research with new perspectives, such as those presented at this conference. Different aspects of Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies will be dealt with, such as their agricultural and livestock farming practices, the sedentarisation and storage that defines the new settlements, their crafts: pottery, metal… All these aspects are imbued with symbolism, but their clearest manifestation is found in the so-called idols and in the funerary world.
During the Aurignacian and Gravetian, the morphology of hunting lithic points is conditioned by the use of abrupt retouch. However, in the Solutrian, the hunting tools change radically and for about 5,000 years the systematic use of flat, invasive and bifacial retouch will characterise the different projectile points.
The appearance of flat retouched points in the Lower and Middle Solutrian could be explained by the generalised use of the propellant. The appearance of points with different modifications to facilitate their insertion in the Upper Solutrian would be related to the appearance of the bow as a new propulsion system for these projectiles.
Goldsmithing during the Iron Age is one of the most characteristic manifestations of the pre-Roman peoples who inhabited the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. however, its study and dating have been hampered by the lack of archaeological contexts.
Recent discoveries of several craftsmen’s workshops in the context of fortified settlements and the identification of gold mines exploited prior to the Roman conquest, not only by panning, as was assumed, but by complex gallery mining, have greatly modified our knowledge of precious metal mining and metallurgy during the Iron Age. The conference aims to report on the fortified settlements that have provided data on the manipulation and transformation of these metals, as well as the archaeological records that support their synchrony with the mining operations. These are expressive testimonies of metallurgical activity in a territory with abundant and rich metal deposits and a mining tradition dating back to the Chalcolithic period. Their study opens up new perspectives for research into the provenance of the raw materials used (including their isotopic characterisation), the dating of castreño goldsmiths’ work and the role played in the establishment of large-scale gold mining after the Roman conquest.
This article provides some details on specific aspects of the Roman quarries of Almadén de la Plata, focusing on the relationship they may have had with the pagus Marmorariensis, the attempt to identify them with the Mons Mariorum mentioned in an ancient itinerary, their relationship with the statio serrariorum Augustorum documented in Italica and the problem of the inclusion of the quarries in the Patrimonium Caesaris. The hypothesis of a Severan building project in Italica is also raised.
The Tresminas mining area is one of the most spectacular cultural landscapes in northwest Hispania. About 2000 years ago, a detachment of one of the powerful Roman legions settled in the Serra da Pradela to organise and control the large-scale gold mining of Tresminas and Jales (Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Real, Portugal).
The spectacular traces of this exploitation can still be seen at Tresminas: two large mining cuttings (Covas and Ribeirinha) and a smaller one (Lagoinhos), as well as deep galleries dug mainly to allow the treatment and evacuation of all the extracted rock and an extensive network of water supply channels for the mines, which start in dams and end in storage reservoirs.
Galeria dos Alargamentos
There are also enormous dumps that fill the valleys and one of the most characteristic elements of this mining area: a large number of granite pestle and mortar mills used in the final grinding of the ore.
But there also remain important testimonies of the men and women who lived and worked in Tresminas, and who died there in the first two centuries of our Era. As a result of the activity carried out there for more than 200 years, these gold mines have become one of the most important in the entire Roman Empire. Today, the gold mining territory of Tresminas, being the most complex and best preserved and extending over several kilometres, is the most important in Roman Portugal.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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