New objects in old structures. The Iron Age hoard of the Palacio III megalithic funerary complex (Almadén de la Plata, Seville, Spain)

Bibliographic Data

ID24304186
AuthorsM Murillo-Barroso (0000-0002-2271-291X), Marcos Martinón-Torres (0000-0003-2124-2837), Leonardo García Sanjuán (0000-0002-8404-9252), David Wheatley (0000-0002-6753-2867), Marcos Andrés Hunt Ortiz (0000-0002-8783-6913), Matilde Forteza González (0000-0003-0110-3071), María Jesús Hernández Arnedo (0000-0001-8094-0155)
Year2015
Volume57
Pages322-334
Publication date2015-05-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Archaeological Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-4403 • E-ISSN: 1095-9238
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.013
OpenAlexW2057134243
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited13

Cultural contact, exchange and interaction feature high in the list of challenging topics of current research on European Prehistory. Not far off is the issue of the changing role of monuments in the making and maintaining of key cultural devices such as memory and identity. Addressing both these highly-debated issues from a science-based perspective, in this paper we look at an unusual case study set in southern Iberia and illustrate how these archaeological questions can benefit from robust materials-science approaches. We present the contextual, morphological and analytical study of an exceptional Early Iron Age hoard composed of a number of different (and mostly exotic) materials such as amber, quartz, silver and ceramic. This hoard, found under the fallen orthostat of a megalithic structure built at least 2000 years earlier, throws new light on long-distance exchange networks and the effect they could have had on the cultural identities and social relations of local Iberian Early Iron Age communities. Moreover, the archaeometric study reveals how diverse and distant the sources of these item are (Northern Europe to Eastern and Western Mediterranean raw materials, as well as local and eastern technologies), therefore raising questions concerning the social mechanisms used to establish change and resistance in contexts of colonial encounter.

amber · archaeometry · ceramics (art and archaeology) · cultural contact · Cultural identity · exotic raw materials · Iberian Iron Age · long-distance exchange networks · megalithic monuments · Quartz · silver · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Archaeological and Historical Studies · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts