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Bronze Age ceramics in southwest Spain: An exploratory archaeometric study of technology and function
Author(s) -
del Río Angel Polvorinos,
Sanjuán Leonardo García,
Pérez Víctor Hurtado,
Hernández Arnedo M. Jesús
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/gea.20049
Subject(s) - pottery , bronze age , archaeology , prehistory , archaeological science , bronze , settlement (finance) , geography , computer science , world wide web , payment
Pottery from the Bronze Age of southwest Spain has traditionally been approached from a “typological” stand seeking the establishment of chronological sequences. This article examines ceramics from two different Bronze Age sites, a settlement (El Trastejón) and a necropolis (La Traviesa), from an archaeometric viewpoint. The methodology involved includes mineralogical characterization by XRD and optical microscopy, chemical analysis by XRF, and morphometric analysis through digital processing of thin sections. The analytical results are contextualized within the general framework of our current archaeological knowledge of both sites and their general background, and then a preliminary interpretation is proposed in terms of the prehistoric technology of pottery manufacture and functionality. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.