Archaeometry of Roman Aquitania-Tarraconensis coarse ware pottery from the northern Iberian Peninsula and southern Aquitania

Abstract

Abstract

Trade Networks in the Neighbouring Roman Provinces of Aquitania-Tarraconensis on the Bay of Biscay: Evidence from Petrographic and Chemical Analyses of Common Coarse Ware Pottery

“…The Adour River and its southern tributaries erode and transport this type of material, and in the lower reaches of its basin, there are several archaeological sites where G1 fabric pottery predominates. Therefore, based on the petrographic characteristics of the G1 group and the criterion of abundance [66] of these G1 vessels, the most likely provenance area of the raw material was the lower Adour basin, from where it was distributed around the Bay of Biscay and scattered towards the interior, reaching the upper Ebro Valley [29,67]. Moreover, recent studies of similar wares with a comparable composition in the Ebro Valley [68] indicate that further research is needed to unravel the provenance of this production ware, suggesting a wider production area in the surroundings of the Pyrenees.…”

“…The homogeneity this type of fabric indicates careful processing of the raw materials, suggesting a pottery workshop complex located in southern Aquitania. The good quality of the pottery and the development of robust trade networks favoured its widespread distribution, as evidenced by the profuse occurrence of these wares around the Bay of Biscay from Galicia to Bordeaux, and by the inland trade along the Ebro River as far as Saragossa [28,67,[73][74][75].…”

A Vasconic inscription on a bronze hand: writing and rituality in the Iron Age Irulegi settlement in the Ebro Valley

“…The material assemblages from primary contexts dating to the first quarter of the first century BC include coins, weapons, pottery, domesticated animal bone, metallurgical slags and burins for incising metal (see Figure S2). The ceramics include imported Campanian ware (or Etrurian and Calenian black-gloss A and B wares) dated between 150 and 80 BC (Rivera & Principal 2013) and wheel-made and coarse wares whose fabric resembles Aquitania-Tarraconensis wares (Aguarod 2017;Alonso-Olazabal et al 2018). Other evidence for literacy at Irulegi comes from inside building 6000: two pottery sherds inscribed post-firing with graffiti and a bone stylus for writing on wax tablets (Figure 4).…”

“…The ceramics include imported Campanian ware (or Etrurian and Calenian black-gloss A and B wares) dated between 150 and 80 BC (Rivera & Principal 2013) and wheel-made and coarse wares whose fabric resembles Aquitania-Tarraconensis wares (Aguarod 2017; Alonso-Olazabal et al . 2018). Other evidence for literacy at Irulegi comes from inside building 6000: two pottery sherds inscribed post-firing with graffiti and a bone stylus for writing on wax tablets (Figure 4).…”

Archaeometry of Roman Aquitania-Tarraconensis coarse ware pottery from the northern Iberian Peninsula and southern Aquitania

“…Previously published work has revealed that several of these marked pieces correspond to the same petrographic type (Alonso-Olazabal et al . 2014). In this study, we have extended the sampling to other sites in order to consider a greater number of samples and to examine a larger corpus of marks, considering technical characteristics, execution methods and the like.…”