“…In any case, this latter option is strongly backed by the incorporation of particular ceramics (Rojo et al., 2008) and disarticulated human bones (Garrido-Pena et al., 2012; Weiss-Krejci, 2011) to contemporary depositional contexts. The Chalcolithic period exhibits a plentiful empirical basis for the deliberate breakage of pottery: Bell Beakers smashed within pits as votive offerings (Abarquero et al., 2012), or despoiled in tombs to erase the memory of competing factions (Flores-Fernández and Garrido-Pena, 2014). Several strands of evidence bear witness to the circulation and discriminatory abandonment of partial things such as broken Bell-Beaker vessels or isolated bones, likely regarded as relics (Liesau et al., 2014b; Woodward, 2002).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Figure 4.(a) Highly abraded Beaker potsherds from El Ventorro showing a schematic sun and a deer's antlers. (b) Large Bell Beaker smashed on deposition at Molino Sanchón (after Abarquero et al., 2012: lam. 164 and Guerra-Doce et al., 2011: fig.…”
Section: Depositional Stories In the Chalcolithic (C 3300–2200 Bc)mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…1). It has been related to the ritualised closing of this salt processing site, as a way to give thanks for the release of valuable substances (Abarquero et al., 2012: 331–334; Guerra-Doce et al., 2011: 814, 816). The discovery of incomplete Beaker vessels in contexts sealed during this period is also widespread (e.g.…”
Section: Depositional Stories In the Chalcolithic (C 3300–2200 Bc)mentioning
Sunken features backfilled with domestic refuse represent the prevailing depositional context-type in later prehistory worldwide. Despite being so, this evidence remains poorly understood and has only received sporadic attention, chiefly within Anglophone archaeologies. This paper focuses on ceramics from a suite of such intricate contexts (cut features, burials, settlements, barrows) from Iberia in a diachronic and comparative perspective, from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (5500–1100 BC). A total of 10,800 potsherds were examined with a taphonomic and refitting protocol attentive to formation dynamics and tracking intentionality. Results suggest that most of the studied assemblages are unplanned by-products of social life. From the earliest pottery-using communities, habitual actions conditioned the eventual preservation of the extant archaeological record. Fragmentation and deposition were key social practices, ultimately representing enduring trans-cultural phenomena. This research challenges uncontested interpretive premises, namely the ‘reflectionist’ standpoint, and disproves consensual and undue concepts frequently used in mainstream accounts of later prehistory.
“…In any case, this latter option is strongly backed by the incorporation of particular ceramics (Rojo et al., 2008) and disarticulated human bones (Garrido-Pena et al., 2012; Weiss-Krejci, 2011) to contemporary depositional contexts. The Chalcolithic period exhibits a plentiful empirical basis for the deliberate breakage of pottery: Bell Beakers smashed within pits as votive offerings (Abarquero et al., 2012), or despoiled in tombs to erase the memory of competing factions (Flores-Fernández and Garrido-Pena, 2014). Several strands of evidence bear witness to the circulation and discriminatory abandonment of partial things such as broken Bell-Beaker vessels or isolated bones, likely regarded as relics (Liesau et al., 2014b; Woodward, 2002).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Figure 4.(a) Highly abraded Beaker potsherds from El Ventorro showing a schematic sun and a deer's antlers. (b) Large Bell Beaker smashed on deposition at Molino Sanchón (after Abarquero et al., 2012: lam. 164 and Guerra-Doce et al., 2011: fig.…”
Section: Depositional Stories In the Chalcolithic (C 3300–2200 Bc)mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…1). It has been related to the ritualised closing of this salt processing site, as a way to give thanks for the release of valuable substances (Abarquero et al., 2012: 331–334; Guerra-Doce et al., 2011: 814, 816). The discovery of incomplete Beaker vessels in contexts sealed during this period is also widespread (e.g.…”
Section: Depositional Stories In the Chalcolithic (C 3300–2200 Bc)mentioning
Sunken features backfilled with domestic refuse represent the prevailing depositional context-type in later prehistory worldwide. Despite being so, this evidence remains poorly understood and has only received sporadic attention, chiefly within Anglophone archaeologies. This paper focuses on ceramics from a suite of such intricate contexts (cut features, burials, settlements, barrows) from Iberia in a diachronic and comparative perspective, from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (5500–1100 BC). A total of 10,800 potsherds were examined with a taphonomic and refitting protocol attentive to formation dynamics and tracking intentionality. Results suggest that most of the studied assemblages are unplanned by-products of social life. From the earliest pottery-using communities, habitual actions conditioned the eventual preservation of the extant archaeological record. Fragmentation and deposition were key social practices, ultimately representing enduring trans-cultural phenomena. This research challenges uncontested interpretive premises, namely the ‘reflectionist’ standpoint, and disproves consensual and undue concepts frequently used in mainstream accounts of later prehistory.
“…Evidence of briquetage is found throughout continental Europe [2,26,27], for instance in Germany [28–34], in Poland [35,36], in Spain [37–42], in Belgium and in the Netherlands [43–45].…”
Section: Background and (Proto)historical Issuesmentioning
In 2017, an excavation led by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and in collaboration with the Tor Vergata University of Rome, took place on two small islands in the Caprolace lagoon (Sabaudia, Italy), where Middle Bronze Age layers had previously been reported. Combining the results of an environmental reconstruction of the surroundings and a detailed study of the pottery assemblages, we were able to trace a specialised area on the southern island, in all probability devoted to salt production by means of the briquetage technique. The latter basically consists of boiling a brine through which a salt cake is obtained. The technique was widespread all over Europe, from Neolithic to Roman Times. Since the evidence points to an elite-driven workshop, this result has deep implications for the development of the Bronze Age socio-economic framework of Central Italy. Pottery evidence also suggests that in the Bronze Age sites along the Tyrrhenian coast of Central Italy where briquetage has already been hypothesised, more complex processes may have taken place. On the northern island, we collected a large number of so-called pedestals, which are characteristic features of briquetage, while chemical analyses point to salt or fish sauce production, like the roman liquamen, in a Middle Bronze Age domestic context.
“…En el caso de Cogotas i tal tendencia es especialmente acusada y afectó a muy diversos ámbitos de la vida social. Aquellos grupos acostumbraron a moverse por los mismos valles y llanuras ocupados por sus predecesores, cultivándolos y hoyándolos (Blasco, 2001(Blasco, , 2002(Blasco, /2003Delibes de Castro, 2000, 2004Abarquero et al, 2012;Delibes de Castro et al, 2014). También frecuentaron asiduamente hitos marcados por actividades pretéritas: se internaron en cuevas (p. e. Eiroa, 1979;Vergés et al, 2002;Alves et al, 2013) y alteraron sepulcros de corredor y túmulos, aparentemente para depositar vasijas (Delibes de Castro, 2004;Esparza et al, 2012: 273-274).…”
Section: Cosas De Otros Contextos Espacio-temporales En La Mesetaunclassified
) LXXVI, julio-diciembre; [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Resumen: Este artículo explora las semejanzas decorativas entre las cerámicas neolíticas y calcolíticas y la alfarería de estilo Cogotas i. Un enfoque diacrónico que arranca del Neolítico antiguo permite rastrear una serie de motivos y técnicas ornamentales recurrentes a lo largo de la Prehistoria reciente meseteña: similares temas geométricos, el empleo del boquique, la excisión y la incrustación de pasta blanca. Se valoran diversas opciones para comprender tales analogías: mera casualidad, invención independiente, perduración transcultural de procedimientos artesanales. La hipótesis más plausible considera que las artesanas del ii milenio a. C. reintrodujeron tales decisiones tecnológicas conscientes de su otredad. Con ellas elaboraron un código simbólico plasmado en la vajilla, cuya transmisión y reproducción fidedigna fueron de gran importancia. Las alfareras se inspiraron en cerámicas de su pasado, prototipos que pudieron entender como realidades ancestrales, esotéricas o míticas. Semejante decisión cultural resulta coherente con su manipulación habitual de reliquias y cosas extemporáneas o exóticas. Los modos de vida de aquellas gentes facilitaron el encuentro con restos pretéritos, tanto la remoción del suelo -para cultivar y cavar hoyos-en los mismos entornos que ocuparon sus predecesores, como la visita y alteración de viejos túmulos, cuevas y recintos fosados.Palabras clave: Decoración cerámica; imitación; transmisión artesanal; Neolítico; Campaniforme; Cogotas i; Meseta.Abstract: This paper explores decorative resemblances between Neolithic and Chalcolithic ceramics and pottery in the Cogotas i style -Later Bronze Age-. A diachronic approach from the Early Neolithic allows tracking a series of recurring ornamental motifs and techniques throughout later prehistory: comparable geometric themes, the deployment of stab-and-drag -Boquique-and excision techniques and smearing of white inlays. In order to account for such analogies, a suite of options is assessed: mere coincidence, independent innovation, trans-cultural endurance of craftwork procedures. The most likely hypothesis considers a revival of such technological decisions by potters in the second millennium bc; they did so fully aware of their alien character. Such pottery features were used to elaborate a symbolic code displayed on vessels, whose transmission and faithful reproduction were of crucial importance. Ancient potsherds were used as prototypes by potters, and might have been understood as part of ancestral, esoteric or mythical realities. Such cultural preference is consistent with the habitual handling of relics and anachronistic or exotic things. The lifestyles of these people facilitated their encountering of remains from their past, either removing soil (to cultivate and pit-digging) on
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
