BETTENCOURT, A.M.S.; SAMPAIO, H.A. 2017.The Middle and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in the North-western Iberian Peninsula, In T. Lachenal et al. (eds.) Le Bronze moyen et l’origine du Bronze final en Europe occidentale, Strasbourg [Mémoires d’Archéologie du Grand-Est 1], 363-384. (original) (raw)
While examining the impact of metals over indigenous contexts, the author constructs a perspective about the Western End of the Iberian Peninsula in the Late Bronze Age. Amongst other things, it was possible to account for widespread bronze production, usually domestic, involving modest means of production and aimed at local and regional consumption. Some Mediterranean elements also occur within the same contexts, showing new shapes, functions, styles, materials, technologies, ritual practices, but Mediterranean metals play a minor role. Hybridization as cultural phenomenon is also possible. Some items of Mediterranean fi liation are also represented on Warrior Stelae, expressing the role played locally by the «outside» in the reinforcement of social inequalities. All these evidences seem to have been residual, circumscribed to the circle of the elites. So these elements neither expressed pro-Mediterranean acculturation, nor created a profound effect on the lives of the communities. KEY-WORDS: LATE BRONZE AGE; IBERIAN PENINSULA; MEDITERRANEAN; BRONZE; HYBRIDS; INDIGE-NOUS COMMUNITIES
EARLY BRONZE TECHNOLOGY AT THE LAND’S END IN NORTH WESTERN IBERIA
The North Western Iberia metal ore wealth, especially tin ore and gold, have been proposed as the main reason for the development of intense trade routes since early prehistory. Several authors have argued the existence of interactions between the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and other cultures of the European Occident and the Mediterranean area. Ancient sources comment on the abundance of minerals and metals in the Cassiterides or Tin Islands. These accounts must have originated from sailors who from time immemorial were trading in these coasts. The name Cassiterides represents the first vague knowledge of the Greeks that tin was found overseas somewhere in or off Western Europe. The word κασσιτερος was known to Homer and is mentioned ten times in the Iliad. Cape Finisterre (Land’s End for the Romans) was proposed as the northernmost point recorded in the Periplous of Pytheas the Massaliot, which seems to be the basic source used by Rufus Festus Avienus. B.Cunliffe has suggested that if Cape Finisterre was the place called estrymnis by Avienus in Ora Marítima, then Periplous could be seen as the guide that led Greek sailors from Marseille to the northwest of Iberia to trade for the coveted Galician tin some time around 500 BC. Recently, the study of prehistoric bronze working places more emphasis on technological aspects as a means of detecting changes in the pattern of metal production in the archaeological record. Bronze working appears in North Western Iberia at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC for short-scale production, distribution and consumption, mainly as prestige goods. Metals are a major component of the prestige economy described in the Homeric Epics and his accounts of Phoenician traders carrying metals hither and thither constitute the earliest literature reference. They suggest a prestige economy based in interchange of presents (most of them metals) that contribute to the perpetuation of the aristocracy, excluding ownership by the rest of the population. Recent preliminary analyses carried out at the synchrotron and the neutron sources at the Daresbury and Rutherford Laboratories have contributed to the understanding of technological details of this very early bronze metallurgy. Archaeological evidence sustains the hypothesis of an increase of the production during the late Bronze Age. Most of these objects are produced locally, imitating foreign styles, especially in the Atlantic area, with singular features related to the alloy composition and other features. Indeed, as early as the beginning of the 8th century BC, the Phoenicians had established a trading post at Gadir. From here Phoenician ships regularly sailed north up the Atlantic coast of Iberia. We can observe differences between the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age north-western metal production and the so-called tartesic bronzes. The technical aspects of the production of bronze during the Orientalising Period in the Iberian Peninsula favours the individualization of different manufacturing tradition
MA Thesis, December 2020 This study combines long-term settlement data with short-term excavation data to explore the conditions that led late prehistoric communities in Iberia’s southwest to aggregate during the Late Bronze Age [LBA]. This long-term approach involves the application of geographic information systems [GIS] to identify settlement patterns in the Central Alentejo from the Late Neolithic [LN]/Chalcolithic to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 3500 – 800 BCE). In the Serra d’Ossa microregion of the southwest there are 176 sites that date to the Neolithic/Chalcolithic, only two that date to the EBA/MBA, and 27 that date to the LBA. This shift is directly related to the Chalcolithic “collapse” that occurred in the mid/late third millennium BCE, influenced by both sociocultural and environmental factors. The LBA of the southwest has long been defined by the emergence of a new culture associated with a concern for defensiveness and warriorship, represented on stone stelae by warrior iconography, and by the emergence of large-fortified upland sites that appear during this period. A distinct lack of small-scale settlement data has previously led to insufficient interpretations and characterizations of the period. In turn, this thesis incorporates short-term data from excavation at the large-fortified upland site of Castelo Velho da Serra d’Ossa, the one excavated example of such a site in the Serra d’Ossa microregion and one of the few excavated LBA sites in the wider southwest. The short-term excavation data are discussed in the context of the long-term settlement patterns to better characterize the LBA of the Iberian southwest, a period previously underrepresented in the region. The central focus of study is to investigate the emergence of these settlements (up to 15 ha in size) and the communities that inhabited them; considering the processes underpinning place-making and aggregation both locally and within its broader prehistoric context. Please follow this link to an Open-Access copy of the thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/26709
Iberia, the Atlantic Bronze Age and the Mediterranean
This paper reviews the evidence, mainly metalwork, for the place of the Iberian Peninsula in the so-called Atlantic Bronze Age, and for Iberian contacts with the Mediterranean. After setting out the chronological framework, we summarise the background from the Copper Age to the Middle Bronze Age. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age there is little evidence for traffic on the Atlantic seaways south of the English Channel in contrast to the abundant evidence for cross-Channel contacts, and Iberia developed largely in isolation without reference to lands to the north. There follows discussion of the three phases of the Late Bronze Age. During Late Bronze Age 1 contact with Atlantic Europe is discernible though limited, but there is also some evidence of influence from Urnfield Europe. Only in Late Bronze Age 2, equivalent to Wilburton in Britain and Saint-Brieuc-des-Iffs/Saint-Denis-de-Pile in France, did the metalwork of Iberia reflect that from Britain and France to the extent that we can speak confidently of an Atlantic Bronze Age. In Iberia this is the Hío phase, with abundant exotic influences -mainly Atlantic but some also Mediterranean. The Huelva find belongs to the last part of this phase; both its traditional dating to the succeeding LBA 3 phase and its identification as part of the carp’s tongue complex, are shown to be incorrect. Carp’s tongue swords and their antecedents are redefined, while Huelva swords are shown to be Iberian equivalents of a group of French swords – the forerunners of carp’s tongue swords – named here after the weapon from Saint-Philbert-de-Grandlieu. True carp’s tongue swords are almost absent from Iberia, though carp’s tongue variants are rather more common. Other familiar components of the carp’s tongue complex are entirely missing or very rare, including Vénat spearheads; the many supposed Iberian examples of these spearheads have been incorrectly identified. While some hoards did occur in Iberia during Late Bronze 3, these differ in character from carp’s tongue hoards and other contemporary hoards north of the Pyrenees. Comparatively little bronze metalwork can be dated to this phase, which may reflect the precocious adoption of iron in Iberia under oriental influence.
San Adrian: a new site for the study of the Bronze Age in northern Spain
Bronze Age studies carried out in the Cantabrian Region have traditionally focused on prestige goods and funerary contexts. As a result of this, the lack of information about daily activities, subsistence strategies, and human settlement on a regional scale was evident in the state of art. However, current research has achieved new discoveries in recent years, allowing a reconstruction of some aspects of the economic structure, settlements, material culture and the palaeoenvironment during the Bronze Age. Indeed, besides the funerary practices discovered in 1983 in San Adrian (Parztuergo Nagusia, Gipuzkoa), research has now revealed the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Early Bronze Age occupations. This paper presents a first characterization of the retrieved evidence and a preliminary evaluation of the archaeological site and its environment. San Adrian is a tunnel-shaped cave located at 1,000 meters a.s.l. in the Aizkorri mountain range, opening a passage beneath the Atlantic-Mediterranean watershed in northern Iberia. The strategic character of this mountain site is demonstrated by the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations, and by the construction of a road passing through it and the fortification of both its entrances in the Middle Ages. The aim of the archaeological survey started in 2008 was to identify, describe and evaluate the heritage potential of the cave, because previous fieldwork had only managed to make surface finds in the side galleries, including a medieval hoard and Bronze Age human remains. The work carried out by the research group at San Adrian includes a series of test pits and the excavation of an area nine square metres in size following stratigraphic criteria. In the current state, we identified at least two contexts corresponding to Late Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations in the cave. Fieldwork included the sieving and flotation of sediment and the collection of samples for different types of analysis: palynology, carpology, sedimentology, and radiocarbon dating. The evidence is being studied by a multidisciplinary team according to expertise requirements for each topic: palaeobotany and environment, archaeozoology, sedimentology, geology, physical anthropology, prehistoric industries (lithics, pottery and bone) and archaeological and historical documentation. Because of its recent discovery, Upper Palaeolithic evidence remains still under study, but first results on Bronze Age layers can be presented. The ongoing archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies reveal the exploitation of domestic plants and fauna complemented by hunting and foraging of wild species. At the same time, the archaeological artefacts and their production sequences show the exploitation of nearby resources on both sides of the mountain range, while prestige goods are absent. This evidence is also used to estimate the regularity of cave occupations and to propose a model of seasonal exploitation of the mountain environment. The results obtained reveal the exploitation of resources from both the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins, and contribute towards an understanding of the daily activities of Bronze Age societies. In addition, the evidence shows the exchange and circulation of quotidian products between the Cantabrian region and inland Iberia in other networks than those of prestige goods.
1 Early Bronze Technology at the Land ’ S End in North Western Iberia
2006
The North Western Iberia metal ore wealth, especially tin ore and gold, have been proposed as the main reason for the development of intense trade routes since early prehistory. Several authors have argued the existence of interactions between the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and other cultures of the European Occident and the Mediterranean area. Ancient sources comment on the abundance of minerals and metals in the Cassiterides or Tin Islands. These accounts must have originated from sailors who from time immemorial were trading in these coasts. The name Cassiterides represents the first vague knowledge of the Greeks that tin was found overseas somewhere in or off Western Europe. The word κασσιτερος was known to Homer and is mentioned ten times in the Iliad. Cape Finisterre (Land’s End for the Romans) was proposed as the northernmost point recorded in the Periplous of Pytheas the Massaliot, which seems to be the basic source used by Rufus Festus Avienus. B.Cunliffe has sugges...
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
Archaeological works at Entre Águas 5 (Portugal) uncovered a seasonal LBA settlement with significant metallurgical remains (crucibles, moulds, prills and a tuyere) related to bronze production. Radiocarbon dating ascribes an occupation period (10the9th century BC) previous to Phoenician establishment in Southwestern Iberia. In spite of the proliferation of metal artefacts during LBA, the production of bronze alloys is still poorly understood. An integrated analytical approach (EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEMeEDS, micro-EDXRF and Vickers microhardness) was used to characterise this metallurgy. Crucibles show immature slags with copious copper nodules, displaying variable tin content (c. 0e26 wt.%), low iron amount (<0.05 wt.%) and different cooling rates. Certain evidences point to direct reduction of oxide copper ores with cassiterite. Scorched moulds with residues of copper and tin indicate local casting of artefacts. Finished artefacts also recovered at the site have an analogous composition (bronze with w10 wt.% Sn and low amounts of Pb, As and Fe) typical of coeval metallurgy in SW Iberia. Some artefacts reveal a relationship between typology and composition or manufacture: a higher tin content for a golden coloured ring or absence of the final hammering for a bracelet. An uncommon gilded nail (gold foil c. 140 mm thick; 11.6 wt.% Ag; w1 wt.% Cu) attests the existence of evolved prestige typologies. This LBA settlement discloses a domestic metallurgy whose main features are typical in Iberian Peninsula. Finally, it should be emphasized that a collection as comprehensive and representative of a single workshop has rarely been studied, enabling a deeper understanding of the various operations involving the bronze production and manufacture of artefacts.
Phoenician Bronzes in Spain. A Western Phoenician Bronzework
Phoenician Bronzes in Mediterranean (J. Jiménez Ávila ed.), Bibliotheca Archaeologica Hispana 45, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 2015
This chapter presents the state of the art of the western Phoenician bronzes. The most recent researchs propose the growth of a provincial production focused in the Iberian southern coast. These western workshops act under specific technical procedures and with typological peculiarities too, but they allways move within the common language of all the Phoenician bronze handicraft in the whole Mediterranean. In the view of the new chronologies obtained from sites as Huelva or Málaga new proposals for the oldest Mediterranean Bronzes (like pin cauldrons and others) are done. But the bulk of this paper is devoted to the typological and chronological study of the main types that make up the Western-Phoenician (or Hispano-Phoenician) bronzework: jugs, basins and incense burners, with some issues on other less common productions, as furniture, chariots, belts, etc. Recent important findings as those coming from the the Bajo de la Campana ship-wreck, close Cartagena, are mentioned.
Against the backdrop of earlier descriptions of prehistoric social structures, this article will discuss the methods available for the analysis of archaeological evidence and the limits on interpretation, particularly with regard to the term ‘state’, using examples from the Bronze Age in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in the El Argar region. The focus is on the identifi cation of meaningful parameters, basic resources and the range of target-oriented interpretative approaches.
Bronze production during the Iron Age of the Iberian Peninsula is characterised by the use of a relatively simple technology, based on crucible-furnaces. In an area rich in mineral resources, bronze was produced on a small scale and within settlements, to be used for ritual, ornamental and functional objects. Here we present an analytical study of slagged crucibles, small slag nodules and casting spillage from the Iron Age hillfort of El Castru, in Vigaña (Asturias, NW Iberia), with a particular focus on the technology of bronze production. The study sought to contribute to our understanding of Pre-Roman metallurgical activities in the region, as a case in point to discuss broader prehistoric traditions of bronze-making. The results show that the technology and scale of bronze production at this hillfort are coherent with the pattern described for much of prehistoric metallurgy in Iberia, with the-direct production of copper alloys by cementa-tion and co-smelting of mineral ores. The results also illustrate some of the challenges encountered when attempting to identify metallurgical processes through the analyses of crucible residues, and propose some criteria to facilitate future studies.
HIGH LEADED BRONZE IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE METALLURGY OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
Metal is one of the most remarkable features in the Late Bronze Age. Metal findings as well as metal deposits constitute a fundamental part of the archaeological record of this archaeological stage. The interpretation of the historical development produced during this period needs to consider the impact of metallurgy and define the function and use of metal (instrumental, ritual or social function).
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
Bronze production during the Iron Age of the Iberian Peninsula is characterised by the use of a relatively simple technology, based on crucible-furnaces. In an area rich in mineral resources, bronze was produced on a small scale and within settlements, to be used for ritual, ornamental and functional objects. Here we present an analytical study of slagged crucibles, small slag nodules and casting spillage from the Iron Age hillfort of El Castru, in Vigaña (Asturias, NW Iberia), with a particular focus on the technology of bronze production. The study sought to contribute to our understanding of Pre-Roman metallurgical activities in the region, as a case in point to discuss broader prehistoric traditions of bronze-making. The results show that the technology and scale of bronze production at this hillfort are coherent with the pattern described for much of prehistoric metallurgy in Iberia, with the-direct production of copper alloys by cementation and co-smelting of mineral ores. The results also illustrate some of the challenges encountered when attempting to identify metallurgical processes through the analyses of crucible residues, and propose some criteria to facilitate future studies.
Materials Characterization, 2012
Phoenician settlers were responsible for very important changes on the metallurgical practices used in the Iberian Peninsula during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The study of copper-based artefacts from the Phoenician settlement of Quinta do Almaraz (Portugal) was used to characterise exogenous influences on local metallurgy. Micro-EDXRF analyses on cleaned metal surfaces identified copper, low-tin bronze (2.2 to 8.1 wt.% Sn) and leaded bronze artefacts (4.6 to 5.9 wt.% Pb). Additionally, significant impurities of iron were found (0.15 to 1.3 wt.% Fe) suggesting the smelting of copper ores under a strong reducing atmosphere. SEM-EDS and optical microscopy identified polygonal and nearly equiaxial α-copper grains with annealing twins and slip bands, which indicate comprehensive manufacturing procedures involving hammering and annealing operations. Vickers microhardness testing was utilised to assess the mechanical performance attained by ancient metallurgists. The microstructural features and microhardness values showed that a common approach was to workharden the artefact with a strong final hammering (discernible by high density of slip bands), although some examples also benefited from a highly skilful usage of the forging plus annealing cycles (uniform and very small grain size).