Aranzadi society of sciencies

Post-Doc, Prehistoric Archaeology Department

Thesis Title: The origin of pottery technology in the Cantabrian region. Production sequences during the fifth millennium cal BC

About

The purpose of my PhD is to analyse ceramic technology within the geographical context of the Cantabrian region during the first half of the fifth millennium cal BC. It analyses ceramics, understood as manufacture, as the result of a technological fabrication process, in relation to the principle of a ceramic manufacturing sequence, which covers a set of operations that transform a raw material into a product with certain physicochemical properties which practically eliminate its original characteristics.
Interest in the prehistoric ceramics of the Cantabrian region is a relatively recent phenomenon and is tied to its importance as a cultural marker of the Neolithic Period. The primary references to these types of materials were used to defend the cultural attribution of certain regional contexts to this period. The scarcity of recognisable morphological and decorative features among the first ceramic groups has resulted in their study being relegated in favour of other types of ceramics, such as the Bell Beaker ones, whose morpho-stylistic characteristics permit the establishment of cultural and chronological systems.
Our research is focused on analysing the ceramic groups ascribed to the fifth millennium cal BC from the Los Canes (Asturias), Los Gitanos (Cantabria) and Kobaederra (Vizcaya) sites. These sites constitute important sequences for the study of the Neolithisation processes in the region's western, central and eastern zones. Using this general framework, we established a series of objectives related to the definition and characterisation of the different manufacturing sequences, an approach to technology transfer mechanisms by differentiating between the local and foreign manufacturing origin of these recipients and, finally, to the connection of the appearance of this technology with the subsistence basis.
The high fragmentation index in the studied groups meant that each ceramic fragment was considered as a unit of analysis. The methodological protocol was designed with three types of approaches in mind. Macroscopic analysis was established as the foundation for this study, which led to an initial classification of the material based on its technological, morphological and decorative features. The selection of ceramic samples for later petrographic analysis was performed based on the technological variability observed. The thin-section petrographic analysis was focused on the description of the texture and mineralogical features of the samples. A distinction was made between the detritic fraction, naturally present in the sediment, and materials that were added intentionally (temper). Based on the petrographic description, different manufacturing groups were established, made up of fragments with similar textures and mineralogical features, which permitted the discrimination of different fabrication processes within the ceramic ensemble. A second selection of samples followed, in this case for mineralogical analysis, using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and chemical analysis, using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS).
The main conclusions reached in the study are related to aspects of the ceramic manufacturing sequence and their contribution to the study of human societies during the fifth millennium cal BC in this geographical area.

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