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2025-11-01

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cc-by (c) Morillo León, José Miguel et al., 2025
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/226504

First evidence of hippopotamus ivory exchange networks in north-eastern Iberian Peninsula: The object of Bòbila Madurell (Barcelona, Spain)

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105375

Abstract

This study examines a Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic ivory object (Véraza facies) found at the Bòbila Madurell settlement (Sant Quirze del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain). The main objective was to date the object and determine the provenance of the raw material. The radiocarbon analysis places it in the second quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. FTIR analysis identified it as hippopotamus ivory, marking the first and currently the oldest discovery in north-eastern Iberia. While most Iberian ivory is attributed to Asian or African proboscideans, hippopotamus ivory is known in southern Iberia during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, reflecting emerging trade networks from the Near East and Africa. Though the object is fractured, the archaeological context, together with morphological and residue analyses, suggests a possible use in textile work.

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Voris, Comerç, Edat del bronze

Subject (English)

Ivories, Commerce, Bronze age

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Articles publicats en revistes (Història i Arqueologia)

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MORILLO LEÓN, José Miguel, et al. First evidence of hippopotamus ivory exchange networks in north-eastern Iberian Peninsula: The object of Bòbila Madurell (Barcelona, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 2025. Vol. 67, num. November 2025, pags. 105375. ISSN 2352-409X. [consulted: 8 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/226504

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