A SINGULAR CERAMIC TYPE IN LATE IRON AGE NORTHWESTERN IBERIAN PENINSULA: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Abstract

This contribution offers a study of one of the most particular ceramic forms found in the material culture of the Iron Age of the north-western Iberian Peninsula: the cylindrical vessels. These objects, in their different formats, are typical of the middle and/or lower basin of the Miño River, found in contexts between the mid-1st century BC and mid-1st century AD. Throughout the text, we describe this type in depth and investigate the form from its possible origins (given its difference from the rest of the Iron Age forms), diffusion, func-tionality, and we try to provide a chronology as precise as possible. Traditional archaeological methodology is combined with archaeometry and ethnography. A total of 15 sherds from four archaeological sites of the Miño river middle basin were analyzed using a combination of techniques, including optical microscopy (OM) for the petrographic-mineralogical characterization of the materials, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for further details on the mineralogical composition, and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) for the chemical characterization. This type of study allows us to better understand not only the material culture, but also the cultural and socioeconomic dynamics of the moment of transition between the Iron Age and the Roman Age.