Bronze Age ceramics in southwest Spain: An exploratory archaeometric study of technology and function

Pottery from the Bronze Age of southwest Spain has traditionally been approached from a “typological” stand seeking the establishment of chronological sequences. This article examines ceramics from two different Bronze Age sites, a settlement (El Trastejón) and a necropolis (La Traviesa), from an archaeometric viewpoint. The methodology involved includes mineralogical characterization by XRD and optical microscopy, chemical analysis by XRF, and morphometric analysis through digital processing of thin sections. The analytical results are contextualized within the general framework of our current archaeological knowledge of both sites and their general background, and then a preliminary interpretation is proposed in terms of the prehistoric technology of pottery manufacture and functionality. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.