Mesetan Longhouse

This North Mesetan longhouse appears to have been built (possibly) first by Beakers using Ciempozuelos.  This is followed by a long period in the Bronze Age with pottery sherds of Protocogotas, which is one of the many derivatives of beaker-styled pottery, in this case probably with influences of the Argaric Bronze Age in the Southeast of the Peninsula.

The authors discuss this longhouse with surrounding structures, which were pits of some sort, and they invite further research to see if these differing structures were contemporary.  I believe the question of similar, richly-filled pits is gaining attention elsewhere, if I understand correctly (more below).


The authors here question the notion that these surrounding pits were for refuse or burial, even though the material is conglomerated, silty garbage-looking stuff, like orphan pottery fragments.  I believe this might be similar to a subject Blanco-Gonzales tackled in a paper earlier in 2014 [here], concerning the Central Meseta.  This again being what looked like burial cairns or trash pits, but for one, lack a body and two appear to have been re-used.  I speculated then that these might be silages, since winter haying does not appear to have existed before medieval times.

The issue of orphan pottery fragments in silages is something I speculated on [here], being that the farmer may have used pulverized pottery as supplements, which sounds crazy but has a practical value.  (Modern cattle are given licks.  Still they will eat rocks, presumably for minerals)  Whatever this main building was (i.e. tavern, house), it certainly had livestock there as well.

As a side note, I posted a study discussing the provenance of some of earlier bell beaker pottery near this area in Arlanzón [here].  This was done using chemical analysis and the authors concluded that some of the Bell Beaker pottery appears to have come from a potterhouse on the Guadiana in Southern Portugal or Spain.

MARTÍN, LUIS VILLANUEVA, EDUARDO CARMONA BALLESTERO, MIGUEL ÁNGEL ARNAIZ ALONSO, and MARÍA EUGENIA DELGADO ARCEO. "La articulación del espacio en el “campo de hoyos” de Manantial de Peñuelas (Celada del Camino, Burgos)." June, 2014 [Link]

Chemical Analysis of Beaker ceramics ("Campaniforme") from Northern Spain

Bell Beaker pottery (Campaniforme) appear in the Middle Chalcolithic Meseta (in Northern Spanish plateau) and very gradually replace the older pottery styles.  Ballestero, Diaz and Alonzo argue for a methodology of chemical analysis, which is really the main focus of the paper.

Chemical analysis has previously and very convincingly demonstrated that burial beaker cups were used for drinking wheat and barley beers, mead, possibly milk and less frequently, medicinal substances.  The authors argue that knowing the origin of the clay is critical to understanding alien pottery in a region.

Here, chemical analysis was used to determine that roughly 10% of the Late Chalcolithic (Beaker) pottery in the Arlanzon area came from out-of-town.  Pottery that came from outside the region was almost exclusively International Style Beakers.  A substantial portion of that they link to a known pottery studio on the Guadiana River (Southern Portugal).

Arlanzon River Valley pottery (Ballestero et al, 2014)

Of course, 90% of the Arlanzon pottery in the Late Chalcolithic was locally made which the authors leave as a discussion topic for others:  At what point did the Arlanzon region begin producing locally made 'alien beaker pottery' or did the alien potters slowly migrate to Arlanzon?

Chemical analysis of chalcolithic pottery from Arlanzón river middle basin (Burgos): a way to examine the origin and exchange (Ballestero, Diaz, Alonzo, 2014)

The study is aimed on pottery that it is recovered in Chalcolithic contexts from Arlanzón River Middle Basin. Within these sets of pottery there are similarities and differences —morpho-typological and technical—, which it is necessary to study in order to understand its significance in archaeological terms. To doing so, we need to use a different method than typology. In fact, we used chemical analysis of ceramic as a way to obtain less subjective observations. The results allow discussing about origin and exchange of Chalcolithic pottery in this zone of the Spanish North Plateau. Data show a mainly local origin of ceramics with some exchanged artifacts. In archaeological terms, the pattern may be related to a domestic model of production.

[link]