De arriba abajo: estudio integral de la cerámica prehistórica de la cueva 3167 (Matienzo, Cantabria, Norte de España)

Abstract

Los estudios tecnológicos de manufacturas cerámicas prehistóricas constituyen una clara excepción dentro del marco general de la investigación en la región a pesar de su larga trayectoria en la investigación arqueológica europea. Sin embargo, el estudio integral de este tipo de evidencias permite no sólo realizar una aproximación a los conjuntos cerámicos sino también proponer hipótesis interpretativas que contribuyan al planteamiento y desarrollo de nuevos proyectos de investigación. En este artículo se presenta el estudio tecnológico, morfológico y funcional del conjunto cerámico procedente de la cueva 3167 de Seldesuto (Matienzo, Cantabria), en el cual se han aplicado distintas aproximaciones que abarcan desde un análisis macroscópico a las técnicas de caracterización mineralógicas (petrografía y difracción de rayos X). El análisis realizado nos ha permitido reconocer una serie de características de los recipientes tipo "orza" ampliamente documentados en el ámbito de Cantabria desde el III milenio cal BC. Se apuntan aspectos relacionados con las materias primas empleadas en su elaboración, el método de preparación de la pasta, las condiciones y temperaturas de cocción, así como los resultados obtenidos de la datación directa del recipiente cerámico y la información sobre la formación del depósito arqueológico.

Although techniques for the characterisation of archaeological material enjoy a long tradition in Europe, they have been less influential in Spain, particularly in the Cantabrian region. This may be one reason why, in this region, the traditional approach to the study of prehistoric pottery has prevailed over the use of new methodologies, which require the application of technological (mineralogical, geochemical etc.) and functional analytical techniques (for example, gas chromatography) or the study of post-depositional alterations. However, an integral study of this kind of evidence is able not only to approach an understanding of ceramic assemblages but also to propose interpretative hypotheses contributing to the formulation and development of new research projects. In the present study, pottery is seen as a product within a sequence of operations transforming raw material into the final recipient. In this process, the final product may possess very different physical-chemical properties from the original material. In accordance with this approach, the technological, morphological and functional study of the pottery assemblage from Cueva 3167 in Seldesuto (Matienzo, Cantabria) applied different methods, from macroscopic description to techniques of mineralogical (petrography and X-ray diffraction) and functional characterisation (gas chromatography). The study succeeded in determining a series of characteristics of the storage urns, a pottery type widely documented in Cantabria from the third millennium cal BC. It covers such aspects as the raw materials used to make the urns, the way the fabric was prepared and the firing conditions and temperature, as well as the age determination of one of the urns and information about how the archaeological record formed. This site is located practically at the summit of the ridge between the valleys of Matienzo and Arredondo in eastern Cantabria, at 673m above sea level. It is a small cave where several groups of sherds were located in the first twelve metres of the passage, which is less than a metre high. The main concentration consisted of pottery fragments in situ, just as the recipient had been abandoned, upside down in the middle of the passage. The base of the vessel was not recovered, which may indicate that the urn had been placed in an inverted position because the base had already been lost. Macroscopic observation of the sherds determined that they belonged to a minimum of four recipients, differentiated by their technological, morphological and decorative traits. Thin section observation of the fabric revealed that it had been mostly tempered with grog between 0.5 and 1.5mm in size. X-ray Diffraction analysis showed the high proportion of illite in the clay fabric. The recipients were fired at a low temperature, possibly lower than 800ºC. The presence of idiomorphic quartz, epidotes and even gypsum in one of the samples suggests that the raw materials were related to Triassic deposits, the nearest of which are located several kilometres from the cave site. A thermoluminescence determination established a chronology of 2832-1820 BC for the main urn, which is coherent with the ages obtained for similar vessels in the same area.