Pottery apprenticeship and knowledge in Bronze Age Iberia: the case of the Peñalosa archaeological site (Jaén, Spain)

Abstract

Amongst the pottery sets associated with the Argar culture (Cultura del Argar), in the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, it is common to fnd small recipients in funerary and household contexts. However, their techniques and manufacture reveal they do not seem to be products made by expert hands but rather the opposite. They are small artefacts, the result of the learning processes as well as the knowledge transfer between producers (adults) and learners (infants). To identify and describe these learning processes, we have developed, for the frst time, research from a multiproxy perspective. To reach our objectives, we have implemented analytical protocols (macro and microscopic) oriented to determine both formal and functional aspects. The study departs from identifying the macro traces to defne the chaîne opératoire. Then, we used X-ray difraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to carry out their mineral and clay characterisation. The XRD was also related to the microstructural study made through scanning electron microscope (SEM) to verify the baking processes and the temperatures reached. Lastly, we applied gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC– MS) and liquid chromatography (UPLC-HRMS), and we established the isotopic values via the use of gas chromatographycombustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) to ascertain if those recipients were used with a specifc function or purpose. The results obtained let us reconstruct the learning processes as well as the learning and socialisation phases in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in the Bronze Age.