Technological choice and social expression: Archaeometric analysis of funerary argaric pottery vessels from Cerro de San Cristóbal (Ogíjares, Granada)

Abstract

The study of the technological choices and the technical variability observed in the argaric pottery is essential to deepen in the social dynamics existing in southeast Iberia during the Bronze Age. From this perspective, this paper is focused on the archaeometric characterisation of a ceramic assemblage from the funerary contexts of Cerro San Cristóbal (Ogíjares, Granada) with the aim to approach the patterns of production, the interaction between the potters and the way in which the pottery production could be organised. To this end, we carried out the petrographic and mineralogical analysis of the vessels by means of petrographic microscope and X-ray diffraction as well as the study of the matrix microstructure through scanning electron microscopy. The results show significant technological homogeneity between most of the vessels and types produced, except for some ceramics which differ from the argaric typological standards whose technological choices and depositional patterns seem to be related to other social dynamics. The technological choices documented show a complex picture in which several aspects such as the technological habitus, the learning strategies, the social interaction and how the vessels were conceptualised are closely interconnected.