Source Provenance of Pre-Historic Granitic Grindstones: The Case Study of the Cogotas I Archaeological Site of Arroyo Mucientes/San Lázaro (Castronuño, Valladolid) and a Proposal on the General Methodological Flow Process

Abstract

The occurrence of hand grindstones at the Cogotas I archaeological sites is considered to be a common feature. Given that a distant-provenance raw material is frequently involved, determination of its source is a basic factor in the search for a better understanding of resource management and for any Political Economy approach. To progress in these directions an overall study should be planned, using selected grindstones with a view to covering diverse sub-zones of the Cogotas I dispersal area, especially because of its considerable distance from the granite basement source. Such a study may today includes diverse analytical procedures combining successive geographic, petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical criteria. To check the plausibility of the proposed methodology, a preliminary test has been carried out on two granite grindstones, obtained at the archaeological excavation at the Castronuño (Valladolid) Cogotian site, which is fifty km away from an inferred source area that was presumably located at Peñausende (Zamora). The result obtained validates the proposed operational process, yielding a generalizable knowledge to other similar situations.