The productions of Cogotas I tradition in the argaric territory: the case of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén)

Abstract

This paper show the results obtained from the archaeometric study of the decorated ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition from the Argaric settlement of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén) are presented. The use of techniques from Earth Sciences (thin film petrography, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy) have allowed us to compare the typical Argaric productions of the site of Peñalosa with the ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition, which has allowed us to define different manufacturing groups in this site. The results obtained have allowed us to define a series of "Manufacturing Groups" that have shown characteristics in terms of manufacture and composition that show a similarity in the production of the ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition and those considered as typical Argaric. Therefore, we can affirm the existence of productions of the Cogotas I tradition in the Upper Guadalquivir at an early date (1700 BC), more closely related to those of the Meseta, which indicates an exchange of ideas, people, materials, etc. that favored the adoption of this type of production in Argaric contexts. This raises the possibility of a way of insertion of the Meseta peoples through the Tagus and Duero basins, where the exchange of minerals or metallic objects could have played an important role in this contact.