Household archaeology in Early Iron Age Central Iberia: the excavation campaign of 2018 at Cerro de San Vicente (Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the 2018 campaign in the Iron Age village of Cerro de San Vicente. The fieldwork involved a previous survey with ground penetrating radar (GPR) and the testing of its preliminary results by means of a 200 m² pit, focused in a second phase on the 64 m² where the anomalies were centred. A roundhouse has been identified, whose trajectory of use shows a biography interspersed with ashy middens, two adjective structures and remnants of a rectangular building, dated to the seventh-sixth centuries BC. The excavation of a thick midden has made it possible to recover abundant bone and carpological remains that have been studied by specialists. Of particular note is the ceramic sample, which includes ancient, impressed ware (9th-8th century BC) and ware dating to the domestic occupation, both local handmade and imported (including a Cruz del Negro and a Phoenician red slip potsherds). It is hypothesised that the excavated sector was part of a larger, yet unexcavated, neighbourhood. The mudbrick building, the local production of exotic wares (graphite-coated, “Carambolo style”, imitations of grey or Sardinian stamped pottery), the use of faience beads and lamps and the engraving on the wares of non-graphemic graffiti all in all indicate the presence of women educated in other Iberian regions, who reproduced these forms of exogenous know-how.