Millstones and other macrolithics, the ‘eternal forgotten’ in Chalcolithic sites: Camino de las Yeseras (San Fernando de Hanares, Madrid, Spain)
Macrolithic artefacts have been often ‘forgotten’ or undervalued in studies on Late Prehistory. However, the high amount of these objects suggests that they had an important role for prehistorical communities. The 3rd millennium BCE site of Camino de las Yeseras, in central Iberia, provides a good c...
| Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | book part |
| Publication Date: | 2020 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid |
| Repository: | Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/710772 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10486/710772 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Millstones Macrolithic Chalcolithic Archeometry Camino de las yeseras Iberia Arqueología |
| Summary: | Macrolithic artefacts have been often ‘forgotten’ or undervalued in studies on Late Prehistory. However, the high amount of these objects suggests that they had an important role for prehistorical communities. The 3rd millennium BCE site of Camino de las Yeseras, in central Iberia, provides a good collection of artefacts that were the subject of petrolithic and morpho-functional studies. These analyses permitted to identify a great variety of types: millstones, mashers and hammers used for different purposes. The exhaustive study of these artefacts permits to infer several technological aspects, certain mineral treatments and different patterns of cereal consumption. Consequently, the results have important implications on the spatial distribution of objects in the site, on the reconstruction of exchange networks and on the recognition of specialised craftsmanship. What is remarkable about these artefacts is not only their paleoeconomical role, but also their symbolic relevance in a site like Camino de las Yeseras |
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