Shaping marble, shaping minds: apprenticeship in an early Neolithic bracelet quarry

Stone bracelets are one of the most outstanding aspects of personal ornamentation of the Early Neolithic in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (5500-4800 cal. BC). These ornaments are an element of cultural identity and a chronological marker of the first Neolithic societies in this area. Discovery...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Martínez Sevilla, Francisco|||0000-0002-1385-3585, Piper, Stephanie F., Jiménez Cobos, Francisca, Lozano Rodríguez, José Antonio, Carrasco Rus, Javier L.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/63743
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/63743
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2019.1654700
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Neolithic
Learning
Knapping
Marble
Experimentation
Stone bracelets
Historia
History
Descripción
Sumario:Stone bracelets are one of the most outstanding aspects of personal ornamentation of the Early Neolithic in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (5500-4800 cal. BC). These ornaments are an element of cultural identity and a chronological marker of the first Neolithic societies in this area. Discovery and study of the Neolithic quarry of Cortijo Cevico (Loja, Granada) has allowed us to identify the extraction and initial reduction of dolomitic marble for the manufacture of bracelets. The archaeological assemblage from the quarry comprises knapping waste, circular roughouts (from which bracelets were manufactured), and the tools used in these activities. In this paper, we evaluate the evidence for apprenticeship processes in the quarry. We use different methodological resources to demonstrate that knowledge transmission occurred in the quarry including experimental knapping by experienced and novice knappers, ethnographic examples, and the application of diacritical schemes to the abandoned archaeological roughouts.