Tracing household economies and food technologies in the Eastern Pyrenees
This study presents a pilot systematic analysis of rotative grinding stones from the highland site of El Castellot de Bolvir (La Cerdanya, eastern Pyrenees), occupied continuously from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Republican period. Focusing on the transitional phase between the Late Iron Age an...
| Autores: | , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:324808 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/324808 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1007/s12520-025-02352-x |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Cereal processing Eastern Pyrenees El Castellot de Bolvir Grinding stones Late Iron Age Phytoliths |
| Sumario: | This study presents a pilot systematic analysis of rotative grinding stones from the highland site of El Castellot de Bolvir (La Cerdanya, eastern Pyrenees), occupied continuously from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Republican period. Focusing on the transitional phase between the Late Iron Age and early Roman influence (3rd-2nd centuries BCE), the research combines typological and microbotanical (phytolith) records to investigate domestic food production strategies and the role of grinding technologies. The assemblage reveals a standardized and specialized use of granite rotative grinding stones (namely catilli and metae), indicative of cereal processing practices. Phytolith results indicate the nature of the processed matter, including hulled barley, free-threshing wheat, and broomcorn millet, consistent with macrobotanical records at the site suggesting broader regional patterns of intensified agriculture and technological adaptation. This work fills a critical gap in Pyrenean archaeobotanical and technological studies and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of household economies and food technologies during a critical period of socio-political transformations driven by Romanization in northeastern Iberia. |
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