Northern exposure: Baltic amber and silver beads from the Iron Age reuse of the Bela Vista tholos (Sintra, Portugal)
This study re-examines the personal adornment assemblage from the Bela Vista tholos (Sintra, Portugal), highlighting the rediscovery of a long-lost amber bead and clarifying the chronology and provenance of associated artifacts. The bead has been identified as Baltic amber through the use of FTIR sp...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| Repositorio: | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:idus.us.es:11441/182640 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/182640 https://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2025.1062 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Baltic amber Variscite Silver Bela Vista Iron Age Copper Age FTIR MACLAS VORTEX Prehistoric trade networks Iberian Peninsula Ámbar báltico Variscita Plata Edad del Hierro Edad del Cobre Redes de intercambio prehistóricas Península ibérica |
| Sumario: | This study re-examines the personal adornment assemblage from the Bela Vista tholos (Sintra, Portugal), highlighting the rediscovery of a long-lost amber bead and clarifying the chronology and provenance of associated artifacts. The bead has been identified as Baltic amber through the use of FTIR spectroscopy. This material is known to be exceptionally rare in Iberian contexts prior to the Bronze Age. Complementary analyses (MACLAS and VORTEX) link the greenstone beads to variscite and muscovite, with the variscite sourced from the Aliste mining region in northwestern Iberia. These materials suggest an initial Copper Age use of the monument, related to long-distance exchange networks centered on variscite. However, the presence of a Baltic amber bead and an associated silver coil, in addition to Iron Age ceramics and metal ornaments, provides substantial evidence that supports the hypothesis of a high-status Iron Age burial (7th-5th centuries BCE) within the reused megalith. Notably, no Iberian site has yet been found that securely associates Baltic amber with either Bell Beaker pottery or variscite, reinforcing the separate chronological contexts of these materials. This research underscores the significance of applying modern analytical methods to legacy collections, thereby challenging previous assumptions and demonstrating how prehistoric monuments were reutilized for ritual purposes over millennia. |
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