Firman
Rafael M. Rodríguez Martínez (ponente)
Resumen
The occurrence of fires in Iron Age settlements in north-western Iberia has been noted repeatedly. Sometimes successive fires have been documented in certain areas of the settlements, or they have affected the entire dwelling. The motives for these fires can be different, sometimes the possibility of accidental fires has been proposed, but in other cases there are deliberate practices of abandonment involving the use of fire, or it was part of acts of destruction associated with certain rituals, such as feasts. In these cases, the incomplete combustion of plant materials used in construction or in the manufacture of a wide range of domestic and specialised items have resulted in their preservation by charring. Charred plant-based artefacts are challenging objects to study, but they are also a unique source of information for enlarging our knowledge of past daily life, reconstructing technological know-how, and providing data on the organisation of artisanal labour. The assemblage of charred plant-based objects recovered from Monte do Castro (Ribadumia, Pontevedra, Spain), and dated between the 4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE, is one of the largest ever studied in northwestern Iberia.