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Review
. 2018 Aug 29;13(8):e0202235.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202235. eCollection 2018.

Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review

Mercedes Murillo-Barroso  1 , Enrique Peñalver  2 , Primitiva Bueno  3 , Rosa Barroso  3 , Rodrigo de Balbín  3 , Marcos Martinón-Torres  4
Affiliations
Review

Amber in prehistoric Iberia: New data and a review

Mercedes Murillo-Barroso et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Provenancing exotic raw materials and reconstructing the nature and routes of exchange is a major concern of prehistoric archaeology. Amber has long been recognised as a key commodity of prehistoric exchange networks in Europe. However, most science-based studies so far have been localised and based on few samples, hence making it difficult to observe broad geographic and chronological trends. This paper concentrates on the nature, distribution and circulation of amber in prehistoric Iberia. We present new standardised FTIR analyses of 22 archaeological and geological samples from a large number of contexts across Iberia, as well as a wide scale review of all the legacy data available. On the basis of a considerable body of data, we can confirm the use of local amber resources in the Northern area of the Iberian Peninsula from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age; we push back the arrival of Sicilian amber to at least the 4th Millennium BC, and we trace the appearance of Baltic amber since the last quarter of the 2nd Millennium BC, progressively replacing Sicilian simetite. Integrating these data with other bodies of archaeological information, we suggest that the arrival of Baltic amber was part of broader Mediterranean exchange networks, and not necessarily the result of direct trade with the North. From a methodological perspective, thanks to the analyses carried out on both the vitreous core and the weathered surfaces of objects made of Sicilian simetite, we define the characteristic FTIR bands that allow the identification of Sicilian amber even in highly deteriorated archaeological samples.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Location of geological (dots) and archaeological (stars) amber findings.
Amber outcrops in Iberia modified from [10] and archaeological findings modified from [9]. CAD: Central Asturian Depression; BC: Basque-Cantabrian Basin; MB: Maestrazgo Basin. Geological samples analysed in this paper from: a) Ajo; b) Comillas; c) Cuchía; d) Puente ‘El Arrudo’; e) Alloz; f) Zubielki; g) El Caleyu; h) Sant Just; i) La Hoya and j) Navalperal. Archaeological objects analysed in this paper from: 1. La Velilla; 2. Valencina de la Concepción; 3. Los Millares; 4. Llano de la Sabina (97 and 99); 5. Llano de la Teja 18; 6. Valle de las Higueras; 7. Artificial cave of Sao Paulo and 8. Quinta do Marcelo. Other archaeological sites mentioned in this paper in order of appearance in the text: (8) La Garma A; (9) Los Cuarenta Cave; (10) Chousa Nova; (11) Dolmen de Mamoa V de Chã de Arcas; (12) Dolmen de Alberite; (13) Campo de Hockey; (14) Los Lagos I; (15) Larrarte; (16) Trikuaizti I; (17) Pedra Cabana; (18) Cabana del Moro de Colomera; (19) Muricecs; (20) Herrerías II; (21) Palacio III; (22) Moreirinha and (23) Senhora da Guia.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Geological amber samples analysed.
a) Ajo, b) Comillas, c) Cuchía, d) Puente ‘El Arrudo’, e) Alloz, f) La Hoya, g) San Just, h) El Caleyu, i) Navalperal, j) Zubileki.
Fig 3
Fig 3. FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from the Basque-Cantabrian Basin.
Fig 4
Fig 4. FTIR spectrum of palaeontological amber from El Caleyu (Central Asturian Depression).
Fig 5
Fig 5. FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from the Maestrazgo Basin.
Fig 6
Fig 6. FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from Navalperal (Jaén).
Fig 7
Fig 7. Drawing of amber beads from La Velilla.
Numbers correspond to inventory. The bead analysed for this study is number 360. Drawing modified from [30].
Fig 8
Fig 8. Some of the amber objects analysed.
a) Bead from Dolmen of La Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción); b) Beads recorded as amber from Los Millares 7(VII); c) Bead from Los Millares 12; d) Amber objects from Los Millares 63(III); e) Amber bead from Llano de la Sabina 99; f) Bead from Valle de las Higueras 1; g) Bead from Valle de las Higueras 3; h) Bead from Sao Paulo MAH7771_SPII1330; i) Bead from Sao Paulo MAH10503_SPII1521; j) Bead from Quinta do Marcelo MAH1745_QMar354.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Example of one of the dresses made of amber and shell beads from the tholos of Montelirio.
From [12].
Fig 10
Fig 10. FTIR Spectra of amber sample from La Velilla compared to reference Cretaceous Iberian amber from Comillas.
Fig 11
Fig 11. FTIR Spectra of amber samples from Quinta do Marcelo and Llano de la Sabina 97 and 99 compared to reference spectrum of Baltic succinite.
Fig 12
Fig 12. FTIR Spectra of amber samples from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio compared to reference spectra of Sicilian simetite.
Fig 13
Fig 13. FTIR Spectra of the weathered layers of the same amber samples from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio.
Fig 14
Fig 14. FTIR Spectra of amber samples from Llano de la Teja 18, Valle de las Higueras and Mound 12 from Los Millares compared to weathered layers from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio.
Fig 15
Fig 15. FTIR spectra of samples from Dolmen of la Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción) and Mound 63(III) from Los Millares.
Fig 16
Fig 16. FTIR Spectra of samples from Dolmen of la Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción) and Mound 63(III) from Los Millares compared to weathered layers from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio as well as the simetite reference spectrum.
Fig 17
Fig 17. Distribution of amber objects in Iberia and their proposed geological origins.
C = Cretaceous (Iberia); S = Simetite (Sicily); B = Succinite (Baltic).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission under a Marie Curie Intra- European Fellowship at UCL Institute of Archaeology (London, UK); by the University of Granada under the programme Captación de Talento UGRFellows; by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the R&D projects: Metal y Ámbar: Modelos de Circulación de Materias Primas en la Prehistoria Reciente de la Peninsula Ibérica (HAR2017-82685-R) and the project CRE: Global bioevent of massive resin production at the initial diversification of modern forest ecosystems, funded by the Spanish AEI/FEDER, UE Grant CGL2017-84419.

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