Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:44:33.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vitrified Walls in the Iron Age of Western Iberia: New Research from an Archaeometric Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Luis Berrocal-Rangel Open the ORCID record for Luis Berrocal-Rangel [Opens in a new window] ,
Rosario García-Giménez Open the ORCID record for Rosario García-Giménez [Opens in a new window] ,
Lucía Ruano Open the ORCID record for Lucía Ruano [Opens in a new window]  and
Raquel Vigil de la Villa Open the ORCID record for Raquel Vigil de la Villa [Opens in a new window]
Luis Berrocal-Rangel
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Rosario García-Giménez
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Lucía Ruano
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Raquel Vigil de la Villa
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The phenomenon of Iron Age vitrified ramparts has become increasingly recognisable in the last twenty years in the Iberian Peninsula. After the first walls with vitrified stones were discovered in southern Portugal, there have been several findings scattered throughout western Iberia. A chronological sequence from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age can be established on the basis of the archaeological remains, with reference to different historical and functional conditions. This article reviews the data obtained from the various sites, in order to understand the context in which the stone structures became vitrified. Furthermore, we have analysed samples of stones and mud bricks that have been altered by fire from these sites, which has allowed us to explain the variability in the archaeological record in relation to different historical processes. With all these data, we aim to contribute to our knowledge of a phenomenon that is widespread in Iron Age Europe.

Au cours des vingt dernières années, le phénomène des remparts vitrifiés de l’âge du Fer a été reconnu de plus en plus manifestement dans la pninsule Ibérique. Après la découverte des premiers murs contenant des pierres vitrifiées dans le sud du Portugal, plusieurs sites dispersés à travers l'Ibérie occidentale ont été identifiés. Nous avons pu établir une séquence chronologique allant de la fin de l’âge du Bronze à l’âge du Fer récent sur la base des données archéologiques et en nous référant aux différentes circonstances historiques et fonctionnelles. Notre article utilise les données provenant de divers sites pour mieux comprendre les causes de la vitrification des structures en pierre. De plus, nous avons analysé des échantillons de pierres et de briques crues modifiées par l'action du feu provenant de ces sites, ce qui nous a permis d’évaluer le rapport existant entre les différents processus historiques et les différences observées dans le matériel archéologique. Toutes ces données servent à faire progresser notre compréhension d'un phénomène largement répandu en Europe celtique. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Nachdem die ersten verschlackten Steinwälle zunächst im Süden Portugals entdeckt wurden, streuen neuere Entdeckungen quer über das westliche Iberien. Die archäologischen Zeugnisse erlauben es, eine chronologische Abfolge von der Spätbronzezeit bis in die späte Eisenzeit zu erstellen, mit zeitspezifisch unterschiedlichen technischen und historischen Deutungen. Der vorliegende Beitrag nimmt die Daten von verschiedenen Fundstellen in den Blick, mit dem Ziel, den jeweiligen Kontext, in dem die Verschlackung dieser Strukturen erfolgte, besser zu verstehen. Eine Reihe von verschlackten Steinen und Lehmziegeln von den betreffenden Fundstellen wurde analysiert, was es uns gestattet, die im archäologischen Befundbestand vorhandene Variabilität mit Bezug auf unterschiedlichen historischen Prozessen zu erklären. Auf Grundlage dieser Daten ist es unser Ziel, zu einer besseren Kenntnis dieses in Europa weit verbreiteten Phänomens beizutragen.

Keywords

vitrificationIberian Peninsulaarchaeometryrampartshillfortsfortificationsvitrificationpéninsule ibériquearchéométrierempartssites de hauteurfortificationsVerschlackungIberische HalbinselArchäometrieSchlackenwälleRingwälleBefestigungen
Type
Article
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 185 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almagro-Gorbea, M. ed. 2014. Protohistory of the Far West of Europe: From Neolithic to Roman Conquest. Burgos: Universidad de Burgos & Fundación Atapuerca.Google Scholar
Álvarez- Sanchís, J.R. 2000. The Iron Age in Western Spain (800 bc–ad 50): An Overview. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 19: 65–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/14680092.00100Google Scholar
Bähr, V., Krause, R. & Gebhard, R. 2012. Neue Forschungen zu den Befestigungen auf dem Bernstorfer Berg bei Kranzberg, Landkreis Freising, Oberbayern. Bayerische Vorgeschichtliche Blatter, 77: 5–41.Google Scholar
Baitinger, H. & Kresten, P. 2012. Geoarchäologie zweier Hessischer “Schlackenwälle”: Glauberg und Altköning. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 42: 493–507.Google Scholar
Berrocal-Rangel, L. 1992. Los pueblos célticos del Suroeste de la Península ibérica (Extra Complutum 2). Madrid: Editorial Complutense.Google Scholar
Berrocal-Rangel, L. 2003. La expansión meridional de los chevaux de frise: los castros célticos del Suroeste. In: i Martínez, N. Alonso, ed. Chevaux-de frise i fortificació en la Primera Edat del Ferro Europea. Lleida: Universitat de Lleida, pp. 209–32.Google Scholar
Berrocal-Rangel, L. & Moret, P. 2007. Las fortificaciones protohistóricas de la Hispania céltica. Cuestiones a debate. In: Berrocal-Rangel, L. & Moret, P., eds. Paisajes fortificados de la Edad del Hierro (Bibliotheca archaeologica hispana 28). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, Casa de Velázquez, pp. 169–330.Google Scholar
Berrocal-Rangel, L. & Silva, A.C. 2010. O Castro dos Ratinhos. Escavações num povoado proto-histórico do Guadiana (O Arqueólogo Português, Suplemento 6,). Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Arqueologia.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2017. Methods for Summarizing Radiocarbon Datasets. Radiocarbon, 59: 1809–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2017.108Google Scholar
Brothwell, D.R., Bishop, A.C. & Woolley, A.R. 1974. Vitrified Forts in Scotland: A Problem in Interpretation and Primitive Technology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 1: 101–07. https://doi.org/10.1016/03054403(74)90020-XGoogle Scholar
Buchsenschutz, O. & Ralston, I. 1981. Les fortifications des âges des métaux. Archéologia, 154: 24–36.Google Scholar
Burgess, C., Gibson, C., Correira, V.H. & Ralston, I. 1999. Hillforts, Oppida and Vitrification in the Évora Area, Central Portugal, 1986–1988. A Preliminary Report. Northern Archaeology, 17/18: 129–47.Google Scholar
Catanzariti, G., Mcintosh, G., Soares, A.M., Díaz, E., Kresten, P. & Osete, M.L. 2008. Archaeomagnetic Dating of a Vitrified Wall at the Late Bronze Age Settlement of Misericorda (Serpa, Portugal). Journal of Archaeological Science, 35: 1399–1407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.10.004Google Scholar
Celestino, S. & López-Ruiz, C. 2016. Tartessos and the Phoenicians in Iberia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Childe, V.G. & Thorneycroft, W. 1938. The Experimental Production of the Phenomena Distinctive of Vitrified Forts. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 72: 44–45.Google Scholar
Clark, R.L.F., Kirby, J.E., Charnley, N.R. & Dye, J. 2016. New Field Analytical Data and Melting Temperature Determinations from Three Vitrified Forts in Lochaber, Western Highlands, Scotland. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 10: 237–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.09.015Google Scholar
Comte, R. 2015. The Mystery of Vitrified Hillforts [accessed 14 August 2017]. Available at: <https://brigantesnation.com/mystery-of-vitrified-forts>>Google Scholar
Cook, M. 2013. Paradigms, Enclosure, and Violence: The Hillforts of Strathdon. Journal of Conflict Archaeology, 8: 77–105. https://doi.org/10.1179/1574077313Z.00000000020Google Scholar
Cook, M., Watson, F. & Cook, G. 2016. Burning Questions: New Insights into Vitrified Forts. In: Erskine, G.J.R, Jacobsson, P., Miller, P. & Stetkiewicz, S., eds. Proceedings of the 17th Iron Age Research Student Symposium, Edinburgh 29 May–1 June 2014. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 149–57.Google Scholar
Correia, V.H. 1995. The Iron Age in South and Central Portugal and the Emergence of Urban Centres. In: Cunliffe, B. & Keay, S., eds. Social Complexity and the Development of Towns in Iberia. Oxford: Oxford University Press for British Academy, pp. 237–62.Google Scholar
Curchin, L.A. 2014. Roman Spain. Conquest and Assimilation (2nd ed). Abingdon & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Díaz-Martínez, E. & Ormö, J. 2003. An Alternative Hypothesis for the Origin of Ferroan Ringwoodite in the Pumice of El Gasco (Cáceres, Spain). Lunar and Planetary Science, 34: 1317–18.Google Scholar
Díaz-Martínez, E., Sanz-Rubio, E., Fernández, C. & Martínez-Frías, J. 2001. Evidencia de un pequeño impacto meteorítico en Extremadura: El “volcán” de El Gasco (Las Hurdes). Geogaceta, 30: 47–50.Google Scholar
Dobson, M. 2008. The Army of the Roman Republic: The 2nd century BC, Polybius, and the Camps at Numantia. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Escacena Carrasco, J.L. 2002. Murallas fenicias para Tartessos. Un análisis darwinista. SPAL, Revista de prehistoria y arqueología de la Universidad de Sevilla, 11: 69–105.Google Scholar
Fichtl, S. ed. 2010. Murus celticus. Architecture et fonctions des remparts de l'âge du Fer (Collection Bibracte, 19). Glux-en-Glenne: Centre archéologique européen.Google Scholar
Frías, M., Vigil de la Villa, R., García, R., Sánchez de Rojas, M.I. & Juan Valdés, A. 2013. The Influence of Slate Waste Activation Conditions on Mineralogical Changes and Pozzolanic Behavior. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 96: 2276–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.12387Google Scholar
Friend, C.R.L., Dye, J. & Fowler, M.B. 2007. New Field and Geochemical Evidence from Vitrified Forts in South Morar and Moidart, NW Scotland: Further Insight into Melting and the Process of Vitrification. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34: 1685–701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.12.007Google Scholar
García de Figuerola, L.C. 1953. Nota sobre el Volcán del Gasco, Las Hurdes (Cáceres). Estudios Geológicos, 9: 385–93.Google Scholar
García-Giménez, R., Vigil de la Villa Mecía, R., Rubio, V. & Frías, M. 2016. The Transformation of Coal-Mining Waste Minerals in the Pozzolanic Reactions of Cements. Minerals, 6/64: 333–43. https://doi.org/10.3390/min6030064Google Scholar
Grunwald, S. 2012. ‘To ransack the wall would give trouble and would waste time’:. Hillfort Archaeology in Saxony in the 19th Century. In: Wolfhechel Jensen, O., ed. Histories of Archaeological Practices. Reflections on Methods, Strategies and Social Organisation in Past Fieldwork. Stockholm: The National Historical Museum, pp. 305–19.Google Scholar
Harrison, R. J. 2004. Symbols and Warriors. Images of the European Bronze Age. Bristol: Western Academic & Specialist Press.Google Scholar
Kresten, P. & Ambrosiani, B. 1992. Swedish Vitrified Forts: A Reconnaissance Study. Fornvännen, 87: 1‒17.Google Scholar
Kresten, P., Kero, L. & Chyssler, J. 1993. Geology of the Vitrified Hill-Fort Broborg in Uppland, Sweden. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 115: 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/11035899309454825Google Scholar
Marcille, S. 1999. Civilisation celtique: ces étranges cités vitrifiées. Efferve Sciences, 11: 17–18.Google Scholar
Markale, J. 1969. Les celtes et la civilisation celtique. Paris: Payot.Google Scholar
Moret, P. 1996. Les fortifications ibériques. De la fin de l’âge du Bronze à la conquête romaine (Collection de la Casa de Velázquez 56). Madrid: Casa de Velázquez.Google Scholar
Nisbet, H.C. 1982. Vitrification Phenomena in Hill-Forts. In: Engle, A., ed. Glass Goes to Outer Space (Readings in Glass History 15–16). Jerusalem: Phoenix Publications, pp. 21–30.Google Scholar
O'Brien, W., O'Driscoll, J. & Hogan, N. 2018. Warfare and the Burning of Hillforts in Bronze Age Ireland. In: Fernández-Götz, M. & Roymans, N., eds. Conflict Archaeology. Materialities of Collective Violence from Prehistory to Late Antiquity (Themes in Contemporary Archaeology, 5). Abingdon & New York: Routledge, pp. 69–78.Google Scholar
Osório, M. & Pernadas, P. 2011. Indícios de vitrificação da muralha proto-histórica do Sabugal Velho. In: Rodrigues, M.A., Lima, A.C. & Santos, A.T., eds. Actas do V Congresso de Arqueologia do Interior Norte e Centro de Portugal. Porto: Caleidoscópio/Direcção Regional de Cultura do Norte, pp. 21938.Google Scholar
Pérez Macías, J.A. 2010. Un asentamiento del III Milenio A.C. en La Lapa (Encinasola, Huelva). In: del Valle Carrasco, F. & Gómez, N. Santos, eds. Actas XXII Jornadas de la Comarca de la Sierra. Higuera de la Sierra. Huelva: Diputación Provincial de Huelva, pp. 269–85.Google Scholar
Ralston, I. 1986. The Yorkshire Television Vitrified Wall Experiment at East Tullos, City of Aberdeen. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 116: 17–40.Google Scholar
Ralston, I. 1992. Les enceintes fortifiées du Limousin (Documents d'Archaeologie Française, 36). Paris: Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.Google Scholar
Ralston, I. 2006. Celtic Fortifications. Stroud: Tempus.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine 13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 years cal bp. Radiocarbon, 55: 1869–87.Google Scholar
Röpke, A. & Dietl, C. 2014. The Vitrified Bronze Age Fortification of Bernstorf (Bavaria, Germany) – An Integrated Geoarchaeological Approach. European Geologist, 38: 25–32.Google Scholar
Sayanam, R.A., Kalsotra, A.K., Mehta, S.K., Singh, R.S. & Mandal, G. 1989. Studies in Thermal Transformations and Pozzolanic Activities of Clay from Jammu Region (India). Journal of Thermal Analysis, 35: 99–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01914268Google Scholar
Silva, A.C., Berrocal-Rangel, L. & Rodero Olivares, V.M. 2013. Le rempart vitrifié du Castro dos Ratinhos (Moura, Portugal) et la question de la vitrification dans les fortifications protohistoriques dans la Péninsule Ibérique. In: Krausz, S., Colin, A., Ralston, I. & Dechezlepetre, T., eds. L’âge du Fer en Europe. Mélanges offerts à Olivier Buchsenschutz. Bordeaux: Ausonius, pp. 167–81.Google Scholar
Sjöblom, R., Weaver, J., Peeler, D., McCloy, J., Kruger, A.A., Ogenhall, E. & Hjärthner-Holdar, E. 2016. Vitrified Hilfforts as Anthropogenic Analogues for Nuclear Waste Glasses – Project Planning and Initiation. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 11 (6): 897–906. https://doi.org/10.2495/SDP-V11-N6-897-906Google Scholar
Soares, A.M.M. 1988. O povoado do Passo Alto. Escavaçôes de 1984. O Arquivo de Beja, 3: 89–99.Google Scholar
Soares, A.M.M. & Martins, J.M.M. 2010. A cronologia absoluta para o Castro dos Ratinhos: datas de radiocarbono. In: Berrocal-Rangel, L. & Silva, A., eds. O Castro dos Ratinhos. Escavações num povoado proto-histórico do Guadiana (O Arqueólogo Português, Suplemento 6,). Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, pp. 409–14.Google Scholar
Soares, A.M.M., Antunes, A.S. & De Deus, M. 2012. O Passo Alto no contexto dos povoados fortificados do Bronze Final do Sudoeste. In: Jiménez Ávila, J., ed. Sidereum Ana II. El río Guadiana en el Bronce Final (Anejos de Archivo español de arqueología, 62). Mérida: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, pp. 249–76.Google Scholar
Vilhena, J. & Gonçalves, M. 2012. Muralhas revestidas de cobre. A problematica das rochas vitrificadas em povoados do Bronze Final de Odemira e Ourique. In: Jiménez Ávila, J., ed. Sidereum Ana II. El río Guadiana en el Bronce Final (Anejos de Archivo español de arqueología, 62). Mérida: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, pp. 517–54.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, F.B., Heap, M.J., Damby, D.E., Hess, K.U., Najorka, J., Vasseur, J., et al. 2017. Local Geology Controlled the Feasibility of Vitrifying Iron Age Buildings. Nature, Scientific Reports, 7: 40028. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40028Google Scholar
Youngblood, E., Fredriksson, B.J., Kraut, F. & Frediksson, K. 1978. Celtic Vitrified Forts: Implications of a Chemical-Petrological Study of Glasses and Source Rocks. Journal of Archaeological Science, 5: 99–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/03054403(78)90027-4Google Scholar