Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie I, Prehistoria y Arqueología

Medical Instruments in València la Vella (Riba-roja de Túria, València): Analysis of Three Double-ended Pronze Probes

Òscar Caldés Aquilué — 2024-12-23

This study presents three bronze objects with similar formal characteristics, traditionally identified as specilla (probes) for surgical use. Their discovery at the València la Vella archaeological site (Riba-roja de Túria, València) provides new insights into the spatial distribution of such instruments, likely associated with the Islamic world. The analysis focuses on their morphology, functionality, and parallels across the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin, enhancing our understanding of medical practices during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages.

«Acinipo» in the Roman Urban Landscape of the Serranía de Ronda: Interdisciplinary Research for Heritage Valorization (ValorAcinipo)

Pilar Corrales Aguilar — 2024-12-23

The ValorAcinipo project has been designed with the generation of historical/archaeological knowledge, taking into account the Strategic Actions aimed at boosting rural areas in response to demographic challenges and promoting social and territorial cohesion, while also addressing digital transformation and gender equality as guiding principles. This project serves as a tool for digital transition with a transversal and interdisciplinary approach. Traditionally, the Humanities have been overlooked as a scientific discipline capable of addressing the challenges faced by our society. However, through this project, we present a consolidated initiative of archaeological research and the application of non-invasive technologies for the documentation and recognition of cultural heritage, with the goal of creating high-quality digital materials and resources for a society committed to ecological, sustainable, inclusive, and accessible projects. This initiative seeks to combine heritage and natural resources with the support of entrepreneurial ventures and public institutions to create models of production and service based on environmental objectives.

The Late Social, Political, and Economic Process of Antofagasta de la Sierra (Southern Argentinean Puna): A Contribution from Lithic Materiality

Alejandra Mercedes Elías — 2024-03-07

This paper aims to contribute to the research of the late social, political, and economic process (ca. 900-1470 d.C.) in Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca Province, Argentina) by documenting the variability of its inhabitants’ lithic practices, considering these as full social practices in which they reproduced, transformed, and negotiated their social dispositions and worlds. Comparing the results obtained in several artefactual samples, we suggest that the inhabitants of different spaces of the micro-region reproduced even more heterogeneous lithic practices than previous approaches suggested. This encourages us to consider the specific and regional character of the late Antofagasta de la Sierra centralization phenomenon and to propose, from a historical-processual paradigm, the study of its peculiar historical trajectory.

Pottery of the Roman-Republican period in the Harbor of Gades. New Data from the 2008-2010 Underwater Surveys Conducted off La Caleta (Cádiz)

Francisco José Blanco Arcos — 2024-07-12

The knowledge we have about the maritime surroundings of the city of Gadir/Gades during Antiquity has increased exponentially in recent years thanks to diverse research work developed in the bay, among them the archaeological surveys and soundings carried out in La Caleta and the adjacent shallows (2008-2010), areas in which no results had been obtained with the application of new technologies. The result was the location and identification of a series of archaeological sites evidenced by concentrations of material, mostly from the Phoenician-Punic, Republican and High-Imperial periods. This paper presents an overview of the ceramic evidence recovered in this project, specifically those corresponding to the Republican period in Gades. This will make it possible to study the dynamics of the emission and reception of goods on the basis of the new data provided here.

On the Supposed Visigothic Baptismal font from Mairena del Alcor (Seville). The Reinterpretation of an Unexplored Archaeological Heritage

Jesús Atenciano-Crespillo — 2024-10-15

This study analyses an archaeological object that has traditionally been identified as a Visigoth baptismal font. The absence of elements that prove this entrenched theory and the scarce amount of bibliography on the subject has led us to consider other options that are closer to the socio-economic conditions that have historically characterised the region of Los Alcores. Under this premise, moreover, the aim is to promote and disseminate the heritage element of the site, which is still very little known despite its potential.

The Evolution of the Paleolithic Female Image of the 'Artifex Intelligens Feminina'

Raúl García Martíns — 2024-12-19

Paleolithic art evolved from simple figurative representations; it signified the transition from Homo inspiciens to Artifex inspiciens. Later, Aurignacian primary sexual characteristics were replaced by Gravettian female figures with their secondary sexual characteristics highlighted. The postpartum period of raising the newborn, which defines secondary altriciality, explains their relevance. These images could be called Altricial Venus due to their intention to reflect the essential feminine sexual traits needed to bring children to their own fertile stage.
The reasons for this substantial progress must be found in an evolution due to learning, which is responsible for intellectual development. It is based on inferences that link the cause and the effect of any event, and cognitive evolution expanded the time interval between them due to two factors: social environment and intuition. They provided a prior common cultural environment and the creative spark from the unconscious. This was the leap from Artifex inspiciens to Artifex intelligens, and as women participated in the first images of art, then we could also say Artifex feminina.

Two Wooden Keros from the Quyllur Ñan Archaeological Museum in San José de Vinchina, Vinchina Department, La Rioja Province, Argentina. Analysis and Inclusion in the Context of Inca Ceremonial Vessels

Roberto Bárcena — 2024-12-23

Two wooden keros from the Quyllur Ñan Museum in Vinchina are registered with a generic location of the NOA area of origin, with other information unknown, other than that they entered the collection together.
Decorated with design sof incised geometric motifs, and incised with black color by application of paint on one of the keros, they are assigned to the regional Inka Period.
These libation vessels would make up the well-known ceremonial «twin» pair, presenting horizontal decorated stripes on the upper third of their bodies with similar incised motifs, differing in the vertical design of the lower stripe, which occupies two-third sof the body.
We analyze the possibilities of taxonomic study of the woods, we provide radiocarbon chronology for one of the keros, we discuss its scope in the context of the known dating for this type of vessels and we describe the pieces. We conclude on its affiliation to the period of regional Inka domination and to a certain typology of vessels, typical of the ceremonial of Andean reciprocity and in particular of the state relation ship with hierarchical members of the dominated societies.

Book review: Bejarano Osorio, A. M. y Bustamante-Álvarez M. (eds): La casa del Mitreo de Augusta Emerita

Isabel Vinal Tenza — 2024-12-23

Book review: Bejarano Osorio, A. M. y Bustamante-Álvarez M. (eds): La casa del Mitreo de Augusta Emerita. Monografías arqueológicas de Mérida (3), 2023. Edición Consorcio Ciudad Monumental Histórico-Artística y Arqueológica de Mérida. Mérida: pp. 718

Book review: Barahona Oviedo, Marisa, Presas romanas y altomedievales de la cuenca media del río Tajo, análisis constructivo y funcional

Lázaro Lagostena Barrios — 2024-12-23

Book review: Barahona Oviedo, Marisa, Presas romanas y altomedievales de la cuenca media del río Tajo, análisis constructivo y funcional, Anejos de AESPA, XCVII, CSIC, Madrid 2023, 335 pp. ISBN: 978-84-00-11238-7.