Fire use and waste management in an Iberian Iron Age village: Geoarchaeological insights into midden formation processes

作者：Laura Tomé, Eneko Iriarte, Antonio Blanco González, Enrique Fernández‐Palacios, María Martín Seijo, Ángel Carrancho, Antonio V. Herrera‐Herrera, Carolina Mallol · 发表于：Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104773 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Archaeology and ancient environmental studies、Medieval Architecture and Archaeology、Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

• Early Iron Age village in Northern Iberia, with middens and earthen dwellings. • High-resolution geoarchaeological techniques are applied to midden deposits. • Maintenance practices (rake-out, cleaning, building) result in the formation of middens. • Spatial differences in waste disposal practices are documented. Middens, commonly found in archaeological sites across different chronologies, serve as rich sedimentary archives of daily life by capturing the refuse and discarded artifacts of past human groups. This study focuses on the midden deposits of the Early Iron Age settlement site of Cerro de San Vicente (Central Iberia). We applied a high-resolution, microcontextual geoarchaeological approach, integrating soil micromorphology —including phytolith and charcoal analyses on thin sections—, sedimentary lipid biomarker analysis, X-Ray fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic properties analysis to investigate the formation processes and past functionality of the site’s midden deposits. Our findings reveal that the targeted sequences are primarily composed of wood ash and charred plant refuse, as well as trampled and disintegrated earth-based construction materials. These deposits are interpreted as the result of multiple hearth rake-out events, maintenance and construction activities, and possible spatially-related communal storage practices within the village. Stratigraphic connections between deposits from inside and outside the dwellings are proposed, li...