Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología, Antropología Social y CC.TT. historiograficas

Resumen: A través de análisis por cromatografía de gases-espectrometría de masas y del estudio de las reacciones inmunoquímicas de la caseina, se ha logrado identificar el residuo de sendos vasos cerámicos del horizonte inicial de Cogotas I de la provincia de Valladolid: un preparado de leche con cereales y grasa de carne. A partir de ahí, se insiste en la importancia de la actividad ganadera entre las comunidades del Bronce Medio de la Meseta y se considera, asimismo, la posibilidad de que el contenido de tales vasijas —completas— representara una ofrenda entre tantas otras atestiguadas en los “campos de hoyos” cogotianos.

Palabras clave: Análisis de residuos. Vasijas. Edad del Bronce. Meseta española. Leche. Carne. Ganadería. Queseras. Hoyos rituales.

Abstract: Through the application of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and the determination of casein based on its immunochemical reactions, residues of animal fats and dairy products have been detected in two Bronze Age (Early Cogotas I culture) pottery vessels from Valladolid. The importance of cattle raising activities among the Middle Bronze Age societies of the Spanish Meseta is assessed here. It is argued that the original contents deposited in these vessels may have been offerings, as is the case with other materials that are found in the Cogotas I pit fields.

Key words: Residue analysis. Pottery vessels. Bronze Age. Spanish Meseta. Milk. Meat. Cattle raising. Cheese strainers. Ritual pits.

The authors take us to the salt lakes of Villafáfila in north-west Spain, where they have demonstrated by excavation that salt extraction had begun by the second half of the third millennium BC. The salt pans uncovered were accompanied by copious amounts of decorated Beaker pottery, for which political and symbolic interpretations are proposed.

Common salt (sodium chloride) is an invisible object for archaeological research, but the ancient texts, the history, the ethnography and our everyday life confirm that both Man and Animal cannot live without it. Salt is a primordial reference for humanity. This “fifth element” is universal in a double sense, diachronically and diatopically. How can archaeology and related disciplines or sciences approximate this soluble good, this “white gold”, this invisible past?

From the diatopic and diachronic perspective, common salt—with all its natural or artificial metamorphoses—has influenced humanity in the most diverse aspects. This is why, within a brief enumeration, the salt-related research themes are intriguingly various: explorations (hunting for salt), exploitation techniques, techniques to obtain different products, exploitation and use tools, transport and storage containers, human and animal feeding, conservation (meat, bacon, cheese, vegetables, green goods, fruits). The themes also include manufacture-related uses (including the construction of salt houses), mythology, religion, cult, rituals, beliefs, superstitions, mentalities, secret societies, magic, vows, curses, prohibitions, popular medicine, sexuality, economy, hide working, population, alchemical procedures, scientific and cultural representations, treatment of the deceased, barter, commerce, contraband, robbery.

On the other hand, the themes also include human and animal mobility, the attraction exerted on savage beasts, symbolic uses, folk literature (stories, tales, and proverbs) and cult literature, the control of salt resources, conflicts, strategic value, geographic perceptions, professions related to salt exploitation and uses, economic, legal and administrative regulations, vocabulary, toponymy, anthroponomy and the list can go on.

All these themes already constitute a study object for an impressive number of sciences, disciplines, or sub-disciplines, such as archaeology, heritage studies, history, ethnography, ethnoarchaeology, economic anthropology, food sciences, statistics, sociology, geology, mineralogy, geography, hydrology, botany, chemistry, medicine, pharmacology, ethology, theology, agronomy, symbology, linguistics, folklore studies, cultural studies, literary studies, hermeneutics, legal sciences, etc. Obviously, some themes must be approached only in an interdisciplinary vision.