Chronological evolution of the Late Iron Age pottery from the middle basin of Miño River: a repertoires-type proposal

Abstract

Research on Iron Age pottery in Northwestern Iberia has so far focused on the seaboard with greater intensity, leaving the interior areas more neglected. In the context of the recent doctoral thesis “Yacimientos castrexos de la cuenca media del Miño: análisis de la cerámica indígena”, we have analyzed the material contexts of some of the most relevant sites for the study of the Iron Age, and more specifically, of the change of Era, in the middle Miño basin: San Cibrán de Las, Castromao, Laias and the cibdá of Armea. Thus, we have been able to determine the existence of a series of pottery types, with morphological and chronological differences. The types of Iron tradition change throughout the 1st century and new ones are incorporated that imitate common Roman pottery. These modifications have allowed us to generate two type repertoires, or sets of forms, one for the Late Iron Age and another for and another for the I to II AD centuries, which help to observe how the new political reality, with the incorporation of the Northwest territories to the Empire, is reflected in the material reality of the local communities.