Tomb 100 at Cabezo Lucero: new light on goldworking in fourth-century BC Iberia.

Perea, Alicia ; Armbruster, Barbara

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Introduction

The goldwork of Iberia in the first millennium BC is justly famous (Figure 1). It is characterised by brazing, filigree and granulation--the 'Mediterranean trio.' These techniques can be traced back to 2500 BC in the Middle East (Wolters 1983), but reached technical and iconographic excellence during the Iron Age of Mediterranean Europe. Brazing is the permanent metallurgical joining of metals to form a single more complex, more voluminous or hollow object, using high temperatures and a filler alloy (solder). This method lies at the heart of filigree and granulation, two of the oldest jewellery-making techniques, which involve the use of tine threads and tiny gold drops respectively, brazed to a laminar base to form ornamental patterns. The grave goods from Tomb 100 at the Iberian necropolis of Cabezo Lucero throw new light on goldworking processes in the mid fourth century BC.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar de Segura, Alicante), lies in the lower valley of the River Segura, 6km from its current mouth. The corresponding fortified settlement is approximately 200m to the north and, so far, has not yet been fully excavated. The necropolis covers an area of approximately 4200[m.sup.2] and dates from the early fifth century to the early fourth century BC. Tomb 100 contained the remains of an adult warrior. In addition to his standard military equipment the tomb contained a complete goldsmith's toolkit including some 50 specialised instruments. This exceptional find was recovered during excavation in 1986 but has remained unstudied until the present. Some of the instruments went on public display in 1992 as part of a small exhibition at the Museo Arqueologico de Alicante (Llobregat 1992), and at an exhibition (The Iberians) held at the Grand Palais de Paris (Aranegui-Gasco et al. 1997: nos. 69-78). Recently, 31 bronze dies--part of the set of tools discovered--were the subject of a monograph focusing on their iconography (Uroz Rodriguez 2006) and an article reflecting on the status of artisans in Iberian society (Graells 2007). Some of the grave goods found in Tomb 100 are currently on display at the new Museo Arqueologico de Alicante.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

Our purpose here is to describe this remarkable assemblage and demonstrate its contribution towards understanding the techniques and context of goldworking in the Mediterranean Iron Age.

A goldsmith's toolkit

The materials found in Tomb 100 reflect ali of the stages of jewellery production, from procuring the raw material, to its shaping, ornamentation, and finally joining.

Procurement: two balance plates have been identified; both are now highly deteriorated and fragmented (Figure 2a). One, about 40mm in diameter, is not perforated; the other, 72mm in diameter, has a central perforation. This weighing system also includes a disc-shaped weight with an unusual perforation and four incised points (Figure 2a). Its current weight is 9.36g.

Shaping. once weighed and cut, the raw material was melted in a crucible. The ingot obtained was then beaten with a hammer until a sheet of the desired thickness was obtained. This stage is represented by the larger tools found, including iron tongs for the handling of crucibles, and two anvils. One of the latter, made of iron, is poorly preserved; the other, in bronze, has a circular work surface 47mm in diameter that shows signs of deformation owing to prolonged use (Figure 2b). This group of tools also includes a bronze socketed hammer (Figure 2c), the head of which measures 104 x 128mm. It is poorly preserved having been found within an encrusted mass of highly oxidised iron objects. Finally, there is a small saw that may have been used in some way for the transformation of the raw material.

Ornamentation: once sheets of the worked metal were obtained in an appropriate size and shape, these would have been stamped with the desired dies. Two categories of die were found: relief (Figure 3d-h) and countersunk (Figure 3a-c). A relief punch was applied to the gold sheet and struck (the jeweller striking the opposite end of the punch) (Figure 4a). In the use of a countersunk die, the sheet was placed over the die, which acted like an anvil, and different types of punches and chisels were used to gradually press the metal over the die's motif (Figure 3a-c). Four of the necessary punches for this operation have been found (Figure 4b). The simplest has a tine, round head, two have curved ends, and the fourth is flat, like a spatula.

Joining: complex jewellery was made by putting together independently manufactured pieces, or decorating them by affixing filigree (tine wire) or granules (gold droplets). Brazing was required to fix the different elements together. Tools connected with these operations are rare but can be identified within the assemblage. One of the grave goods was a pair of bronze tweezers originally classified as belonging to the warrior's personal effects (Uroz Rodriguez 2006: 41) (Figure 4c). However, Iberian men's tweezers had straight ends, appropriate for looking after the beard, but the tweezers of Tomb 100 have pointed ends. It is therefore proposed that rather than being a masculine status symbol, these tweezers are a tool for holding and arranging threads of filigree and granulation spheres on the surface of a worked sheet.

Two other key objects take the form of hollow, bronze cones of 100mm and 180mm in length, each with a tine hole in the end (Figure 5). These have been identified as drawing plates for the manufacture of threads (Uroz Rodriguez 2006: 43-44, fig. 16). Computed Tomography images generated as part of our study have revealed that the original section drawings of these tools are incorrect (Figure 6). The walls of the cones are thinner than shown in the original diagrams, and the small hole at the end was approached via an interior step. This complex internal design, along with the shape and material of these two objects (drawing plates are usually flat, iron objects) does not correspond to the production of threads. Rather, these cones would have been used to produce a high pressure stream of air. Air would have been introduced at the wider end and have escaped at a greater pressure through the tine hole. Similar blowpipes are still used by some jewellers today. Modern blowpipes have the same configuration as those found in Tomb 100, the only difference being that the end of modern brass cones are bent at 90[degrees] to provide the jeweller a better view of the work area (Untracht 1987:410-11). It seems highly likely that these two objects are blowpipes for brazing gold.

Use of the brazing blowpipes

The joins made by brazing performed with a mouth blowpipe cannot be distinguished from those involving brazing performed in a furnace and, until now, mouth blowpipes have never been identified as such in the archaeological record. Apart from the shape of the objects themselves, is there any evidence that could support the proposed interpretation of the two bronze cones from Tomb 100 as mouth blowpipes?

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

A mouth blowpipe has a double purpose: first, to raise the temperature of a heat source; and second, to direct that heat towards a desired point. The heat source could be a simple oil or animal fat lamp, the flames of which can reach around 1000[degrees]C. Blowing air across the flame allows even higher temperatures to be reached while channelling that heat in a specific direction. Depending on the intensity of the airflow and the combustion zone, either an oxidising or a reducing flame can be directed at the desired point--the latter is required for brazing in jewellery-making. The heated metal changes in colour depending on the temperature reached, from dark red to orange to white, facilitating the visual calculation of the temperature attained. In this way the melting point of part of a small metallic mass can be reached without affecting the surrounding area, allowing a filling gold alloy to melt in between the two pieces effectively fusing them together. The phase diagrams of the AuAg-Cu system (Prince 1988), which show the melting points of the different combinations possible (ranging from 800[degrees]C for alloys with the lowest melting points to 1064[degrees]C for pure gold), indicate there to be ample margin for the efficient use of mouth blowpipes in jewellery manufacture. In addition, the control gained over the metal's temperature obtained by observing the change in colour is better than that possible when placing the entire object in a furnace.

[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]

Further evidence of the use of mouth blowpipes is provided by Iberian jewellery itself. A tongue pendant (Figure 7), of a relatively common type in use throughout the southern Iberian Peninsula during the seventh to fourth centuries BC, was found by chance in an area near the Phoenician necropolis of Cerro de la Velilla, in Almunecar (Blech 1986). This object is made from an oval sheet of gold, folded at the centre to form a hollow shape and to provide a means of suspension. Its edges are brazed. The front is decorated by granulation depicting rhomboid shapes. While these granules are well defined in the lower half of the object, in the upper area they appear to have almost completely melted, ending up embedded in the metallic mass that contained the filling material. Bearing in mind that the piece is only 15mm long and weighs just 0.75g, the difference in temperature that this partial melting of the piece has undergone could only be produced by a mouth blowpipe used with little skill (or luck) in the process of brazing.

The context of the craft

Thanks to the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive analysis (SEM-EDX) and experimental archaeology (Duval & Eluere 1986; Duval et al. 1989; Ferro et al. 2003; Perea et al. 2004), we now know something of three procedures used in the joining process: a) brazing, generally involving an Au-Ag-Cu (but also Au-Ag) ternary alloy--or filling material or solder--that melted at a temperature lower than the parts to be joined; b) fusion bonding, using no solder but heating the worked piece to a temperature just below its melting point enabling gold atoms to move in between the interface in order to produce a metallic join; and c) reaction soldering using copper salts. Ali these processes have been reproduced in the laboratory under the supposed technical conditions of the time (Perea et al. 1991; Nestler & Formigli 1994; Ferro et al. 2008).

[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]

However, debate surrounds what these 'technical conditions of the time' may have been. No archaeological evidence exists regarding the organisation of an Iberian goldsmith's workshop, nor have the remains of furnaces been found. Indeed, we previously knew very little about the specialised tools used, such as dies, punches or moulds (Perea & Armbruster 2009)-and even less about the social status of the goldsmiths (see below). This is not surprising since metallurgical activity practised outside of urban areas could have gone on for some time without leaving recognisable remains. In addition, ethnological evidence suggests that jewellers' tools were usually made by jewellers themselves, were precious to them, used over and over again, and never discarded (Armbruster 1995).

It has always been supposed that even in the most complex of pieces, with hundreds or perhaps even thousands of brazing points, that the entire object would have to be placed in a furnace and the individual bonds made in a single heating procedure. However, some authors indicate that the analytical evidence provided by certain pieces points to the possibility that joining involved different methods and successive heating procedures at ever cooler temperatures so as not to spoil any existing connections (Demortier 2004:29-31). The use of blowpipes makes such precision possible.

The spread of this technique was largely a consequence of the mercantile activity of the Canaanite cities of the Syrio-Palestinian coast during the second millennium BC and the later colonial expansion of the Phoenicians towards the central and western Mediterranean from the ninth century BC (Aubet 2001, 2009). In the Iberian Peninsula, where traditional gold metallurgy was based on hammering or lost wax casting, the first pieces made using the 'Mediterranean trio' appeared during the last phase of the late Bronze Age (around the tenth-ninth centuries BC) (Torres 2008)--at a time when Mediterranean goods from commercial Phoenician trading posts began to arrive (Armbruster & Perea 2007; Perea & Armbruster 2008). Towards the seventh century BC (in the social context of the Mediterranean heroic monarchies), Tartessian jewellery reached a technical complexity comparable to that of Etruscan gold production (Cristofani & Martelli 1983). The pieces made were unique in terms of their detail and manufacture although they belonged to a formally and iconographically-determined type, and were used by local elites who were buried with copious riches (Nicolini 1990; Perea 1991; Pingel 1992).

From the fifth century BC, and the fourth century BC in particular, changes were seen in the demand for luxury products by Iberian society both in the southern Iberian Peninsula and in the Iberian Levant. This is reflected in the grave goods. Collections of jewellery were no longer buried with their owners or given to temples, but were passed on to heirs. Gold had ceased to be an eminently ideological possession and had become an object of commercial value (Perea 2000: 126). Production was standardised and in some workshops, such as the one in Cadiz (a former Phoenician colony), jewellery was classified by price, reflecting a market economy (Perea 2000). However, there was no total rupture between Tartessian and Iberian production. Details of continuity have been recognised in the significance and use of a certain type of jewellery: the flexible band with triangular ends (Perea 2003, 2004). These pieces, traditionally known as diadems but whose real use remains unknown, were made without interruption from the seventh century BC (when the prototype appeared) until the third century BC, maintaining a constant morphological form throughout. These objects involved the most complex technical and iconographic features of Iberian goldworking and appear in standardised hoards--like the one of Javea, Alicante (Figure 1), found with three necklaces and a brooch as well as other pieces (interpreted as a dowry for a high-ranking woman; Perea 2006). The rest of Iberian gold production, known from grave goods, consists of smaller pieces such as earrings, pendants and necklace beads.

Knowledge of granulation gradually declined after the Roman period until its complete loss after the Renaissance (c. AD 1600). Nineteenth-century excavations carried out in Italy unearthed rich sets of grave goods in Etruscan necropolises, including objects of gold with filigree and granulation of remarkable quality. The jewellers of the nineteenth century undertook the first research into the technical processes used to make them. The most well known of these 'researchers' was Fortunato Pio Castellani (1861), whose reproductions and pastiches can now be seen at the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia along with the Etruscan originals, and in the Louvre (Gaultier & Metzger 2005). However, they found the processes used difficult to understand; thus began one of European archaeology's longest 'technological mysteries'.

Who was he?

During Iberian times the area around the Cabezo Lucero necropolis was densely populated and well connected by sea and land. Its location led to the establishment of Phoenician trading posts in the area, such as La Fonteta, at the end of the eighth century BC (Rouillard et al. 2007). Iberian settlements would develop later (Grau Mira 2003). With the decline of the Phoenician trading posts around Cadiz, the area around Cabezo Lucero would also become the main trade route from the Mediterranean to the interior.

Between 1980 and 1985 a Spanish-French team excavated around 1225[m.sup.2] of the site that had become seriously affected by reforestation activities and looters (Aranegui et al. 1993). Sixty-six of a total of 94 findspots correspond to buried individuals. The remaining 28 findspots were areas of cremation and isolated deposits of offerings (a considerable number of further excavated findspots remain unpublished). The tombs of Cabezo Lucero generally reflect the typology, ritual and common grave goods of necropolises of the Iberian Levant dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Some peculiarities, however, do exist.

The cremated bones and funerary goods were found in situ, sometimes deposited in an urn and placed in a hollow. The necropolis appears to have been arranged around a number of main, richer tombs, which are clearly identified by quadrangular stone platforms that served as the base of sculptures, the remains of which are now very fragmented. Some 80 per cent of these represent bulls; the remainder represent lions and griffins with a single bust of a woman (Llobregat & Jodin 1990). The bust belongs to the Damas Ibericas series, although it is of inferior workmanship than the famous Dama de Elche found at the nearby site of La Alcudia de Elche. It would appear that these platforms marked out spaces where family or gentilitatis groups were buried. Demographic pressure appears to have led to the partial destruction of some of the tombs with one tomb built over another. Ideological causes were also probably behind intentional acts of destruction.

The grave goods are abundant in imported Attic pottery; this is well preserved in some 65 per cent of the tombs. This allows the date of occupation of the necropolis to be narrowed down to between the first quarter of the fifth century BC and the first third of the fourth century BC. Some 74 per cent of the tombs belong to the fourth century BC; Tomb 100 is dated to the middle of this century. The social structures represented by this necropolis thus reflect the development of Iberian society between the fifth and fourth centuries BC, at a time when the heroic monarchies that had characterised the preceding orientalising phase were abandoned in favour of a warrior aristocracy (Ruiz & Molinos 1998).

Although deposits of metallurgical tools, and occasionally goldworking tools (Eluere 1982), have been discovered from the European Bronze Age (Mordant et al. 1998), and although tombs containing tools of different artisans appear from the Iron Age in the Mediterranean (Graells 2007), no other toolkit like the present, containing the necessary instruments for the complete production process, has ever been found. The very extraordinariness of this toolkit is a point to bear in mind when interpreting the social significance of Tomb 100. What kind of person would be buried with the standard trappings of an adult Iberian warrior, indicative of his belonging to a privileged social class, yet also be buried with a complete jeweller's toolkit?

If the buried man were simply a craftsman, just a few of his tools (rather than his whole workshop) would have been buried with him as a symbol of his role within the group--independent of his social status; he almost certainly would have left the rest of his tools as an inheritance for his son or apprentice. Endorsement of this has been found at other Iberian necropolises. For example, the grave goods of the so-called Tomb of the Potter and of the tombs of several tanners at the El Cigarralejo site, Murcia, were found to contain just a few of the buried men's tools (Blech & Ruano 1998). Tombs of Iberian princes--with their monumental structures and more princely grave goods--occasionally included measuring instruments amongst other objects. Such is the case of Tomb 200 at El Cigarralejo (Cuadrado 1987: 355), the rich grave goods of which included balance plates and a set of ten weights, indicating the buried man's control over production.

The bronze dies in Tomb 100, used to stamp sheets of gold and silver, provide a unique document of Iberian collective imagery during the fifth-fourth centuries BC (Figure 3). Some of these dies provide a repertoire of images in the form of blocks with one or more sides worked to form negative motifs of women's faces (frontal view) in a setting of exuberant vegetation (Figure 3a & c), demonic masks and wolf heads (Figure 3a & b). Others are circular or oval with positive motifs (Figure 3h). Some show complex scenes such as fights between animals and men (e.g. one shows a warrior killing a griffin) (Figure 3d) or one of the recurrent motifs of orientalising and Iberian iconography, such as a human head crowned with that of a lion (Figure 3e). Finally, others still represent complete objects such as a lotus flower, an amphora (Figure 4f), or the full face of bearded figure (Figure 3g). According to Uroz Rodriguez (2006), this extraordinary set of dies provides an iconographic program focused on two main topics: fertility and the heroic universe. This coincides with the great programs of Iberian stone sculpture (Chapa et al. 2009).

Conclusion

In our opinion, Tomb 100 at Cabezo Lucero introduces a new symbolic aspect to burial rites. The set of jeweller's tools includes objects of extraordinary nature given the Iberian technology of the time: on the one hand, dies representing a traditional iconographic program related to the renewal of life and power, and on the other, jeweller's mouth blowpipes; tools indicative of manufacturing skills reflecting an important technical advance. These probably represented a relatively new, or precious, and thus socially restricted, technology. The possession and use of images is a privilege of the powerful, as is access to advanced technologies. Although the tomb contained tongs, it included neither raw nor semi-worked material nor crucibles. However, the control of the artisan over the raw material is indicated by the balance and weight.

It might therefore be concluded that, together, these objects, all related to the manufacture of jewellery, have a symbolic nature that goes beyond the direct association between tool and artisan. This valuable and iconographically laden goldworking toolkit is itself a statement of power and extravagance and control over the means of production.

Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the Research Project HUM2006-06250/HIST, within the Programme CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 (CSD-TCP), funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain. The authors thank the Diputacion Provincial de Alicante for allowing us access to the archaeological material. We are indebted to Manuel Olcina and Jorge A. Soler, directors of the Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Alicante, for providing facilities and the best of atmospheres in which to work. We are also indebted to Consuelo Roca for unending assistance and for taking charge of the TAC imaging. Last but not least, we are most grateful to Teresa Chapa who read the first draft, and to the referees who made elegant and useful suggestions.

Received: 27 October 2009: Revised: 22 March 2010; Accepted: 3 July 2010

References

ARANEGUI, C., G. GRAVIN, A. JODIN, E. LLOBREGAT, P. ROUILLARD & J. UROZ. 1993. La necropole iberique de Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante) (Collection de la Casa de Velazquez 41). Madrid: Casa de Velazquez; Alicante: Diputacion Provincial de Alicante.

ARANEGUI-GASCO, C., J.P. MOHEN, P. ROUILLARD & C. ELUERE. 1997. Les Iberes. Paris: AFAA.

ARMBRUSTER, B. 1995. Traditionelles Goldschmiedehandwerk in Westafrika und bronzezeitliche Metallverarbeitung in Europa. Beitrage zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archaologie 15:111-96.

ARMBRUSTER, B. & A. PERU. 2007. Change and persistence. The Mediterranean contribution to Atlantic metal work in Late Bronze Age Iberia, in C. Burgess, P. Topping & F. Lynch (ed.) Beyond Stonehenge: essays on the Bronze Age in honour of Colin Burgess: 97-106. Oxford: Oxbow.

AUBET, M.E. 2001. The Phoenicians and the West. Politics, colonies and trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

--2009. Tiro y las Colonias Fenicias de Occidente. Barcelona: Bellaterra.

BLECH, M. 1986. Goldschmuck aus Almunecar. Madrider Mitteilungen 27:151-67.

BLECH, M. & E. RUANO. 1998. Los artesanos dentro de la sociedad iberica: ensayo de valoracion, in Actas del Congreso Internacional Los Iberos Principes de Occidente. Estructuras de poder en la sociedad Iberica: 301-303. Barcelona: Fundacion La Caixa.

CASTELLANI, A. 1861. A memoir on the art of the goldsmith in ancient times. The Archaeological Journal 18.

CHAPA, T., M. BELEN, M.I. MARTINEZ-NAVARRETE, A. RODERO, B. CEPRIAN & J. PEREIRA. 2009. Sculptors' signatures on Iberian stone statues from Ipolca-Obulco (Porcuna, Jaen, Spain). Antiquity 83: 723-37.

CRISTOFANI, M. & M. MARTELLI. 1983. L'oro degli Etruschi. Novata: Istituto Geografico De Agostini.

CUADRADO DIAZ, E. 1987. La necropolis Iberica de 'El Cigarralejo' (Mula, Murcia). Madrid: BPH.

DEMORTIER, G. 2004. Ion Beam study of ancient gold solders, in A. Perea, I. Montero & O. Garcia-Vuelta (ed.) Tecnologia del oro antiguo: Europa y America [Ancient gold technology: America and Europe] (Anejos de Archivo Espanol de Arqueologia 32): 27-40. Madrid: CSIC.

DUVAL, A.R. & C. ELUERE. 1986. Solder characterization on ancient gold artifacts with the Electron Microprobe. Scanning Electron Microscopy 1984(4): 1331-5.

DUVAL, A.R., C. ELUERE, L. HURTEL & M. MENU. 1989. The use of Scanning Electron Microscopy in the study of gold granulation, in Y. Maniatis (ed.) Archaeometry: proceedings of the 25th international symposium: 325-33. Amsterdam & Oxford: Elsevier.

ELUERE, C. 1982. Les ors prehistoriques (L'Age du bronze en France 2). Paris: Picard.

FERRO, D., E. FORMIGLI, A. PACINI & D. TOSSINI. 2003. Experimental archaeology approach to the study of 'copper salts' weldings, in Archaeometallurgy in Europe: international conference, 24-26 September 2003, Milan, Italy: proceedings: 305-314. Milano: Associazione italiana di metallurgia.

--2008. La saldatura nell'oreficeria antica: indagini archeometriche e archeologia sperimentale. Roma: Kappa; Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche.

GAULTIER, F. & C. METZGER (ed.). 2005. Tresors antiques: bijoux de la collection Campana. Paris: Musee du Louvre.

GRAELLS I FABREGAT, R. 2007. La tumba del orfebre de Cabezo Lucero: a debate. Sagvntvm 39: 147-56.

GRAU MIRA, I. 2003. Settlement dynamics and social organization in eastern Iberia during the Iron Age (eighth-second centuries BC). Oxford Journal of Archaeology 22(3): 261-79.

LLOBREGAT, E. 1992. Cabezo Lucero. Necropolis iberica (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante). Alicante: Diputaciori Provincial de Alicante.

LLOBREGAT, E. & A. JODIN. 1990. La Dama de Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante). Sagvntvm 23: 109-122.

MORDANT, C., M. PERNOT & V. RYCHNER (ed.). 1998. L'atelier du bronzier en Europe du XXe au VIIe siecle avant notre ere. Production, circulation et consommation du bronze. Paris: CTHS.

NESTLER, G. & E. FORMIGLI. 1994. Granulazione Etrusca. Un'antica arte orafa. Siena: Nuova Immagine.

NICOLINI, G. 1990. Techniques des ors antiques: la bijouterie iberique du VIIe au IVe siecle. Paris: Picard.

PEREA, A. 1991. Orfebreria prerromana. Arqueologia del oro. Caja Madrid. Comunidad de Madrid.

--2000a. Tecnologia, politica y sociedad: El Proyecto Au. Sagvntvm 32: 123-30.

--2000b. Comportamientos de mercado en la produccion orfebre del taller de Cadiz, in P. Fernandez Uriel, C. Gonzilez Wagner & F. Lopez Pardo (ed.) Intercabio y comercio preclasico en el Mediterraneo: 281-92. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Fenicios y Punicos.

--2003. The articulated diadems with triangular ends from Iberia: change and persistence. Bulletin de la Societe Francaise D'Archeologie Classique 33:177-81.

--2004. The first millennium BC. Technological domain systems in the Iberian Peninsula: gold workshops and production, in A. Lehorff (ed.) L'artisanat metallurgique dans les societes anciennes en Mediterranee occidentale: techniques, lieux et formes deproduction (Collection de l'Ecole francais de Rome 332): 33-43. Rome: Ecole francais de Rome.

--2006. Entre la metafora y el mito. La representacion simbolica de lo femenino en la sociedad iberica. MARQ, Arqueologia y Museos 1: 49-68.

PEREA, A. & B. ARMBRUSTER. 2009. Jeweller's moulds for casting and stamping. New documents from Iron Age Iberia, in Archaeometallurgy in Europe: 2nd international conference, Aquileia, Italy, 17-21 June 2007: selected papers: 361-7. Milano: AIM.

--2008. Tradicion, cambio y ruptura generacional. La produccion orfebre de la fachada atlantica durante la transicion Bronce-Hierro de la Peninsula Iberica, in S. Celestino, N. Ralei & X.L. Armada (ed.) Contacto cultural entre el Mediterraneo y el Atlantico (siglos XII-VIII ane): la precolonizacion a debate: 497-508. Madrid: CSIC, Escuela Espanola de Historia y Arqueologia en Roma.

PEREA, A., I. MONTERO & O. GARCIA-VUELTA (ed.). 2004. Tecnologia del oro antiguo: Europa y America [Ancient gold technology: America and Europe] (Anejos de Archivo Espanol de Arqueologia 32). Madrid: CSIC.

PINGEL, V. 1992. Die vorgeschichtlichen Goldfunde der iberischen Halbinsel: eine archaologische Untersuchung zur Auswertung der Spektralanalysen (Madrider Forschungen 17). Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter.

PRINCE, A. 1988. Critical assessment of copper-gold-silver ternary diagram. International Materials Reviews 33(6): 314-38.

ROUILLARD, P., E. GAILLEDRAT & F. SALA SELLES. 2007. L'etablissement protohistorique de La Fonteta (fin VIIIe-fin VIe siecle av. J.C.) (Collection de la Casa de Velazquez 96). Madrid: Collection de la Casa de Velazquez.

RUIZ, A. & M. MOLINOS. 1998. The archaeology of the Iberians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

TORRES ORTIZ, M. 2008. Los 'tiempos' de la precolonizacion, in S. Celestino, N. Rafel & X.L. Armada (ed.) Contacto cultural entre el Mediterraneo y el Atlantico (siglos XII-VIII ane): la precolonizacion a debate: 59-91. Madrid: CSIC, Escuela Espanola de Historia y Arqueologia en Roma.

UNTRACHT, O. 1987. Jewelry: concepts and technology. London: Robert Hale.

UROZ RODRIGUEZ, H. 2006. El programa iconografico religioso de la tumba del orfebre de Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante) (Monografias del Museo de Arte Iberico de El Cigarralejo 3). Murcia: Comunidad Autonoma de la Region de Murcia.

WOLTERS, J. 1983. Die Granulation: Geschichte und Technik einer alten Goldschmiedkunst. Munchen: Callwey.

Alicia Perea (1) & Barbara Armbruster (2)

(1) Grupo Arqueometal, Instituto de Historia, CCHS, CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, 28037 Madrid, Spain (Email: alicia.perea@cchs.csic.es)

(2) UMR 5608, CNRS, Universite de Toulouse le Mirail, 5, Allees Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France (Email. barbara.armbruster@univ-tlse2.fr)