HAR2016-78197-P. Technology and Society. The First Crafts of the Neolithic Communities in Eastern Andalusia between the 6th and 3rd millennia BCE (HANDS)

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The Project focuses on the study of artisanal activities in the Neolithic period in eastern Andalusia to obtain empirical documentation that will allow the following general knowledge objectives to be achieved:

1. Identify the economic sectors and their importance.
2. To focus the debate on the causes of economic and social change/transformation, based on specialization in certain crafts and its impact on the circulation of products in the southern peninsula.
3. Evaluate their involvement in the intersocial relationships established between the middle of the 6th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE.
4. To assess the extent to which this change/transformation, in the specific case of pottery and textiles, affects the sphere of activities for maintaining domestic contexts and the processes of knowledge transmission.

The study will be based on documentation from the Toro and Tres Tinajas caves (Málaga), and the Purchena necropolis, and the settlements of El Garcél, Cabecicos Negros, and Las Pilas (Almería). The initial hypothesis is that the management of different crafts in Neolithic communities may indicate traditions that exhibit production patterns with distinct or shared characteristics, linked by the same network of cultural transmission. Furthermore, their transformations over time would allow for an approximation, in terms of endogenous or exogenous evolution of material culture, to the history of social groups. The results will allow for the definition of the characteristics of these crafts. Thus, through the diagnostic attributes of the manufacturing processes and the means of production, it will be possible to determine the changes in these products between the 6th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. Consequently, precise information will be available on the acquisition of raw materials; the technological characteristics and their persistence, evolution, or disruption; And, the importance of domestic and/or specialized contexts in these productions as a mechanism for recognizing the general social and economic framework in which they are embedded. Finally, based on the conviction that the transmission of scientific knowledge to the public must be considered among the aims of research, the opening of the Museum of Prehistory of the Antequera Region will allow for the development of communication strategies and the promotion of social participation specifically regarding the documentation generated in the El Toro cave.

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The project focuses on the study of crafting activities in the Neolithic Age in eastern Andalusia to obtain an empirical documentation designed to achieve the following general objectives of knowledge:

1. Identify the economic sectors and their importance.
2. To influence the debate on the causes of the economic and social change/transformation, from specialization in certain crafts and their impact on the movement of products in southern Spain.
3. Assess its involvement in intersocietal relations established between the mid-sixth and early III millennia BC.
4. Assess to what extent the change/transformation in the case of pottery and textiles, affects the area of maintenance activities in domestic contexts and in processes of transmission of knowledge.

The study will be conducted starting from documentation from the caves of the Toro and Tres Tinajas (Málaga), and the burial Purchena, the villages Garcel, Cabecicos Negros and Las Pilas (Almería). The hypothesis is that the management of the different crafts in the Neolithic communities may indicate traditions that show patterns of development with different identifying features or connected by the same network of cultural transmission. At the same time, their transformations in time, could give access to an approximation, in terms of endogenous or exogenous evolution of material culture, of the history of social groups. The results to achieve will allow you to define the characteristics of these crafts. Thus, through the attributes «diagnosis» of manufacturing processes and means of work, you can determine changes in these productions between the sixth and early III millennia BC consequently, it would provide precise information on the collection of raw materials; technological characteristics and survival/evolution/rupture; and the importance of domestic contexts and/or specialized in these productions as a mechanism for the recognition of the general social and economic fabric where they are inserted. Finally, from the conviction that among the different purposes of research should be the transmission of scientific knowledge to the public, the opening of the Museum of Prehistory of the Lands of Antequera, will allow to trace strategies for the communication and promotion of social participation in the concrete case of the documentation generated in the cave of El Toro.

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Researcher at the University of La Laguna

• María Dolores Camalich Massieu