Investigación

Últimas publicaciones de los grupos de investigación:

Identification of plant cells in black pigments of prehistoric Spanish Levantine rock art by means of a multi-Analytical approach. A new method for social identity materialization using chaõÃne opeÂratoire

López-Montalvo, E., Roldán, C., Badal, E., Murcia-Mascarós, S., Villaverde, V.

PLoS ONE, Volume 12, Issue 2, February 2017, Article number e0172225


volver

Abstract: We present a new multi-Analytical approach to the characterization of black pigments in Spanish Levantine rock art. This new protocol seeks to identify the raw materials that were used, as well as reconstruct the different technical gestures and decision-making processes involved in the obtaining of these black pigments. For the first of these goals, the pictorial matter of the black figurative motifs documented at the Les Dogues rock art shelter (Ares del Maestre, CastelloÂn, Spain) was characterized through the combination of physicochemical and archeobotanical analyses. During the first stage of our research protocol, in situ and nondestructive analyses were carried out by means of portable Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF); during the second stage, samples were analyzed by Optical Microscopy (OM), Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Two major conclusions have been drawn from these analyses: first, charred plant matter has been identified as a main component of these prehistoric black pigments; and second, angiosperm and conifer charcoal was a primary raw material for pigment production, identified by means of the archaeobotanical study of plant cells. For the second goal, black charcoal pigments were replicated in the laboratory by using different raw materials and binders and by reproducing two main chaõÃnes opeÂratoires. The comparative study of the structure and preservation of plant tissues of both prehistoric and experimental pigments by means of SEM-EDX underlines both a complex preparation process and the use of likely pigment recipes, mixing raw material with fatty or oily binders. Finally, the formal and stylistic analysis of the motifs portrayed at Les Dogues allowed us to explore the relationship between identified stylistic phases and black charcoal pigment use, raising new archaeological questions concerning the acquisition of know-how and the transfer of traditionally learned chaõÃnes opeÂratoires in Spanish Levantine rock art. © 2017 Lopez-Montalvo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172225

Enlace a la publicación: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172225


 

Página web alojada en los servidores del CSIC

AVISO LEGAL: La información ofrecida en esta web tiene carácter informativo, se sugiere la confirmación de aspectos relevantes de la misma en las fuentes originales