Challenges and prospects of Geographic Information Systems in Bronze Age hoards in Atlantic Europe

Resumo

1. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION STRATEGIES

From the point of view of the manifestations observable in the archaeological record there is an important distinction between the concepts of ‘deposit’ and ‘deposition’. This refers to objects intentionally removed from circulation, hidden and never recovered, regardless of the complexity and time-scale of the process. We include under this definition a wide range of materialities that refer to various actions, and also have geospatial dimensions.

Previous attempts to understand the phenomenon of Bronze Age metal hoarding in Western Iberia were studied and explained by Vilaça (2006) (ancient discoveries, lack of information, repeated historiographical errors, etc.). There is also a methodological problem when analysing long range prospects from the point of view of settlement and metal circulation. This is a direct consequence of research and publication strategies, which promote a certain type of analysis and interpretations. Following Kristiansen and Larsson (2006, p. 53), these studies can be divided into 3 categories:

Typological studies/cultural studies: documentation and analysis of a particular type of object in time and space. These include the catalogues of the PBF (Prahistorische Bronzefunde Series), Monteagudo (1977). As well as cultural studies such as Coffyn (1985) on the Atlantic Bronze, and the hoard catalogues of Mortillet (1894), Dechelette (1910) and Eogan (1983).