Manufacturing and decorating cardial pottery: shell tools at the Neolithic site of Cabecicos Negros (Vera, Almeria, Spain)

Abstract

Traditional research approaches on pottery production based on typological and morphometric classifications have changed in favour of new lines of research. One of them is based on the study of the technological equipment used in ceramic manufacturing processes. For example, ethnographic evidence shows the use of shell tools as technological equipment in different phases of ceramic production. In this study, the methodology of use-wear analysis has been applied to the archaeomalacological material from the Neolithic site of Cabecicos Negros (Andalusia, Spain) to establish if the shells were used as work tools. This analysis has been completed with the development of an experimental program composed of two analytical and one prospective experiments, carried out to provide new data about the cardial decorative technique and to define the use-wear traces that appear on the active area of the shells after their technological use. The results obtained in this investigation show the use of shells in different stages of pottery production. On the one hand, during the modelling and regularization phase of the ceramic surface and, on the other hand, during the cardial decorative phase. In this way, through this work, it has been possible to establish that the archaeological site of Cabecicos Negros was a pottery production center where domestic pieces were made during its Neolithic occupation. In addition, these findings reaffirm the importance of shells in ceramic manufacture during the Neolithic period, mainly in terms of the technical process linked to the cardial-type of ceramic decoration.