Raw material, gestures, artefacts. An approach to the work of bone and ivory in the Iron Age in the Iberian peninsula

This work seeks to give visibility to the industry of hard animal materials that is documented during the Iron Age in the Iberian peninsula. We focus on the analysis of three common artefacts within the bone and ivory industry in the Iberian culture (between the 6th to the 1st Century BC): pins, perforated plates and combs. We have studied these objects from a technological point of view, thanks to a series of experimental work carried out in order to meet different operational chains, necessary to manufacture each one of these items and tools that could be used for this purpose. So, we searched the archaeological tool models to work bone and ivory, and whenever it has been possible, we have reproduced them. We have paid special attention to the results that may be obtained with different tools, gestures made, different time and effort employed according to the raw material, the tool made and the importance of the "hands" that lie behind the products, thus considering the role of the craftsman who carried out each one of these works. The questions raised in this research are: Is the manufacture of this type of pieces a specialized work, or anyone with access to the right tools could do it? Did it all depend on the raw materials employed? Were there local workshops on equipment manufacture with bone and ivory? This is a necessary study that focuses on analysis of pieces omitted by the archaeological research and, moreover, approaching its study not from a descriptive or typological point of view, but focusing on the manufacturing and operational chains processes, giving special importance to the role of the craftsmanship behind these objects. For all of this, experimentation has provided us with essential information that should be properly contrasted with the archaeological record. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.