Service Régional de l'Archéologie du Centre-Val de Loire

The aim of this session is to discuss the very large body of items made of different materials considered as Iron Age art as a means of communicating identity in its broadest sense and therewith forming regional and social patterns. In contrast to traditional, strictly object-oriented approaches, we would like to analyse Celtic art from a contextual and functional point of view, focusing on the people who used ornamented objects and their purposes for doing so. During the Iron Age, decorated items produced across Europe were certainly not purely aesthetic objects, but a means to negotiate, maintain and reproduce social patterns, belonging to an active, variable and dynamic phenomenon more than a static, linear and homogeneous one. The most puzzling aspect of the process that we would like to explore is how interrelated objects and images helped connecting people with similar social needs across the Continent. From a chronological point of view, the main focus is on the evolution of Celtic art from the late sixth to the first centuries BC and the parallel changes observed in the societies that produced it – falling into three broad periods: the late sixth and fifth centuries, the fourth and third centuries and the second and early first century BC. This approach is mainly focussed on the La Tène world, but papers from neighbouring areas (Iberian Peninsula, Eastern Europe) and close chronologies (Hallstatt and Roman periods) are also welcome. Contributions dealing with the following issues are expected, but not limited to: art and society in the Iron Age (production, consumption and deposition contexts); objects and image networks and circulation; Celtic art, social agency and performance; perception, manipulation and ‘technologies of enchantment’; styles and identities at regional and continental scales; Iron Age art in the La Tène world, its connections to ‘marginal’ and neighbouring regions.

The objectives of this paper are to review unpublished data on Iron Age souterrains in Brittany and Normandy, and to discuss new perspectives on these little known features. Recent discoveries in the last thirty years have provided valuable information about the context of subterranean structures and have allowed to renew our interpretation of their functions. Several hundreds of examples dated from the early La Tène period to the end of the Iron Age show that the use of the souterrains was a widespread and long-lasting phenomenon in coastal areas of northwestern France. The typology of structures proves a high degree of formal variability, concerning the number and size of chambers, their arrangement and the architectural solutions used. Despite the lack of direct evidence for the activities carried out inside the souterrains, stratigraphic observations allow to reconstruct recurring patterns in the fills. As a consequence of the deliberate sealing of the entrances, the large amounts of finds discovered in these structures provide dating grounds for their abandonment. New analyses of these pottery assemblages result in a more precise chronology of the process. The most relevant aspect revealed by recent excavations is the tight link between souterrains and Iron Age settlements. Indeed, the study of souterrains among domestic structures sheds considerable light on their role as storage facilities and the circumstances of their use. Thus, by putting Breton and Norman souterrains in a broader context, this contribution aims to lay new bases for comparisons with other Atlantic regions.

Los dispositivos defensivos de los núcleos fortificados de la Edad del Hierro del norte de la Península Ibérica presentan elementos comunes con los de otros núcleos protohistóricos del occidente de Europa. En las últimas décadas se ha avanzado en la identificación de este tipo de estructuras, tanto en oppida, como en castros y en otros hábitats de menor tamaño. Junto a distintas tipologías de murallas en piedra con foso, en los últimos años se han identificado también complejos sistemas de multivallado que llegan a englobar enormes superficies. En este trabajo se propone una clasificación elemental de las defensas protohistóricas del ámbito cantábrico y su comparación con otros territorios próximos de la fachada atlántica. Como caso concreto de estudio se profundiza en los dispositivos defensivos del oppidum de Monte Bernorio. Finalmente se realiza una lectura económica, social y
simbólica de las fortificaciones de la Edad del Hierro.

Torres-Martínez, J.F., Hernández-Tórtoles, A., Cabanillas de la
Torre, G., Vacas Madrid, D. y Martínez
Velasco, A. (2017): "Cerámicas modeladas y decoradas de la Segunda Edad del Hierro. El oppidum de Monte Bernorio". Boletín Ex Officina Hispana (8): 16-21.

The fortification systems of Iron Age sites in the northern Iberian Peninsula present many similarities with thos from other Western European protohistoric settlements. In the last decades, significant advances have been made in the identification of these structures, as much in the oppida as in hillforts and other smaller sites. Together with different typologies of stone walls with ditches, in the last years complex systems of multivallate that enclose enormous areas have also been identified. In this paper we propose a classification of the protohistoric fortifications of the Cantabrian region and compare them with nearby territories of the Atlantic façade. As a concrete case-study, we analyse the defensive systems of the oppidum of Monte Bernorio. Finally, we carry out an economic, social and symbolic interpretation of Iron Age fortifications.

Keywords: Cantabrian region, Iron Age, Defensive systems, Social investment, Symbolic projection.

Abstract: This paper offers the first results about the findings of handmade pottery production from Monte Bernorio oppidum. This kind of Iron Age production developed from final Bronze Age to Second Iron Age. The production of this pottery coexisted with the production of celtiberian truned pottery style from north of Spain Final Iron Age.

Keywords: Monte Bernorio oppidum, pottery production, handmade pottery, Final Bronze Age, Iron Age.