LA DISCIPLINA ARQUEOMÉTRICA Y LA INVESTIGACIÓN DE LAS SOCIEDADES DEL PASADO A TRAVÉS DE LA CERÁMICA

Abstract

This contribution exposes and discusses some of the potentialities of the archeometric discipline in the study of archaeological ceramic materials and its capacity to generate and contribute historical knowledge on the technology of past communities. Among the three variability factors of a ceramic ensemble, namely the formal factor, the stylistic or decorative factor, and the technological factor, it is in this latter in which Archaeometry has more broadly developed, either theoretical or methodological tools. Why and for what the archeometric characterization of ceramic materials is carried out, the most commonly used instrumental techniques, the type of data obtained and the levels of information contained by a ceramic artifact are some of the issues here discussed. Finally, it is thought about what the archeometric discipline may contribute on the technological knowledge of ceramic material and its production sequences, as well as on other social aspects of these communities.