Provenance and circulation of Bell Beakers from Western European societies of the 3rd millennium BC: The contribution of clays and pottery analyses

Abstract

This work intends to contribute for the discussion of beaker's social role in Western Europe, by studying Central South Portugal evidences, establishing provenance and therefore pottery transactions between sites and/or regions, emphasizing the circulation /diffusion of this kind of pottery, and their impact on the European societies of the 3rd millennium BC. Ceramics from four relevant Chalcolithic - early Bronze Age archaeological sites of Central and Southern Portugal are studied, based on compositional paste analysis, confronting the bell beakers with other typologies, complemented with local/regional clays characterization. A broader spatial relationship is established, especially with other Iberian sites, and in the European context. Compositional studies were done by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results for the four sites emphasize that some bell beakers have chemical composition similar to the other typologies, associated with local raw materials close to the archaeological site, pointing to local productions. On the other hand, the outliers identified are mainly comprised of bell beakers, assuming an exogenous nature. Thus, bell beakers are a complex material expression, where local productions are in relation with interregional systems of circulation of ideas and materials.