| Resum: |
En aquest article presentem el resultat d'un estudi detallat de la mina de la Solana del Bepo (Tarragona, Espanya), així com del jaciment de la Coveta de l'Heura que ha estat tradicionalment vinculat al primer. Descoberts la dècada dels 50, aquests jaciments només han estat estudiats de manera molt general, sense resoldre les problemàtiques a ells associades. Des del punt de vista metodològic, es tenen en consideració tant els aspectes arqueològics com els històrics i arqueomètrics, cosa que permet situar la mina en el seu context. No disposem de dades cronològiques directes de la Solana del Bepo i els instruments macrolítics recuperats destinats a l'explotació minera només proporcionen indicacions tipo-cronològiques febles. Per contra, podem datar la Coveta de l'Heura en el calcolític final i el bronze inicial. La caracterització isotòpica de les mines de la conca del Montsant, de la qual forma part la Solana, i la comparació d'aquestes dades amb les anàlisis isòpiques realitzades sobre peces metàl · liques de la regió permeten afirmar que l'explotació minera de la conca durant la prehistòria és una realitat contrastada. Els estris de miner recuperats a la Solana constitueixen un conjunt de 81 artefactes, la major part dels quals són pics, la majoria amb un alt grau de transformació, i presenten quasi sempre dispositius d'emmanegament. La Coveta de l'Heura fou utilitzada successivament com a taller de puntes de sílex, com a cova funerària, i com a taller metal · lúrgic. Les evidències materials recuperades a la cova corresponen en bona part al calcolític final, cosa que una datació radiocarbònica i les seves similituds amb els grups llenguadocians de finals del neolític corroboren. Diferents formes ceràmiques tenen lligams evidents amb els grups crono-culturals de Véraza-Fontbouïsse, mentre que una dena de collaret en plom constitueix un element molt característic de Fontbouïsse, tot i que està elaborada localment amb mineral de la veïna conca prioratina de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset. En el context català l'alt Priorat constitueix una de les zones amb més testimonis d'activitats mineres i metal · lúrgiques en el període que engloba el calcolític recent (2800-2300 cal. BC) i el bronze inicial (2300-1300 cal. BC). En el primer d'aquests períodes se situen proves d'explotació de les conques dels Montsant i de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset, les destrals planes de coure de la cova M d'Arbolí en el primer cas i la dena de collaret de plom en el segon, entre altres. Les troballes de vasos de reducció a la comarca i els seus voltants s'inscriuen en un moment indeterminat d'aquesta franja temporal (2800-1300 cal. BC). El punyal amb tres reblons de la cova de la Font Major de l'Espluga de Francolí, datat ca 1850 cal. BC, fou elaborat amb coure del Montsant, fet que certifica l'explotació en aquests moments. Per altra banda, la descoberta recent d'una nova mina prehistòrica, la Mina de la Turquesa o del Mas de les Moreres, en curs d'estudi, ha permès recuperar un important lot d'estris miners de pedra, així com noves dades analítiques que permeten una caracterització millor de les explotacions mineres a Catalunya. |
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Since the year 2000 we have been undertaking a research programme into prehistoric mining and metallurgy. It focuses on the contextual and archaeometric characterisation (composition and lead isotope analyses) of the Priorat mining and metallurgy basins (Tarragona province, Spain) : the Molar-Bellmunt-Falset basin to the south and the Montsant basin to the north. In recent years our research has focused on the latter zone, which has a high density of metal mineral resources (copper and lead). Our work to date has followed three parallel and interconnected lines of research : a) geomineral surveys and the analytical characterisation of more than a dozen mines in the area ; b) archaeometric analyses and the study and reinterpretation of archaeological data from earlier field research ; and c) the localisation and excavation of a previously unstudied prehistoric copper mine, La Turquesa or Mas de les Moreres (Cornudella de Montsant). The contribution we present here focuses on the second line of research and is based on a detailed study of La Solana del Bepo mine, as well as the related La Coveta de l'Heura (Ulldemolins) archaeological site. Both sites were discovered just before the middle of the last century, but only very generalist studies have been made of them to date. None of these studies has emphasised the importance of the documented archaeological evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In methodological terms, this study takes into account the archaeological, historical and archaeometric aspects, thus placing the sites in their correct regional context. The mining tools found at La Solana del Bepo are unique in the whole north-east : the assemblage of finds from the survey consists of 81 macrolithic artefacts, mainly highly intensively manufactured picks, most of which have fittings for handles. The main aspects revealed by the traceological study and analysis of the tools are the use of local rock types, the continuous reuse of tools, even after they were broken, and the presence of copper residue on some percussion surfaces. We have no direct chronological data as, although abundant, the tools provide little information in this respect ; however, we can date the neighbouring La Coveta de l'Heura archaeological site between the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 cal. BC) and the Early to Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). On the other hand, the isotopic characterisation of the Montsant basin mines, of which Solana del Bepo is one, and its comparison with the isotopic analyses of finds from the area, prove that mining activities were carried out there during prehistory. La Coveta de l'Heura, located barely half a kilometre from Solana del Bepo, is an archaeological site in a para-dolmenic shelter that at different times has served as a collective burial site, a flint arrowhead workshop and a metallurgic workshop. The evidence for metallurgy consists of a smelting vessel, pieces of copper-bearing mineral, various bronze smelting remains, a copper awl and a rolled bronze plate bead. The assemblage of finds, which shows affinities with the Fontbouïsse horizon, is mainly from the Late Neolithic/ Chalcolithic and we have a radiometric dating to corroborate this. Especially noteworthy are the pottery finds that are clearly related to the Neolithic of the Languedoc, as well as a lead bead, a type of ornament highly characteristic of Fontbouïsse and the only one of its type documented to date on the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. However, in this case the bead is made of local lead. Other finds, for example the evidence of bronze, indicate that the shelter was also used during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. If we look at our study zone in the context of the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, there can be no doubt that both in relative and absolute terms it is the area with the largest amount of evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy. It is in the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 ca. BC) that we have to place the evidence of mineral exploitation in the Montsant and Molar-Bellmunt-Falset mining basins, a chronology corroborated by lead isotope data from the flat axes found at Cova M in Arbolí and the lead bead from La Coveta de l'Heura. With the current state of art, we are unable to specify between that period and the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). We can highlight the find of eight smelting vessels, one of which appears to have been used for smelting mineral ore from the Montsant basin. The three-rivet dagger from La Cova de la Font Major (L'Espluga de Francolí), dated to c. 1850 cal. BC, was made of copper mineral from Montsant and confirms mining in that area between the Early and Middle Bronze Age. On the other hand, the recent discovery of a previously unknown prehistoric mine in the Montsant basin, La Turquesa or Mas de les Moreres, which is still being studied, has given us another unique set of mining tools (almost 75 implements), together with analytical data, both compositional and isotopic, with which we can improve our characterisation of mining in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula. |
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(Universitat de Lleida)
