Jaume Buxeda i Garrigós
My main research interest is how to approach the study of human past and social processes in History. To this objective, two different mains are available. On the one hand, written sources (History). On the other hand, the material remains (Archaeology). The first, containing some interpretive clues in their descriptions, even if biased. The second, a mute but universally present, all over the world, at any historical period. However, this mean needs, more than any other, solid theoretical and methodological approaches and contributions to enable the achievement of, at least some, interpretative clues. Material remains approach is possible because human societies develop cultures embedded in an environment of material artefacts, giving to the artefacts several cultural characteristics. However, artefacts, besides to its cultural aspect, are material things and their performance characteristics must be approached from archaeometry. This gives the needed data to study provenance, technology and technological change, providing the scientific basis to the humanistic interpretation. Thus, my first research projects were focussed on provenance, technology and technological change (CERAMED, PRODIFAN, etc.), devoted to the identification of Ancient technologies for Roman Terra Sigillata and Late Medieval and Renaissance majolica. The main new issues raised were to shed light on the existing relation between quality and consumption, and the study of technological change in contact societies, considering technology from the wider perspective of design, within a behavioral chain. It has produced the first large study of mechanical properties and performance characteristics of the amphora shape design by Finite Element Methods. In the last five years, my research projects (ARCHSYMB and TECNOLONIAL) have been designed to deepen our knowledge in aspects related to the interaction, influence and acculturation during the colonization process, trough the study of technological impact, arising issues of technological traditions, technological change, ethnicity and emergence of new identities. These projects have centered in Historical Archaeology because the existence of written sources complement the study, enabling a better understanding of the interpretative clues existing in the archaeological record. This favors the contribution to theory and methodology that will be applied, with caution, in any other archaeological study. Other research interests are the effect of weathering in the material remains under archaeometric study, and the mathematical problem in archaeological data. Thus, I am studying the projective geometry (including the Aitchison geometry of closed data in the simplex) offered by chemical data (and any other percentages), but also by other compositional classes (like pottery assemblages, etc.), and even by similar objects (like sculptures o buildings of different sizes, but the same shape). Finally, I have just started an European Comission H2020 project on the automatic classification of archaeological remains (ArchAIDE). Automatization of procedures is called to be one of the main cutting edge areas of research in the close future in archaeology and archaeometry.
Phone: +34 934 037 535
Address: Cultura Material i Arqueometria UB (ARQUB, GRACPE)
Dept. d'Història i Arqueologia (Despatx 1029)
Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona
C/ de Montalegre, 6, 08001 BARCELONA (Catalonia, Spain)
Phone: +34 934 037 535
Address: Cultura Material i Arqueometria UB (ARQUB, GRACPE)
Dept. d'Història i Arqueologia (Despatx 1029)
Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona
C/ de Montalegre, 6, 08001 BARCELONA (Catalonia, Spain)
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Archaeometry. Methods and techniques by Jaume Buxeda i Garrigós
Statistics and compositional data by Jaume Buxeda i Garrigós
del segle II a l’I a.C., moment en què se n’ha documentat el naixement, fins a la segona meitat del segle V d.C., que és quan se’n té constància de la darrera activitat.
The main objectives of this paper are to determine the provenance of these products, to study theirmineralogical characteristics and to understand the consumption of this Phoenician Central Mediterranean pottery in the context of the sites of Ilercavonia and Cossetania.
All individuals have been analysed by means of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), with selected samples analysed by means of thin-section petrography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of this study demonstrate the presence of Sicilian, Sardinian and Tunisian products, allowing us to see preferences of vessel types according to source.
production, 101 fragments of pottery from the necropolis of Tyre-Al Bass have been sampled. All individuals have been analysed by means of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses in order to shed light on chemical and mineralogical information to define reference groups and the technology employed in production. Furthermore, selected samples, according to the previous results, have been further
analysed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to shed light on microstructure and vitrification stage. Thus, the present study represents the first steps towards the characterization of the Phoenician ceramics of Tyre in order to describe different fabrics and to differentiate possible production groups.
fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results have enabled to identify two new reference groups as well as their technique of manufacture.
European social, cultural, and economic development. The introduction of sugar cultivation entailed
knowledge transfer and new technological requirements, such as the manufacture of sugar pots used
to crystallise sugar, which requires a specific design, and thermal and mechanical properties. This
paper presents part of the results of the SPotEU project, funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Actions, which explores the development and impact of sugar production in western Europe through
the study of sugar pot manufacture from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating archaeological
and historical research with material science and material culture approaches. This paper focuses
on sugar pots from Sicily, one of the main regions for sugar production in Western Europe in the
11–16th centuries A.D. Sugar pots were assessed from technological and performance points of view,
aided by instrumental analysis (petrography, SEM, XRF, XRD, mechanical, and thermal property
tests). The archaeological and analytical results are presented, revealing different centres of sugar pot
production on the island, and specific choices in the design of the vessels and their properties. This
allows us to discuss how craftspeople locally adapted their ceramic-making traditions to face the
new product demands from the sugar production industry in the Mediterranean.
By documenting and quantifying new archaeological evidence for contacts, commercial circuits and trade networks between the principal confederations of southern Gaul (France), Hispania Citerior (Spain), and the peoples of the Italian peninsula during the late Roman Republic and the transition into the Empire (2nd-1st c. B.C.E.), the project explores the extent to which this ancient global market created asymmetrical socio-economic relationships of domination and exploitation between and within production and consumption centers.