Carlos
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In the image, six small beads of necklace covered by layers of resin and discovered in different prehistoric tombs of the Iberian Peninsula. - EFE
The pieces, four seashells and two seeds, have been found in the rock deposit of La Molina, in Seville, dating from the Copper Age (year 3000 BC), and in the funerary site of the Cova del Gegant, near Barcelona, from the Bronze Age (1600-1400 BC). With the help of several techniques, the authors of the study analyzed the chemical composition and structure of the pieces and discovered that they had been coated with resin layers, thus achieving an imitative effect of amber, a fossilized resin that was already considered a Neolithic semiprecious stone.
With the help of several spectroscopy techniques and an X-ray probe of an electron microscope, the authors studied the chemical composition and structure of six pieces and their coatings. The beads of Cova del Gegant had a core of marine shell covered by tree resins -probably pine-, and a white surface layer that surely came from the decomposition of the bone tissue of the buried individuals. The accounts of La Molina were also composed of a core - a seed - covered by an amber resin, next to a layer of cinnabar that is part of the funerary ritual.
The study indicates that these technologies were intended to imitate the translucency, brightness and color of amber, which in that prehistoric period was considered a rare semiprecious stone in great demand. However, the two tombs contained pieces made with exotic and valuable materials such as ivory, gold and cinnabar, which showed the high social status of their owners.
So, why were there costume jewelery next to noble materials? The study even raises the possibility that, especially in the Cova del Gegant, where along with the "amber of imitation" pieces of real amber were found, the individuals of the tomb would have been scammed by merchants who sold them fake pieces.
https://www.diariocordoba.com/notic...9UnADQO-5tatJRbYCOl0bQHFerYYHQi65NOAOdofuVQh8