Object type
tuyere
Fabric
ceramic material, construction and architectural, classical and protohistoric
Culture/period
Protohistory
Materials
terracotta
Technique
handmade
Mint
Production date
-400 / -200
Current location
Reserves
Archaeological site
Olèrdola. Entrada recinte (sector 01)
Township
Olèrdola (Alt Penedès)
Dimensions
150 x 190 x 61 mm
Description
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Object that has two hollow cylindrical tubes, joined in a "V" shape at the base, with the upper part of the mouth slightly open outwards. The piece is made of clay and was made by hand, reddish in colour, slightly blackened on one side and with abundant inclusions. It was located in Sector 01, in the demolition of House 3, a metallurgical workshop located at the entrance of the enclosure.
Air supply tubes are not very frequent in archaeological contexts. In Iberian protohistory the first examples correspond to Phoenician factories (La Fonteta, 7th-6th centuries BC). For the Iberian age, several specimens similar to the one located in Olèrdola have been documented (El Castellet in Banyoles de Tivissa, La Bastida de las Alcusses in Moixent, Piuró del Barranc Fondo in Maçalió and La Monravana in Llíria), all of them can be dated to the full Iberian age.
These pieces are part of a metallurgical furnace, with the function of supplying air for rapid and permanent combustion. The air tube would be coupled to two bellows to ensure a constant flow of air as they are actioned alternately. At the other end, it would transmit this air into the furnace. Ethnoarchaeology has provided valuable examples of these types of objects.
GALLEGO CAÑAMERO, J.M. 2013, La siderurgia en el mundo ibérico. Primeros datos a partir de la experimentación arqueológica, in PALOMO, A.; PIQUÉ, R.; TERRADAS, X. (ed.), Experimentación en arqueología. Estudio y difusión del pasado, Sèrie Monogràfica 25.1 i 25.2, Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya Girona, Girona. Figs. 5 i 6.
MOLIST, N. 2008, Espais i estructures arqueològiques. Etapa ibèrica (Segles IV/III aC), in MOLIST, N. (ed), La intervenció al sector 01 del Conjunt Històric d'Olèrdola. De la prehistòria a l'etapa romana (campanyes 1995-2006), Monografies d'Olèrdola 2, Barcelona, 109-190. Pàg. 189, fig. 7.121,
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Barcelona
Omeka ID
2268