Distribution and chronological framework for Iberian variscite mining and consumption at Pico Centeno, Encinasola, Spain

Abstract

AMS radiocarbon and OSL dating, and profiling were used to directly delimit periods of variscite production at Pico CentenoMine 2. These resultswere integratedwith analysis of otherwell-dated periods of variscite production to establish an Iberian-wide chronological framework. Variscite production at Pico Centeno Mine 2 began at ~5200 BC, coincident with alpine jade production or Casa Montero Iberian flint production. Variscite was only used occasionally, together with other greenstones, during the 5th and 6th millennia BC. During the 4thmillenniumBC, variscite use began to increase to its apogee in the first half of 3rd millenniumBC when it appeared in nearly every Iberian burial site. This increase in variscite production and use coincided with decline in the popularity of alpine jade. By the end of the 3rd millennium BC, new resources began to be valued such as Asian and African Ivory, Baltic and Sicilian amber, and copper-based metal products. The variscite cycle thus started with the decline of jade in the 5th–4th millennium BC, and ended with the appearance of copper, ivory and extra-peninsular amber by the end of the 3rd millennium BC.