Rethinking the perishable: Identifying organic remains in metal objects at the Iron Age site of La Bastida de les Alcusses (Moixent, Spain)

Abstract

The use of certain perishable materials for handicraft, such as wood, has been underestimated in archaeological investigation due to their poor preservation. Its study through indirect evidence (other non-perishable materials, ethnographic sources) is partial, and does not account for the real importance of wood in domestic, craft and ritual contexts in past societies. In this review we reclaim the use of wood as a co-constitutive material of objects by focusing on Iron Age tools, weapons and carpentry elements from a case-study in the Western Mediterranean. We also suggest the adoption of protocols for sampling and analysing the remains of wood adhered to metal objects, which may contribute to increase our knowledge about the use of this raw material in the past.