Table 1.
Number of archaeological amber objects and FTIR analyses available and the contribution of this paper.
Table 2.
Specimens analysed in this work.
No permits were required for the analysis of geological samples. Permits for the analyses of archaeological samples were granted by the Chief Curators and Heads of the museums listed in the table, under the R&D projects: HAR2017-82685-R, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities; and PN623183 funded by the European Commission.
Fig 1.
Location of geological (dots) and archaeological (stars) amber findings.
Amber outcrops in Iberia modified from [10] and archaeological findings modified from [9]. CAD: Central Asturian Depression; BC: Basque-Cantabrian Basin; MB: Maestrazgo Basin. Geological samples analysed in this paper from: a) Ajo; b) Comillas; c) Cuchía; d) Puente ‘El Arrudo’; e) Alloz; f) Zubielki; g) El Caleyu; h) Sant Just; i) La Hoya and j) Navalperal. Archaeological objects analysed in this paper from: 1. La Velilla; 2. Valencina de la Concepción; 3. Los Millares; 4. Llano de la Sabina (97 and 99); 5. Llano de la Teja 18; 6. Valle de las Higueras; 7. Artificial cave of Sao Paulo and 8. Quinta do Marcelo. Other archaeological sites mentioned in this paper in order of appearance in the text: (8) La Garma A; (9) Los Cuarenta Cave; (10) Chousa Nova; (11) Dolmen de Mamoa V de Chã de Arcas; (12) Dolmen de Alberite; (13) Campo de Hockey; (14) Los Lagos I; (15) Larrarte; (16) Trikuaizti I; (17) Pedra Cabana; (18) Cabana del Moro de Colomera; (19) Muricecs; (20) Herrerías II; (21) Palacio III; (22) Moreirinha and (23) Senhora da Guia.
Fig 2.
Geological amber samples analysed.
a) Ajo, b) Comillas, c) Cuchía, d) Puente ‘El Arrudo’, e) Alloz, f) La Hoya, g) San Just, h) El Caleyu, i) Navalperal, j) Zubileki.
Fig 3.
FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from the Basque-Cantabrian Basin.
Fig 4.
FTIR spectrum of palaeontological amber from El Caleyu (Central Asturian Depression).
Fig 5.
FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from the Maestrazgo Basin.
Fig 6.
FTIR Spectra of palaeontological amber from Navalperal (Jaén).
Fig 7.
Drawing of amber beads from La Velilla.
Numbers correspond to inventory. The bead analysed for this study is number 360. Drawing modified from [30].
Fig 8.
Some of the amber objects analysed.
a) Bead from Dolmen of La Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción); b) Beads recorded as amber from Los Millares 7(VII); c) Bead from Los Millares 12; d) Amber objects from Los Millares 63(III); e) Amber bead from Llano de la Sabina 99; f) Bead from Valle de las Higueras 1; g) Bead from Valle de las Higueras 3; h) Bead from Sao Paulo MAH7771_SPII1330; i) Bead from Sao Paulo MAH10503_SPII1521; j) Bead from Quinta do Marcelo MAH1745_QMar354.
Fig 9.
Example of one of the dresses made of amber and shell beads from the tholos of Montelirio.
From [12].
Fig 10.
FTIR Spectra of amber sample from La Velilla compared to reference Cretaceous Iberian amber from Comillas.
Table 3.
Main bands cm-1 from amber samples analysed with a possible Iberian provenance.
Fig 11.
FTIR Spectra of amber samples from Quinta do Marcelo and Llano de la Sabina 97 and 99 compared to reference spectrum of Baltic succinite.
Table 4.
Main bands cm-1 from amber samples analysed with a possible Baltic provenance.
Fig 12.
FTIR Spectra of amber samples from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio compared to reference spectra of Sicilian simetite.
Fig 13.
FTIR Spectra of the weathered layers of the same amber samples from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio.
Fig 14.
FTIR Spectra of amber samples from Llano de la Teja 18, Valle de las Higueras and Mound 12 from Los Millares compared to weathered layers from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio.
Table 5.
Main bands cm-1 from amber samples analysed with a possible Sicilian provenance.
Fig 15.
FTIR spectra of samples from Dolmen of la Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción) and Mound 63(III) from Los Millares.
Fig 16.
FTIR Spectra of samples from Dolmen of la Pastora (Valencina de la Concepción) and Mound 63(III) from Los Millares compared to weathered layers from the artificial cave of Sao Paulo, Mound 74(XIII) from Los Millares and the tholos of Montelirio as well as the simetite reference spectrum.
Fig 17.
Distribution of amber objects in Iberia and their proposed geological origins.
C = Cretaceous (Iberia); S = Simetite (Sicily); B = Succinite (Baltic).