Evolución tecnológica y arqueometría en el estudio de cerámicas de Fajalauza (Granada, España)

Abstract

An archaeometric study has been undertaken on a set of Fajalauza ceramic materials to in depth understand the technological characteristics and processing of one of the most unique productions of traditional Spanish ceramics. The set comprises a representative selection of fragments that encompass from the end of the Morisque period at the end of the fifteenth century to current productions of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The fragments dated between the end of the fifteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century come from recent preventive archaeological excavations carried out in different streets of Granada, while those from current productions come from both private collections and the current production of the Cecilio Morales factory. Clay samples from the old workshop of this factory were also analyzed for comparative purposes. The archaeometric characterization was accomplished using binocular magnifying glass, thin section petrographic observation, XRD, XRF and FESEM with EDS microanalyses. Chemical composition data were also subjected to a multivariate statistical analysis. The main results indicated a notable technological continuity between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, detecting only discontinuities in the ceramics called Pre-Fajalauza, which differ in body composition and in glaze characteristics, and in the most recent ones of the twenty first century in which the SnO₂ has been substituted by ZrO₂ as opacifier in the glazes.