Red ochre decorations in Spanish Neolithic ceramics: a mineralogical and technological study J. Capel a, * , F. Huertas b , A. Pozzuoli c , J. Linares b a Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueologı ´a, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain b Estacio ´n Experimental del Zaidı ´n, CSIC, Profesor Albareda 1, 18008 Granada, Spain c Dipartimento di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Universita ` degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’, Largo S. Marcellino 10, 80138 Napoli, Italy Received 18 October 2004; received in revised form 28 November 2005; accepted 15 December 2005 Abstract Some Neolithic ceramics from south-eastern Spain have red to brown external decorations called ‘‘almagras’’ (red ochre). The pigment layer is essentially composed of a mixture of clay and iron oxides: haematite (red) and maghemite (brown). It is suggested that maghemite was formed during the firing process of ceramic in a reducing atmosphere. Several laboratory tests have been carried out to obtain maghemite by adding charcoal or pinewood sawdust to similar ceramic pastes. In fact, maghemite was formed, even when the piece was simply covered with pinewood sawdust before firing. The diverse original red colours are due to variations in iron oxide (or calcite) content and to redox conditions in the firing procedure. Brown- coloured ceramics owe their colour to maghemite and must be considered as a ‘‘fabrication defect’’, due to the position of the ceramic piece in a zone where a reducing atmosphere prevailed in the course of firing. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Neolithic; Ceramic; Red ochre decorations; Spain; Archeometry; Experimental study 1. Introduction The red ceramics called ‘‘a la almagra’’ (red ochre) first came to attention in the Iberian Peninsula following observa- tions made in the 1930s in some areas of Andalusia. This ceramic, one of the most characteristic types found in several Andalusian archaeological settings, is very little studied; it has an unclear chronology and relationships with other Mediterra- nean scenarios are not well established [2,3,17,18]. Two different techniques of red ochre decorations can be distinguished from direct observation: a first type has a red (intense red to orange) external colour, adhering very well to the ceramic surface, as if it were an opaque enamel. A second type, considered as painted ceramic, is less firm and very friable. With regards to the origin of these red ochre ceramics, Martı ´nez-Santa Olalla [11] suggests a Near East provenance, with an important focus in the Anatolian and northern Syrian zones. The first indication comes from the early Ugaritic, dat- ing from between 2400 and 2300 BC. From these localities it probably migrated to Cyprus, where abundant material is found in the Erimi, Kirokhitia and Vounous settlements, with the red ochre ceramics overlapping the painted ceramics, which were eventually replaced by the new imported type. Arribas [1] connects this red ceramic with the ‘‘Diana style’’ of Lipari (final phase of the Neolithic of Lipari) on account of its colouration and fabrication technique, although the shapes are very different. Mun ˜oz [15] establishes another parallelism with the ceramics associated to the Ancient Neo- lithic of Tessalia (VeIV millennium). They are monochrome reds, but they also exhibit different shapes. Likewise, the authors treat in their work the existing problems of the origin and chronology raised by red ochre ceramics in Neolithic Andalusia [2,3,16e19]. The red ochre ceramics described as characteristic of the Andalusian settings of the western zone of Spain, especially the Cordoba caves, expanded to Portugal and eastern Andalu- sia, with very important locations in Malaga and Granada * Corresponding author. E-mail address: jcapel@ugr.es (J. Capel). 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.12.004 Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 1157e1166 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas