Aproximaciones arqueométricas al estudio de los morteros de la Antigüedad. Presupuestos metodológicos y ensayo de aplicación a la construcción romana del valle del Guadalquivir

Abstract

Archaeometry today is a fully developed and well established discipline. In the case of mortars, however, perhaps its development has traditionally been more closely linked to the problems associated with the intervention and conservation of Cultural Assets. In any case, we should take advantage of that experience to explore in greater depth aspects of considerable importance for the characterisation of ancient construction processes and technological development; methods that, in the final analysis, inform us of socioeconomic structures and historical junctures at different moments and in different territories. The project, which has been developed around the architecture and construction of the Roman towns in the Guadalquivir Valley, has been an excellent laboratory in which to initiate research into areas of common interest in the fields of materials science and archaeology.