Modelling social Change: A microspatial analysis of Punta de Muros (NW Iberia) through Bayesian analysis and household archaeology

Abstract

The following work is focused on the identification of internal transformations in the fortified settlement of Punta de Muros (Galicia, Spain), one of the hillforts with more information available for the Early Iron Age in the Iberian Peninsula. In this paper, a set of 24 radiocarbon dates is presented to characterise the complete sequence of occupation of the site. This research proposes a correlation between a chronostatistical model through a Bayesian analysis and a morphostructural study of the domestic environment of the settlement.

Thus, the results obtained provide a link between several transformations occurring in Punta de Muros and certain temporal and historical dynamics, which allows for a more reliable approach to the establishment and development of the settlement. Hence, a chronological and a structural contextualisation of the constructive transformations of the settlement will be drawn up, enabling us to understand the settlement during the onset, the development and decay of the fortified habitat in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula