The use of the wood in the Late Antiquity: Everyday life objects from the archaeological site the Fábrica de Tabacos in Gijón (Asturias)

Abstract

In this paper, we present the incredible discovery of various wooden objects found during the excavations at the ancient Fábrica de Tabacos in Gijón that took place between 2007 and 2009. The objects were thrown into the water tank during the time of abandonment, dated from early 6th century ad. Among these were pieces of crockery, wooden containers, buckets, a chair and other objects such as well lintel. This study allows us to determine the function of unique pieces and the dating of each of the materials appeared by the radiocarbon method dating back to the early 6th century ad until the 10th century. This was an unusual undertaking for the Iberian Peninsula that succeeded thanks to the climate conditions of the region where the objects were found –such as the low ground water level– all of which allowed for an extraordinary preservation of these objects.

Keywords

• península ibérica
• depósito de agua
• vajilla
• cubos
• muebles