Nailos

Editorial

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Iconographical questions referred to the bottom plaque of the Agate Chest of the Oviedo Cathedral

César García de Castro Valdés — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:26:38 +0200

The Agate Chest of Oviedo Cathedral is the third great early medieval jewel in its treasure. The bottom of the box is covered with a silver sheet on which appears the grant inscription with its date (910) and an embossed scene composed of the eschatological Gemstone Cross and the four apocalyptic Living Creatures in a centripetal position around it. This work focuses on this particular iconography, looks at the context of its production, and traces its biblical, liturgical and theological background, pointing to the reason for its setting in the chest.

Historical considerations about the use of floating caissons in the construction of ports. Two thousand years of port engineering (23 BC-half of the 20th century)

Elías Carrocera Fernández, Luis Blanco Vázquez — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:48:34 +0200

In this paper we carry out a historical analysis of the use of floating caissons in the construction of ports, from the beginning, in Roman times, until the middle of the 20th century. We describe examples of the use of wooden structures until the mid-19th century, brick in the last half of the century and reinforced concrete in the 20th, showing the evolution of port engineering over two thousand years from a historical-archaeological perspective.

Prehistoric rock art in Asturias: a history with a hundred years of management (Part I). From the discovery of El Pindal cave to the discovery of Tito Bustillo cave (1908-1968)

María Glonzález-Pumariega Solís, Miguel Polledo González, Fructuoso Díaz García — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:04:55 +0200

If rock art research in Asturias has a tradition that goes back more than a hundred years, its management is no less important, and in this Spanish region it has always been in the hands of the public administration, with different types of actions and policies being developed over time. Knowledge of its evolution and characteristics is essential in order to be able to tackle the protection and dissemination of a heritage asset of great historical and cultural importance but of an extremely fragile nature. Even with its lights and shadows, the more than one hundred years of public management of rock art in Asturias reflect a series of successes, due in large part to the tenacity and knowledge of important researchers. However, the current reality points to an extremely uncertain future in the face of the unstoppable decline of the Spanish university and the existential crisis of public administration

El The Count of Vega del Sella (1970-1941) through his personal correspondence: Some documentary news

Fructuoso Díaz García, Miguel Polledo González — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:16:05 +0200

The article makes a systematization of the personal correspondence of the Count of Vega del Sella, partly published and partly unpublished, with the intention of expand the historiographic information on his scientific work, fundamental in prehistoric research in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.

We remember the importance of personal correspondence in biographical and historiographic studies, we point out some examples of its relevance in works on the history of archaeology, we gather the personal correspondence of the count already published, present several unpublished letters, we proceed to a first reconstruction of his epistolary and finally we make an assessment of their content.

El The role of archaeologists and the administration in the loss of archaeological heritage. A reflection from the case of the province of Biskay (Basque Country, Spain)

José Luis Ibarra Álvarez — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:28:14 +0200

When we think of the plundering of cultural heritage, perhaps our first images come from the world of cinema, with its smart, attractive and highly technical white-collar thieves. But if we take the time to descend into reality, the plundering loses all its glamorous and adventurous veneer. We then discover the serious damage that such actions cause to society, as they lose cultural property in the public domain. We also see many consequences of this issue, involving a variety of actors and offering different faces, which are not usually in the spotlight. For example, archaeologists when they fail to fulfil their responsibilities and practice their profession in a negligent manner. Or when the control and surveillance that is the responsibility of the administration is carried out in a lax manner.

About preconceptions in Prehistory

Georges Sauvet — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:39:03 +0200

We are unable to dispense with our prejudices, which are deeply rooted in our minds and condition even the most rigorous reasoning. We would like to point out some of the most common preconceptions in archaeology that often work as intangible dogmas. For example, the preconception that Neanderthals were inferior to modern humans has long prevailed. To counter this idea, others claim on the contrary that Neanderthals possessed all the necessary skills to produce art (another preconception). Consequently, they are willing to admit anything that might help to confirm this idea. That is why they unreservedly accept the new uranium series dating technology, despite the fact that this dating method often gives artificially aged results. In their view, physical science is more reliable than archaeological reasoning.

In this field, as in many others, prejudice prevails over scientific reasoning. To avoid this, we first need to be aware of the danger that this bias represents.

Approximation to the pre-Roman and Roman glass of Peña Castro (La Ercina, León)

Francisco Javier Marcos Herran — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:49:21 +0200

With this article we intend to approach certain materials that, although they are scarce in the archaeological record, can provide chronological horizons. This is the case of glass in its two manufacturing varieties. One made by hand melting (preRoman) and air blowing (Roman). To achieve this goal we will focus on Polls 2 and 8, both excavated in the 2015-2017 Campaigns and funded by ADSACIER, the City Council of La Ercina and the Junta de Castilla y León. We will use this vitreous study of the respective UUEE 201 and 801 of these two surveys to determine the chronologies of the High Roman Empire (1st and 2nd centuries d. C.) and the Iron Age (2nd- 1st centuries a. C.).

The resistance of Ait Baamaran agaist Morocco and France in 1917. Reconnaissance of the territory and places of the Battle of Igalfen

Luis Blanco Vázguez, Muhammad Derbal — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:59:22 +0200

The Battle of Igalfen between the Haida u Muis army, favourable to the french-moroccan Protectorate, and the southern berber tribes of Ait Baamaran and their allies, who opposed it, took place in early 1917 in the south of present Morocco. This event meant the last victory of these populations, allowing them to remain independent of the Sultan’s authority for several more decades. In this work we carry out, in addition to a description of the battle, a reconnaissance of the territory and places linked to that historical event, as well as its survival in the baamarani memory.

Legion: life in the Roman army

José Antonio Fernández de Córdoba Pérez — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:04:53 +0200

Piedra, papel y pincel. La reproducción del arte prehistórico de Asturias

José Antonio Fernández de Córdoba Pérez — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:08:52 +0200

Gema Elvira Adán Álvarez (1963-2022)

Alejandro García Álvarez-Busto — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:15:38 +0200

Vicente Rodríguez Otero. Traspando (Siero. Asturias) 05-04-1953/Oviedo 12-07-2023

Marco de la Rasilla Vives — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:22:53 +0200

Informe editorial del número 10

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:26:21 +0200