Azabache de Asturias

The great archaeological activity developed in recent years in the Principality of Asturias is bringing to light valuable evidence, illustrative of the particular attraction along this material millennia exerted on the early settlers of the solar Leon.
     The oldest piece located to date, and exceptional in the European context, is a bead recovered in archaeological excavations of the cave of Las Caldas (Oviedo), at an occupancy level of the upper Solutrean, which dates back to antiquity about 19,000 years before present.
     Particular interest also offers the unique account of jet found in the excavation of the mound XV of the great necropolis of Monte Areo (Carreño). Extracted by the gate of the burial chamber of the tomb, would be part of a supplement to trim some of the individuals buried there, 5,000 years ago. Olivet shaped, the piece reaches 31 mm. long with a diameter in the center of approximately 24 mm. His technique of manufacture, core drilling drill conducted by arc, starting from the two poles of the account, and after polishing, is virtually identical to that used until now by traditional artisans azabacheros.
     Azabache grinding raw and briefly appears in the first settlements of Iron Age, the environment of Ria de Villaviciosa, in contexts of occupation dating from the eighth century before Christ.
     It is beyond the presence of this material into Asturian deposits from Roman times, as witness the beads recovered from the Roman Villa Verano (Gijón) within levels datable around V century AD.
     In the Castle of Curiel (Peñaferruz, Gijón), it also drew a similar account to the latter, within and from a stratum dated to the second half of the first half of XII-XIII century. As the authors rightly suggest the finding could also be a Late Antique period piece, robbed of one of the many settlements of this period, located in the environment.
     The recovery of jet parts in medieval settings is relatively common, particularly in the archaeological deposits relating to final stages of this period and the beginning of the modern age, coinciding with the time perhaps, of greater vitality of the craft.
     In this sense, are particularly relevant are the archaeological excavations carried out in recent years within the original walls of the ancient town of Maliayo, the current Villaviciosa. This is undoubtedly the quintessential Spanish villa azabachera, as in the coastal strip of this county is concentrated over 90% of farms in our country jet.

The old medieval town, founded by King Wise in the last third of the thirteenth century, and its administrative district, one of the largest in Asturias, were taking centuries of craftsmen and raw materials to many of the Hispanic and European processors centers, and particular the city of the Apostle St. James Route goal, which is linked so closely crafting jet.
The oldest piece located to date, and exceptional in the European context, is a bead recovered in Villaviciosa in medieval times was probably a azabachera Rua, the former Espadañal Street, where small workshops would focus perhaps mainly developed minor works bound for large outlets. One such workshop was the subject of archaeological excavation in the 90s.

It recovered various types of beads and rings, and other materials related to the transformation process. The facility must remain operational at least since the late fifteenth century until the last third of the twentieth century.
     The archaeological excavation of the rear of the former palace of Los Hevia, brought to light a wide stretch of that street Espadañal, which we have been alluding. The work uncovered a cobbled floor rudimentary exceptional example of a road traffic datable in the fourteenth-fifteenth century the latter in which abandonment occurs.
The tank contained an enormous waste concentration of jet size and abundant accounts that will provide solid historical references for certain types of these beads.
     Archeological excavations in the old capital of Oviedo, one of the great centers of pilgrimage to Saint James, have also provided pieces of jet.
An example is the singular cigua quadruple 21 mm. long, with no parallel known to date, recovered in the excavation of a solar street Rua de Oviedo (Asturias), dated to around the fifteenth century.
Rogelio Estrada García