Verònica Martínez Ferreras

University of Barcelona | UB · Department of History and Archaeology

Unraveling the short‐term behavior of the Earth's past geomagnetic field at regional scales is crucial for understanding its global behavior and, thus, the dynamics of the deep Earth. In this context, obtaining accurate full‐vector geomagnetic field records from regions where archeomagnetic data are absent becomes essential. Here, we present the fi...

The archaeological site of Ancient Termez is located in southern Uzbekistan. Despite the arid environment, the city benefited from its strategic position near two rivers, the Amu Darya and the Surkhan Darya. Its significance was mainly related to the expansion of trade routes connecting Eurasia. The city comprises several enclosures that attest lon...

The use of different data from satellite platforms for archaeological prospecting and remote sensing has been applied since the end of the 20th century. Although the current use of drones with different visible and multispectral sensors for small areas has partially replaced in some cases the use of this type of satellite information due to its hig...

Iskandar Tepa is a recently excavated rural settlement site in the steppe piedmonts of the Kugitang, the westernmost foothills of the Pamir-Alay Mountain range in south Uzbekistan. Archaeological and numismatic investigation suggests that the site might have belonged to the system of outposts or watch-posts serving the strategic needs of the last G...

We present the results of the zooarchaeological analysis carried out on the fauna recovered in five different areas of ancient Termez (Uzbekistan). The sequence analysed covers the period from c 300 BCE to c 1400 CE (Greco-Bactrian/Yuezhi, Kushan, Sassanian, and Islamic periods). The investigation focused on the main animal species raised, the skel...

The recent excavations at the site of Molali, located in southern Uzbekistan and dated to the mid-second millennium BCE, offer new insights into the definition of the Final Bronze Age pottery complex in southern Uzbekistan and the technological and stylistic links between the potting traditions of the various cultural groups at this period. An arch...

The paper focuses on the archaeological contextualization and archaeometric characterization of Early Medieval coarse wares from the town of Khosijat Tepe and the castle of Balalyk Tepe (southern Uzbekistan), located in ancient northern Bactria-Tokharistan. From the 5th to the 8th centuries CE, this territory was marked by the successive arrival of...

The underwater deposit of cape Gros has been the subject of surveys in recent years. It has not yielded any significant remains of a ship, but corresponds to a shipwreck site, as shown by several tenuous elements. On the other hand, it has yielded the remains of a cargo of Pascual 1 amphorae. Archaeometric analyses have shown that this very homogen...

Recent paleomagnetic studies have shown that important short‐lived intensity fluctuations occurred during the first millennium BCE. However, the knowledge of the spatial and temporal extension of these features is still limited by the scarce availability of robust data. In this study we focus on the study of the intensity decrease that took place i...

This paper presents a preliminary use of satellite imagery from the CORONA program in the reconstruction of thearchaeological landscape of two different sites: Ancient Termez (southern border of Uzbekistan) and Khatm Al Melaha(eastern coast of United Arab Emirates in Kalba area). This analysis constitutes the first step of the work carried out in t...

Se presenta un estudio de los alfares del ager Saguntinus en época romana a partir de los resultados de una campaña de prospecciones superficiales realizadas en el año 2018, con el objetivo de reubicar y documentar una serie de alfares conocidos de antaño, y poder llevar a cabo una primera aproximación a la caracterización tipológica y arqueométric...

This paper presents an archaeological and archaeometric study of a range of Islamic ceramics (9th-17th centuries) from Termez (south Uzbekistan), a city which has been proven to be both a production centre and a trading post. Pottery was manufactured in a number of workshops located in the lower city (shahristan) and its suburbs (rabad) and is cons...

Ancient Termez, located on the southern border of Transoxiana/Mawarannahr, was an important pottery production centre during the Islamic period. Recent archaeological and archaeometric research carried out by the Spanish-Uzbek team evidenced the manufacture of glazed and unglazed vessels at the workshops found in the lower city (shahristan) and its...

The underwater deposit of cape Gros has been the subject of surveys in recent years. It has not yielded any significant remains of a ship, but corresponds to a shipwreck site, as shown by several tenuous elements. On the other hand, it has yielded the remains of a cargo of Pascual 1 amphorae. Archaeometric analyses have shown that this very homogen...

The study deals with the Islamic pottery from Termez (southern Uzbekistan), with a special focus on the wares dated to the 9th-12th centuries. The city was a major urban settlement, along one of the routes of the Silk Road. Ceramics, both glazed and unglazed, were produced in several workshops located in the lower city (shahristan) and its suburbs...

This article presents an overview of recent research on dolia (large storage jars) from the former province of Narbonese Gaul. It aims to bring to light a poorly known aspect of the Roman period, namely the production and diffusion of dolia, thought archaeometrical evidences. Thus, the largest workshop of dolia in Narbonese Gaul has been recognized...

This paper presents the preliminary results obtained during the 3D recording campaign carried out in 2018 by the Spanish-Uzbek IPAEB mission in the archaeological site of Termez (southern border of Uzbekistan). Ancient Termez is an important historical city within the Silk Road located in the ancient Bactria region. The archaeological work performe...

We present the archaeological contextualization and the archaeometric characterization of slipped and nonslipped tableware and common wares from Termez in south Uzbekistan. The aims are, first, to evaluate the manufacture of pottery in the city and region (ancient Bactria) after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century B.C. so as...

Kurganzol is one of the fortresses founded in ancient Bactria during the conquest of Alexander the Great. An archaeometric characterisation was conducted on 20 pottery sherds recovered in the earliest settlement dated to the late-4th BC. The aim is to examine both the composition and variation of the raw materials used and the production technology...

A presentation for European Archaeological Association meeting - EAA 2018 (6-8/09/2018), Session #672 - CAA @ EAA: Computational Models in Archaeology https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2018 Prepared with reveal.js (see https://revealjs.com/) On-line version available in: https://andros-spica.github.io/EAA2018_simulation/ Source code in: https://github.co...

We present our recent experience in developing two R packages for defining and enabling data analysis protocols: ‘cerUB’ and ‘biplot2d3d’. We designed these protocols to address the most common archaeometric data on archaeological ceramics. Many techniques can inform on the origin and production technology of archaeological ceramics. However, studi...

There are several analytical techniques that may serve as data sources for characterizing archaeological ceramics. Each one of them can inform on the origin of raw materials and the processes involved in their fabrication. However, it is not so common for studies to integrate more than one data source and, when they do, it is often through textual...

Several analytic techniques can provide data for characterizing archaeological ceramics. These data sources are not alternative but rather complementary to each other. They report on different aspects of ceramics concerning the origin of raw materials and the technological processes involved. However, when studies integrate more than one data sourc...

Studies on ancient ceramics from Central Asia have traditionally focused on the definition of the morphological and decorative attributes of the vessels to aid in shaping a relative ceramic chronology and in setting up connections between sites and areas. Recent studies applied to the Central Asian corpuses, some of which incorporate the archaeomet...

This paper presents the results of an inorganic and organic approach to Roman amphorae found at the rural Roman site of Sa Mesquida (Mallorca). A set of amphorae were discovered in some rooms of the earlier phases of the villa. These amphorae were assigned to a general Tarraconensian and Italic provenance on a macroscopic level. In order to verify...

Following a strictly theory-building approach, we developed an agent-based simulation model, the Nice Musical Chairs model, to represent the competition between groups of stakeholders of farming and herding activities in the arid Afro-Eurasia. The model deepens the questions raised by the results of our former model, the Musical Chairs model, and f...

L'article présente un lot de céramiques issu de la fouille conduite en 2013 au 14 Quai d'Alsace à Narbonne. L'ensemble étudié provient de niveaux antérieurs à l'urbanisation d'un nouveau quartier situé en limite de la ville antique et en bordure du canal de la Robine. Ces remblais sont datés entre 40 et 20 av. J.-C. Ils complètent la liste, encore...

L’officine péri-urbaine de Lattes Saint-Sauveur (Hérault, France) est localisée au sud de l’agglomération, à proximité d’une vaste zone portuaire. Les vestiges fouillés entre 2004 et 2006 correspondent au comblement stratifié d’une vaste fosse de 100 m2 interprétée comme le négatif de la chambre de chauffe et de l’alandier d’un vaste four à amphore...

This paper presents a collection of protocols to explore and visualize archaeometric data, particularly regarding the geochemical composition and petrographic characterization of archaeological ceramics. These protocols combine several techniques offered in other disciplines (Geology, Statistics, and Ecology) and allow for analyses that transcend t...

The relation between the main variants of pre-industrial economic production in arid Eurasia, from nomadic pastoralism to irrigated agriculture, is known to have been unstable, with abundant examples of conflict and shifting patterns of land use right up to contemporary times. We present the latest development of a six-year effort, within the Simul...

Slipped and unslipped wares from Kampyr Tepe dated to the Hellenistic–Seleucid and Greco-Bactrian periods stylistically resemble tableware from the Greek tradition. Since two pottery workshops have been recovered at the site, the aim is to shed light on the provenance and the production and consumption patterns of the tableware, as well as on the d...

We present the first full archaeometrical study of Kushan-Sassanian pottery from the Buddhist monastic complexes at Kara Tepe (Termez, Uzbekistan), recovered both in the pottery workshop and in the monastery, using a combination of analytical methods (XRF, XRD, SEM–EDS and OM). The study allowed the identification of the reference group, the corres...

This article derives from Pierre Gentelle’s fieldwork, following the traces of ancient canals whilst highlighting the surrounding steppes, his work at the interface between disciplinary fields and his curiosity for new technologies. It presents the results of our work modelling and simulating the interaction of nomadic pastoralists and sedentary ag...

Termez was one of the great Buddhist religious centers in northern Bactria in the Kushan period, as evidenced by the notable monastic complexes sited in the city. The stratigraphic excavations and 14C analysis recently conducted at Tchingiz Tepe, in a monastic cell (sector RC) and in a space for worship (sector RA), provide new data on the complete...

The Port-Vendres 4 shipwreck is evidence of coastal export trade between Hispania Citerior and Narbonne in 40/30 BC. The cargo is made up of a particular assemblage of Roman wine amphoras (Pascual 1, Dressel 1B and Lamboglia 2) destined for Gallic markets. Archaeological and archaeometric analyses conducted on a selection of the amphoras allowed th...

All results of the ERAAUB team in recent years

The walled enclosure of Tchingiz Tepe is part of the urban complex of Ancient Termez in South Uzbekistan. Situated on a hill to the north-west of the city, the archaeological remains consists of an adobe wall, a monumental building located in the centre of the enclosure, various dwellings attached to the wall, and at least one pottery kiln. The stu...

Fiches, J.L., Martínez Ferreras, V., 2014, Scholae de Lattara. In Signa et tituli 2. Bulletin de École Antique de Nîmes, 31

Central Asia is an area in which the main variants of pre-industrial economic productions (from nomadic pastoralism to irrigated agriculture) coexisted for several thousand years starting from prehistory, with animal domestication and irrigated agriculture. The relation between the different economic activities is known to have been unstable, with...

The importance of wine trade between Roman provinces in the North-Western Mediterranean during the Augustan period is evidenced by several shipwrecks found along the coasts of Catalunya and Southern France. Among them are the Cap del Vol (Port de la Selva) and Els Ullastres (Palafrugell) shipwrecks, located near the northern coast of Catalunya, whi...

Herding and farming coexisted in Central Asia for several thousand years as main options of preindustrial economic production. The relationship between people practicing different variants of these modes of subsistence is known to have been dynamic. Among the many possible explanations, we explore this dynamic by modeling mechanisms that connect ag...

L’extension de l’exploration de l’agglomération de Lattara a permis l’acquisition de nouvelles connaissances sur l’époque romaine, qui jusqu’alors faisaient défaut dans cette partie de la ville en raison de l’arasement presque systématique des niveaux récents par les travaux agricoles. Ces informations concernent tout d’abord l’évolution de l’urban...

A theoretical and methodological archaeometric framework for the study of technological change is proposed. It is exemplified with the first Roman amphorae produced in Catalonia. It is based on the identification of the designs’ technical functions properties and it is complemented by provenance studies, in order to perform a results analysis. This...