Orígenes del dorado por amalgama: Aportaciones desde la orfebrería protohistórica del noroeste de la Península Ibérica

Abstract

The origins and transmission of mercury gilding remain unclear. Recently, the possibility of an independent focus of invention in the South of the Iberian Peninsula has been proposed (Perea et al. 2008). Here we present analyses by portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) of two torcs from the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula that reveal the earliest evidence for this technique in the region. The technology and style of these artefacts raise the possibility of contacts and technological transmission on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Thus, these finds call for a diversification of the explanatory models for the difussion of this technique.