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Researchers at the Prehistoric Studies and Research Seminar (SERP) of the University of Barcelona have identified the oldest-known piece made of hippopotamus ivory in the Iberian Peninsula. This finding comes from the site in B貌bila Madurell (Sant Quirze del Vall猫s, Barcelona), dating from the second quarter of the third millennium BC, during the Copper Age.

At that time, there was no hippopotamus ivory in the Mediterranean. Therefore, this object opens up new perspectives for the study of long-distance exchange networks with the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. The discovery has been in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The object was documented in 1977 during ancient excavations and is deposited in the Museu d'Hist貌ria de Sabadell. UB researchers have now identified its material (hippopotamus ivory), carried out a taxonomic and traceological study, and dated the context of the site with radiocarbon dating.

A Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) together with anatomical and taxonomic identification, allowed the identification of the object as a first lower incisor of Hippopotamus amphibius. This object is just over 10 cm long with a maximum width of 13.2 mm and weighing 11 g. It has a polished surface and small patches of red pigment.

Researchers have proposed the piece may be some kind of stylized human figurine or idol. However, other possibilities are equally plausible, and it could be an object linked to textile activity, perhaps a beater. This hypothesis is related to the presence of two spindle whorls in the same structure in which it appeared and to the stains of red pigment, made of a mixture of iron oxyhydroxides and an organic binder, such as animal fat.

"The finding opens the door to consider possible long-distance exchange networks and to consider the role of this and other exotic materials in the growing social complexity of the Iberian Peninsula during the Chalcolithic, also known as the Copper Age.

"These contacts have already been demonstrated by the arrival and exploitation of African and Asian elephant ivory in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula following the North African route. However, hippopotamus ivory is rarer and is often dated to later stages," say the researchers.

"This object therefore opens the door to consider other distribution routes centered on the north-western Mediterranean, such as those that had operated during the Catalan Middle Neolithic Sepulcres de Fossa (pit graves) culture," they add.