Más allá de la tipología. Herramientas para un enfoque funcional de la cerámica protohistórica

The need to overcome traditional typologies has become evident in the last few years due to the rising of new archaeological issues that require analyzing pottery as a tool. The study of function in pottery assemblages, however, must solve the problem regarding the relationship between specific forms, sizes, modules and precise functions; and evaluate the possibility of determining such functions through archaeological studies. Until now, the lack of a systematic method and guidelines to apply it have been the main obstacles. The aim of this paper is to respond to this challenge by proposing a methodological sequence that implies a global approach to the function of protohistorical pottery, offering a high interpretative potential. Far from being a theoretical exercise, this proposal includes a scheme of application on different pottery assemblages from Castro de Capote (Higuera la Real, Badajoz), as well as a perspective of the implication of this kind of analysis in archaeological research.