Ceramics from an urban palace in a fishing village in the north western part of the Iberian Peninsula: La Casa del Cercáu in Llanes (Asturias, Spain)

During 2020 and 2021, MSarqueo Estudio de Arqueología S.L. has been working to document and excavate in the Casa del Cercáu (declared BIC in 1991), located in Llanes (Asturias, Spain). A study of the evolution of the whole complex has been carried out from a constructive point of view, using archaeological and architectural techniques, together with the execution of archaeological surveys. Archaeological excavation brought to light an interesting ceramic assemblage that begins in the 13th century and continues until the present.

The Casa del Cercáu is an urban palace located in the village of Llanes, in the north-eastern area of the Principality of Asturias (Spain). Llanes originated from the lands granted by the king of León Alfonso IX around 1225 in the so-called territory of Aguilar. This came as a response to the founding of San Vicente de la Barquera (Cantabria) by the Castilian king Alfonso VIII. The village of Llanisca still retains its Medieval fortification, the Castle Tower, as well as much of the layout of its old wall, which forms the eastern and northern perimeter of the Casa del Cercáu.

The origin of the Cercáu is in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, although the palace reached its prominence at the end of that century and the beginning of the next. During this period, Pedro Junco de Posada y Valdés, Bishop of Salamanca, Counselor of Inquisition, and President of the Chancillería de Valladolid inherited the house. He turned it into a palacemausoleum, and was buried in his chapel in 1603.

The ceramic materials found here indicate a ceramic consumption of European taste. Despite being highly fragmented, these materials offer an important and diverse amount of information. Along with the local Asturian productions used in the kitchen and at the table, Portuguese tiles, French jugs, German stoneware, and Chinese porcelain co-existed in this palace. The heterogeneity of the material clearly shows how the Asturian trade network changed at the end of the Middle Ages and during the Modern Age, conditioned by economic and political events. The ceramic makes clear that the palace and its people actively engaged with this international network.