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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

relleno de amortización

English translation:

(post-)abandonment fill

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2012-10-18 09:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Oct 15, 2012 07:02
11 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Spanish term

relleno de amortización

Spanish to English Other Archaeology Archaeological digs
"(…) señalan agujeros de mayores dimensiones que pudieran responder a zonas de almacenaje o descarte (el *relleno de amortización* de alguno de ellos aportó abundantes cantidad de restos óseos)". Referring to archaeological excavations where carbon-14 dating was carried out on post holes found in a settlement. I thought it might refer to "amortized analysis" but it doesn't make sense in this sentence. I could find no hits with Google, in either Spanish or English.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 (post-)abandonment fill
3 supporting filler
3 backfill

Discussion

Charles Davis Oct 15, 2012:
@ Denise Thanks! I reckon you must know more about this term than any ProZ member after all the work you did. :)

You may be right that the fill referred to is not post-abandonment, and that it took place when the site was still in use. If so, presumably the fill was done by those who put new structures over the previous ones (which could fit "amortización"). However, it could be that the bones which indicate that these are "zonas de almacenaje o descarte" were covered over and mixed in with a "relleno" which occurred subsequently, by a natural process, post-abandonment. The suggestion that "amortización" amounts to "colmatación" (though I'm not sure they're invariably synonyms) would tend to point that way. But I admit I had misgivings on whether the fill was necessarily post-abandonment (hence confidence 3). Frankly I went for it mainly because it may well fit the case and is at least an established archaeological term in English.
Denise Phelps Oct 15, 2012:
@ Charles: I see you found the trail I left all over the internet in my search for this term this summer :-). I also had my conclusion confirmed in private correspondence with a Proz member who is a translator and archaeologist. Because I'm not a proz member and this question is restricted to members only, I can't vote below to agree with your answer, so I'm voting my agreement here although with the caveat that it might not be (post) abandonment - *almacenaje o descarte...de abundantes cantidades de restos oseas* suggests that the settlement was still in use.
Charles Davis Oct 15, 2012:
Hi Margarita Denise is quite right, and I know she has dealt with this term before. Here is some material that may be helpful to you. (The last one is quite lengthy but actually contains little of value apart from Denise's own contributions.)

http://grupos.emagister.com/debate/amortizar/6436-69490
http://esl.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/archaeology/403...
http://translatorscafe.com/tcterms/en-US/mobile/qtn.aspx?id=...
Denise Phelps Oct 15, 2012:
I'm not a proz member, so can't post an answer. *Amortización* refers to any process whereby an original feature changes/disappears due to a subsequent event, and has no equivalent in English, where the specific event must be used instead. Here, the event would be *fill*.
Margarita Osborn Belt (X) (asker) Oct 15, 2012:
UPDATE: I may have figured out what it means. One of the definitions the DRAE gives for "amortizar" is: "Suprimir, por considerarlos innecesarios, empleos o plazas vacantes en una institución pública o empresa privada". Therefore, perhaps "relleno de amortización" means fill to fill in or annul a hole (sorry for the repetition of the word "fill").

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

(post-)abandonment fill

The sources I've cited in the discussion seem to indicate that "amortización" refers to structures ceasing to be used for their original purpose and usually being abandoned, and sometimes covered by another structure. This is from an Spanish archaeologist:

"Amortizar se podría traducir como "anular", "abandonar" o "perder la función para la que está diseñado". Por ejemplo solemos decir que un muro, un mosaico o un edificio quedó amortizado, cuando pasó a estar cubierto por un nivel de tierra, una nueva estructura, etc. en definitiva, que dejó de estar visible en un determinado momento."
http://translatorscafe.com/tcterms/en-US/mobile/qtn.aspx?id=...

"Amortizar se emplea para definir un depósito sellado, o colmatado"
http://grupos.emagister.com/debate/amortizar/6436-69490

"Colmatado" means more or less "silted up": filled by an accumulation of wind- and/or water-borne deposits.

In the light of this and the rest of the discussions cited, I think the English archaeological term "abandonment fill" or "post-abandonment fill" may be as close as we can get:

"Notes: abandonment fill of culvert"
http://www.archaeologicalplanningconsultancy.co.uk/thornboro...

"highly plastic Stratum 8 Lens of post-abandonment fill (nature of sediments not noted) with slight to moderate plasticity"
http://books.google.es/books?id=q2zFx5GFlfsC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA...

"dinos sherd (YH 32556.4) from abandonment fill in Building I"
http://books.google.es/books?id=bqMORufXqJUC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA4...

"A single pit containing a post-abandonment fill was recorded in the base of the trench. The garden soils contained numerous finds including sherds of late/post-medieval ceramics."
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-8...

More examples of the English term here:
https://www.google.es/search?num=100&hl=es&q="abandonment fi...
Peer comment(s):
agree Sergio Campo : I think this is the right track
1 day 6 mins
Thanks very much, Sergio :)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you, Charles, and Denise! I realise now that I shouldn't have restricted my answers to pro Proz members. Thanks to everyone else for chipping in, too."
58 mins

supporting filler

Amortiguar in colloquial Spanish use often refers to the effect something has of taking the load off or reducing or cushioning the load/effect. For example in the recent flash floods here in Almeria, people talk of the necessity to amortiguar los efectos. In cars the amortiguadores are/is the suspension. Another example: a door stop is called an amortiguador de puerta, so the term has several uses. I am not an expert in architecture nor archeology, so I can't find an equivalent term for what sounds like your post holes found to contain remains, but in the context it sounds like holes filled with support material, as though they had been filled with organic material in order to cushion the load bearing posts ...?
Example sentence:

The support filler found in some of them provided abundant bone remains.

Peer comment(s):
neutral Charles Davis : It's related to "amortizar", not "amortiguar".
26 mins
Something went wrong...
1 hr

backfill

Is perhaps what I would use - archaeologists backfill a trench after excavation but may work here too.
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