Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic 9781407310152, 9781407339931

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
CONTENTS
PREFACE
FUNERARY PRACTICES IN CANTABRIAN SPAIN (9000-3000 CAL BC)
FROM PITS TO MEGALITHS: NEOLITHIC BURIALS IN THE INTERIOR OF IBERIA
FUNERARY PRACTICES DURING THE EARLY-MIDDLE NEOLITHIC IN NORTH-EAST IBERIA
MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC FUNERARY PRACTICES IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF SPAIN
FUNERARY PRACTICES AND DEMOGRAPHY FROM THE MESOLITHIC TO THE COPPER AGE IN SOUTHERN SPAIN
MORTUARY ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MUGE SHELL MIDDENS
ALGAR DO BOM SANTO: A MIDDLE NEOLITHIC NECROPOLIS IN PORTUGUESE ESTREMADURA
THE SADO SHELL MIDDENS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND PALEODIETARY DEPICTION
DITCHES, PITS AND HYPOGEA: NEW DATA AND NEW PROBLEMS IN SOUTH PORTUGAL LATE NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC PRACTICES
EARLY NEOLITHIC FUNERARY PRACTICES IN CASTELO BELINHO’S VILLAGE (WESTERN ALGARVE, PORTUGAL)

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BAR S2417 2012 Gibaja, Carvalho & Chambon (Eds)

Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Edited by

Juan F. Gibaja António F. Carvalho Philippe Chambon

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula

B A R

BAR International Series 2417 2012

Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Edited by

Juan F. Gibaja António F. Carvalho Philippe Chambon

BAR International Series 2417 2012

ISBN 9781407310152 paperback ISBN 9781407339931 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407310152 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

CONTENTS

Funerary practices in the western mediterranean from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic: the Iberian Peninsula. Preface ........................................................................................................................................ 1 JUAN F. GIBAJA, ANTÓNIO FAUSTINO CARVALHO AND PHILIPPE CHAMBON Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC)........................................................................................ 7 PABLO ARIAS From pits to megaliths: Neolithic burials in the interior of Iberia................................................................................ 21 MANUEL A. ROJO-GUERRA AND RAFAEL GARRIDO-PENA Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia................................................................... 29 JUAN F. GIBAJA, MARIA EULÀLIA SUBIRÀ, XAVIER TERRADAS, EVA FERNÁNDEZ AND JORDI RUÍZ Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices in the central mediterranean region of Spain.......................................... 41 ORETO GARCÍA PUCHOL, J. EMILI AURA AND SARAH B. MCCLURE Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain................................. 51 MARTA DÍAZ-ZORITA, MANUEL ELEAZAR COSTA AND LEONARDO GARCÍA SANJUAN Mortuary archaeology of the Muge shell middens ...................................................................................................... 67 MARY JACKES AND DAVID LUBELL Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura....................................................... 77 ANTÓNIO FAUSTINO CARVALHO, DAVID GONÇALVES, RAQUEL GRANJA AND FIONA PETCHEY The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction........................................................................... 91 CLÁUDIA UMBELINO AND EUGÉNIA CUNHA Ditches, pits and hypogea: new data and new problems in south Portugal Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic practices.................................................................................................................................................... 103 ANTÓNIO CARLOS VALERA Early Neolithic funerary practices in Castelo Belinho’s village (western Algarve, Portugal).................................... 113 MÁRIO VARELA GOMES

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FUNERARY PRACTICES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN FROM THE MESOLITHIC TO THE CHALCOLITHIC: THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. PREFACE Juan F. GIBAJA,a António Faustino CARVALHOb and Philippe CHAMBONc a. CSIC–IMF. Departamento de Arqueología y Antropología. Investigador contratado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Subprograma Ramón y Cajal. C/Egipciàques, 15. 08001 Barcelona, Spain ([email protected], terradas@ imf.csic.es). b. Universidade do Algarve, FCHS, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-117 Faro, Portugal ([email protected]). c. CNRS-UMR 7041, Ethnologie Préhistorique. Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie. 21 allée de l’Université. F-92023 Nanterre cedex, France ([email protected]).

1. Introduction

to the Chalcolithic in the Western Mediterranean, more specifically, in this first volume, on modern day Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. A second volume will focus on the same periods in Southern France and the Italian Peninsula.

Funerary practices have always attracted archaeologists and anthropologists. To approach primary archaeological contexts in which anthropic modifications have been scarce or inexistent for hundreds or thousands of years is a dream come true. In that sense, such contexts are a “theoretically” unchanged archaeological reality.

This state of the question does not aim at a more or less detailed description of the funerary contexts and their contents, such as funerary architecture, formal disposal of the dead, or grave goods typology. In spite of the relevance of such research topics, instead we asked the authors to present an insight to current research and what is being done to answer various questions, such as: when the burials took place, how the individuals died, what relations may have existed with neighbouring or distant communities, what relations were established with “habitation” sites, what social organization existed, what was the role of individuals in their societies, what kind of hierarchies existed, or what inferences can be made about ideologies.

Archaeologists have in front of their eyes not the residues— that is, the refuse left behind by the daily activities of a given community (food processing, handicraft works, building of houses)—but the individuals, and the tools and ornaments deposited next to them as result of a set of symbolic and ideological activities related to social reproduction. Container and content of graves were the corner stone upon which numerous questions related to the group’s social and economic organization were based. Synchronic and diachronic inferences after estimating the labour and time expended on constructing the tomb, as well as the analysis of the associated grave goods, have been the means with which conclusions about social inequality, access to prestige items, individual roles, etc., were reached.

Obviously, many problems still remain to be solved for multiple reasons: a) many sites were excavated a long time ago, namely during the late 19th century or early 20th century, and their records have been lost; b) many of the analyses being carried out today have only recently come available to archaeologists (it is worth recalling that radiocarbon dating was only introduced in archaeological research in the 1960s or that ancient DNA analysis was unthinkable until very recently); c) many of these forms of analysis are not accessible to archaeologists due to lack of funding; and d) research has traditionally focused on the formal study of funerary architecture and the typological classification of grave goods.

However, we are faced by the remains of some to the actors of those communities and of our own History. Anthropological studies have witnessed a major leap forward in this regard. Classic analyses of sex and age, pathologies, usually dental, etc., are now completed by a multiplicity of work aiming at identifying how people died, how they fed themselves, what parental relations they established, how they were buried, what degree of mobility they possessed, and so on.

In Iberia, for example, most Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary structures have been found in two areas: the Muge Mesolithic shell middens and the burial caves in central Portugal, and the graves and necropolises in northeast Spain. In all these cases most of the material was recovered in the late 19th / early 20th centuries; we have thus only short accounts of stratigraphies, grave goods and human remains, sometimes published in local journals or as brief references in broader syntheses. Photographs are also scarce and often materials were lost or separated from their original field reference.

Funerary practices tell us about people’s attitudes to death. In M. Mauss’s words, the death of an individual is a total social fact. To study these practices is to approach society, its organization and, probably, its hierarchy, but also allows insights—this may be the most touching aspect of Prehistory studies— to the expression of feelings. With this book we intend to offer a state of the question on the study of funerary practices from the Mesolithic

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic In recent years, very notable methodological advances have taken place in several disciplines, especially in the fields of bioanthropology, funerary taphonomy, chemistry of human bones, provenance studies of raw materials used in architecture and grave goods, etc. But also new burials have been discovered and previously known sites are now being re-excavated with modern, updated methodologies of recovery and preservation. The most paradigmatic case is found in Portugal, where systematic excavations are taking place in several of the Sado and Muge shell middens. Preliminary results are already available (Bicho et al. 2010; Diniz, 2010).

on the importance of the first monumental megalithic structures from the 4th millennium onwards. As in other Spanish regions, chronologies are based on a small number of absolute dates. Their work also presents interpretations focusing on questions of social organization and symbols. The chapter that one of the present authors contributes to (J.F. Gibaja, M.E. Subirà, X. Terradas, E. Fernández and J. Ruíz) is centred especially on the funerary practices documented in Northeast Iberia during the Early and Middle Neolithic, that is, from the mid-6th millennium to the early 4th millennium. Solid chronological attributions of human remains to the Mesolithic are completely absent in the region. The same is true about the Early Neolithic, given the scarcity of graves and the lack of direct dating of human remains. A major change occurs from the mid-5th millennium onwards, when farming communities start to bury their dead in different types of sites. “Cultura de los sepulcros de fosa” (“pit grave culture”) derives precisely from the importance and high number of known graves in the region (more than 600). Our work has centred on its archaeological richness and on- going new studies. However, we acknowledge serious deficiencies to be overcome in the near future, such as, among others, the determination of a large set of radiocarbon dates to shed light on the beginnings of this culture, global duration, and specific chronologies of each necropolis, etc.

However, a long path still lies ahead. In this sense, this book—which results from a joint effort of Spanish and Portuguese research projects; respectively: “Approach to the earliest farming communities of Northeast Iberia through their funerary practices” (directed by J.F. Gibaja) and “Bom Santo Cave and the Neolithic societies of Portuguese Estremadura, 6th-4th millennia BC” (directed by A.F. Carvalho)—intends to present to the scientific community the state of the art on the research about Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic funerary practices in several regions of Iberia, as well as the methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks being employed, and future perspectives. 2. Contributions to the volume 2.1. Spain

The first part of the paper by O. García, J.E. Aura and S.B. McClure constitutes a magnificent and detailed synthesis on funerary contexts from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the Valencia region. The importance of burial contexts attributed to the last hunter-gatherers of the Mediterranean area should be emphasized. Sites such as El Collado or Mas Nou are relevant examples of their funerary practices. We underline “relevant” since this is the only area in Mediterranean Iberia where numerous Mesolithic burials have been documented. This fact contrasts with the scarcity of human remains attributed to the first farming groups in the same region, as these only become numerous in cave sites dated to the later phases of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Some of the latter sites are presently being restudied with new analytic procedures.

As an introduction to this volume, it is important to briefly present the contributions it includes. In the first place, P. Arias starts his paper by presenting an interesting and suggestive reflection: the increasing number of burials documented in the 4th millennium and the abandonment of caves as inhumation sites must be related to the transition to the Neolithic in Cantabria. Alongside Valencia and Portugal, the Cantabrian coast is one of the Iberian territories where Mesolithic burials are abundant. During the first half of the 5th millennium, funerary practices seem to be related to hunter-gatherer societies in transition to farming ways of life. These societies must have played a relevant role in the mentioned process. The first real Neolithic funerary manifestations do not occur before the second half of the 5th millennium; these are represented from that time on by megalithic structures (1250 recorded so far) and inhumations in caves (around 360).

M. Díaz-Zorita, M. Costa and L. García Sanjuan present an exceptional work on funerary practices from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in the regions of Extremadura and Andalusia in southern Spain. It is evident throughout this paper that an enormous amount of work is taking place in sites dated to those periods, but there also are deficiencies resulting from lack of information about older excavations and the absence of several types of analysis, such as the small number of available radiocarbon dates (García Sanjuan et al. 2011). In any case, it is highly suggestive that the development and characteristics are so heterogeneous, even in the broader context of the Iberian Peninsula. Therefore, while megalithic manifestations

M. Rojo and R. Garrido’s chapter constitutes a very relevant contribution because the Iberian hinterland was until recently an area where Neolithic evidence was scarce and fragmented. These authors’ work in the region of Soria—specifically in the Ambrona valley—in the last decade has provided a new perspective on the origins of the Neolithic in the Meseta. Regarding funerary contexts, the authors propose interesting interpretations about the few pit burials scattered across the region and 2

Preface are documented from the late 5th millennium onwards in Andalusia (there is currently a total number of 1500 megalithic monuments); during the same time period burials were being made in pits or cists (stone boxes) in Northeast Iberia, implying much less investment in time and labour (Gibaja et al., this volume). The first passage graves are dated to the first half of the 4th millennium in Northeast Iberia, and were in use until the second half of the following millennium. Clearly, these differences make us reflect on the origin of megalithism, as well as on these people’s socioeconomic organization and on the reflection of social differences in the context of symbolic practices.

and—most importantly—on trace elements and isotope analyses. These latter analyses point to very diversified dietary patterns, apparently contradicting Arnaud’s (1989) settlement system model, particularly as regards site functions and a presumed bipolar mobility between lower and upper sections of the Sado River. Isotopic and trace element results suggest instead the valley’s occupation by different Mesolithic populations. This case study clearly urges the need to conciliate classic archaeological and zooarchaeological data with these types of analyses, at least in the Sado Valley. One of the most interesting Neolithic necropolises in Portugal is Castelo Belinho. The author of the excavations, M.V. Gomes, had already published its topography in several instances, including plans of rectangular houses and numerous negative structures interpreted as ritual or storage facilities (e.g. Gomes 2010). According to M.V. Gomes, this was a fully Neolithic society in economic terms. However, the most relevant features are perhaps the fourteen burial pits discovered and the results of their systematic radiocarbon dating. Both types of evidence indicate that individual burial was the rule during a long time period of 700 years during which the site—or at least the necropolis—was in use (c. 4500–3800 cal BC). These individual burials seem therefore to be the immediate chronological antecedent of the collective funerary practices emerging with the onset of South- Central Portugal megalithism (c. 3600–3200 cal BC, according to Boaventura 2011a), that is in the Middle Neolithic.

2.2. Portugal With very few exceptions (Samouqueira, Vale Boi and Fiais), most Portuguese Mesolithic burial sites are located in the Muge area (Tagus valley) or in the lower section of the Sado River. According to present estimates (see Carvalho 2009 for a general synthesis), these complexes of sites revealed around 300 and 120 individuals, respectively, constituting therefore very relevant anthropological collections for the study of ancient European populations. Given their obvious importance, it is no surprise that the first anthropological studies were published immediately after the discovery of the Muge sites, during the second half of the 19th century, by F.A. Pereira da Costa and F. Paula e Oliveira. At Muge, modern approaches to human remains started with the work by M. Jackes, D. Lubell and colleagues in the 1980s, whose research has focused, among many other aspects, on isotopic analysis and dental evidence for diet, pathologies or palaeodemography. Lubell et al.’s (1994) work was even a turning point on the MesolithicNeolithic transition research in Portugal by introducing in the discussion systematic radiocarbon dating and isotope analysis of human remains. Their contribution to this volume is a review of funerary practices recorded at Moita do Sebastião, Cabeço da Arruda and Cabeço da Amoreira. According to the authors, these sites may have been chosen for necropolises due to their topographic prominence in the Muge valley, a fact that in turn allowed better preservation conditions of human remains. Available photographs, field drawings and records from the 19th and early / middle 20th century excavations permitted the authors to reconstruct patterns on body postures, orientations and associated grave goods (which seem to be scarce or even completely absent). M. Jackes and D. Lubell also conclude that at least Moita do Sebastião and Cabeço da Arruda may have been initially sites devoted to burials; moreover, “it seems unlikely that people would have actually been living at the focal points of the cabeços, surrounded by multiple shallow graves, each marked by an eroding mound” in their initial use. Year-round occupations may have taken place only subsequently.

Difficulties arise when it comes to characterizing the funerary practices that were in use after the Early Neolithic. In effect, caves, hypogea, cists and megalithic tombs were reused several times in Prehistory, a fact that resulted in the mixing of sediments and funerary deposits. Also, in Portugal most lack bone preservation conditions and/or adequate stratigraphic and burial records obtained during excavation. The detection and study of periods of use and the corresponding funerary practices is therefore restricted to a few exceptional sites. We can only reasonably assume the tholoi, all of which may have been built during the 3rd millennium, are representative of Chalcolithic funerary architecture and burial practices whenever the mentioned limitations are absent. In most cases we can only typify these sites as collective necropolises, as a consequence of the mentioned difficulties. Thus modern analyses of human remains from megalithic tombs are scarce: the cases of Santa Margarida 2 (Cunha et al. 2003) or Anta da Horta (Oliveira 2006) passage graves, located in the important megalithic region of Alentejo, constitute significant exceptions. Worth particular mention is the recent work by Boaventura (e.g. 2011a, 2011b) based on the megalithic tombs of the Lisbon region. This author goes beyond traditional approaches to the study of Portuguese megalithism by focusing his research also on gender archaeology, systematic radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis

C. Umbelino and E. Cunha present a synthesis on the Sado shell middens, focusing on funerary structures and practices, a review of the main anthropological data, 3

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic References

of human remains in order to discuss aspects of social organization, mobility and evolution within a solid chronologic framework.

Arnaud, J.M. 1989. The Mesolithic communities of the Sado valley, Portugal, in their ecological setting, in C. Bonsall (ed.), The Mesolithic in Europe. Third International Symposium, 614–631. Edinburgh, John Donald. Bicho, N.F, Pereira, T.; Cascalheira, J.; Marreiros, J.; Pereira, V.; Jesus, L.; Gonçalves, C. 2010. Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge: resultados dos trabalhos de 2008 e 2009, in J.F. Gibaja and A.F. Carvalho (eds.), Os últimos caçadores-recolectores e as primeiras comunidades produtoras do sul da Península Ibérica e do norte de Marrocos, 11–22. Faro, Universidade do Algarve. Boaventura, R. 2011a. Chronology of megalithism in South-Central Portugal. Menga. Revista de Prehistoria de Andalucía. 1, p. 159–190. Boaventura, R. 2011b. Bodies in motion. Implications of gender in long-distance exchange between the Lisbon and Alentejo regions of Portugal in the Late Neolithic, in K.T. Lillios (ed.) Comparative archaeologies. The American Southwest (AD 9001600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000.1500 BC), 209–220. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Cunha, E., Silva, A.M.; Miranda, M. 2003. Caracterização e estudo dos materiais antropológicos provenientes da Anta 3 de Santa Margarida, in V.S. Gonçalves, STAM-3, a Anta 3 da Herdade de Santa Margarida (Reguengos de Monsaraz), 384–421. Lisboa, IPA. Diniz, M. 2010. O concheiro mesolítico do Cabeço das Amoreiras (S. Romão do Sado, Alcácer do Sal): um (outro) paradigma perdido?, in J.F. Gibaja and A.F. Carvalho (eds.), Os últimos caçadores-recolectores e as primeiras comunidades produtoras do sul da Península Ibérica e do norte de Marrocos, 49–62. Faro, Universidade do Algarve. García Sanjuán, L., Wheatley, D.W., Costa Caramé, M. E. 2011. The numerical chronology of the megalithic phenomenon in southern Spain: progress and problems, in L. García Sanjuán, C. Scarre and D.W. Wheatley (eds), Exploring time and matter in prehistoric monuments: absolute chronology and rare rocks in European Megaliths, 121-157. Sevilla, Junta de Andalucía. Gomes, M.V. 2010. Castelo Belinho (Algarve): a ritualização funerária em meados do V milénio AC, in J.F. Gibaja and A.F. Carvalho (eds.), Os últimos caçadores-recolectores e as primeiras comunidades produtoras do sul da Península Ibérica e do norte de Marrocos, 69–80. Faro, Universidade do Algarve. Oliveira, J. 2006. Património arqueológico da Coudelaria de Alter e as primeiras comunidades agropastoris. Lisbon, Colibri. Silva, A.M. 2003. Portuguese populations of late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods exhumed from collective burials: an overview. Anthropologie. 41:1-2, p. 55–64. Valera, A.C. 2009. Cosmological bonds and settlement aggregation processes during late Neolithic and Copper Age in South Portugal, in T.L. Thurston and R.B. Salisbury (eds.), Reimagining regional analyses:

Alongside megalithic tombs, burial caves have been the most intensively-studied type of Neolithic and Chalcolithic funerary contexts in Portugal. In spite of the abovementioned limitations, some sites currently under study are providing very relevant and promising information on Neolithic burial practices and populations (for a synthesis of previous work, see Silva 2003). This is clearly the case of the Bom Santo Cave. A.F. Carvalho, D. Gonçalves, R. Granja and F. Petchey present the state of the research on the site, focusing mainly on bioanthropology, funerary practices—the study of which, as in other cave sites, faces an a priori difficulty: to reconstruct original deposals of the dead from disturbed contexts due to recurrent cave reuse and postdepositional disturbances—and chemical analyses (radiocarbon dates and palaeodiet reconstitution). Other forms of current analyses presently being carried out on the human remains from Bom Santo are also listed, such as strontium and oxygen analysis for evaluation of mobility indexes, and ancient DNA recovery. Recently obtained data, mostly from salvage archaeology, lie at the foundations of an “empirical revolution” (as A.C. Valera puts it) on Neolithic and Chalcolithic funerary practices in the Alentejo region of South Portugal. In effect, this author notes the striking differences between the Évora passage graves and tholoi, to the north, and the recent discoveries of numerous pit graves, hypogea and depositions inside ditches in the Beja region, to the south, showing a surprising “megalithic” diversity in the hinterland of the region. Besides primary and secondary depositions, cremation secondary depositions have also been recorded. Following previous work on the subject (e.g. 2009), A.C. Valera concludes with a fresh and far reaching proposal: that the understanding of this diversity is connected to a “megalithic ideology”, that is, long term specific conceptions of cosmos and ontology characteristic of the Neolithic period—but reaching its climax during the earliest phases of the Chalcolithic— of which the forementioned diversity of funerary practices and rituals are a part. The interpretation of other regional Neolithic and Chalcolithic records, including “domestic” and “funerary” architectures, burial practices or rock art, according to this new theoretical approach, will surely shed new light on the study of Later Prehistory ideologies. Acknowledgements The editors wish to thank all researchers contributing to this volume, hoping that their effort may be rewarded with the publication of their work. We also acknowledge Dr. Millán Mozota that had done all the layout work.

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Preface the Archaeology of spatial and social dynamics, 234– 265. Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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FUNERARY PRACTICES IN CANTABRIAN SPAIN (9000-3000 CAL BC) Pablo ARIASa a. Universidad de Cantabria-Instituto de Prehistoria (IIIPC), Av. de los Castros s/n. 39005 Santander, Spain ([email protected]) Abstract: Cantabrian Spain has provided a high density of prehistoric funerary sites and a very continuous record since the Azilian to the Bronze Age. Moreover, some contexts are particularly well preserved and many of them have been carefully recorded. Two main stages can be distinguished in the evolution of the funerary realm. The first one corresponds to the hunter-gatherers, characterised by individual inhumation in pits, although some problematic evidence of alternative rites can also be envisaged. A dramatic increase in the density of funerary documents during the sixth millennium cal BC suggests that the funerary activity was playing a major role in the social changes related to the transition to the Neolithic. This is also suggested by the apparently sharp abandonment of the concentration of burials in caves that occurred in the early fifth millennium cal BC. The second major stage is defined by collective burials, most of them in megalithic monuments and sepulchral caves, but also in copper mines, which appear to be predominant during the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and most of the Bronze Age (ca. 4500-2000 cal BC). Keywords: Burials, Azilian, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Megaliths, Sepulchral caves, Ritual. 1. Introduction

(the Meseta) and the Ebro valley by a steep mountain chain,the Cantabrian range, running parallel to the coast and reaching in the highest sectors heights above 2500m. To the north of this natural divide, the oceanic air masses, full of humidity, and the sea as a regulator of temperature, produce a temperate, humid climate with short summers and mild winters. Currently, the mean annual values for precipitations are over 1000mm and for temperatures 18-22° in summer, and about 8-10° in winter. In association with this environment, a dense vegetation cover has developed since the beginning of the Holocene (see, for instance, Muñoz, Ramil & Gómez Orellana 2004), contrasting with the dryer and less forested environmental

The Cantabrian region is a narrow strip, 400km long and 35 to 60km wide in the northern coast of Spain. It includes territory belonging to the administrative divisions of Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country (Biscay and Guipúzcoa) and some Atlantic valleys of the southern provinces of León, Burgos, Álava and Navarre. Cantabrian Spain is a very well-defined natural region, with clear boundaries and a strong environmental contrast with the surrounding regions. Moreover, it might be defined as an Atlantic island in the Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula. The region is clearly separated from the Spanish central plateau

Figure 1. Geographical distribution of the Mesolithic burials in the Cantabria region and surrounding areas.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic conditions to the south of the Cordillera. This consists of temperate woodlands, with mixed oak woods at low altitudes and beech woods in mountain areas, accompanied by a wide range of trees and shrubs.

Northern Spain is very rich in Mesolithic funerary evidence. As a matter of fact, it has provided most of the burials in the Peninsula outside the Portuguese cemeteries of the lower Tagus and Sado valleys (Arias & Álvarez Fernández 2004, Arias et al. 2009). So far Mesolithic graves have been documented in 12 sites, most of them in eastern Asturias, although some examples have also been found in the central (Cantabria) and eastern section (Basque Country) of the region (fig. 1).

Cantabrian Spain presents a rich and long tradition of archaeological research, starting with the discovery of Altamira and other Palaeolithic sites in the 1870s, and including some periods of brilliant and top-quality investigations, such as the 1910s and the last quarter of the twentieth century. However, the research has focused in the spectacular Upper Palaeolithic sites, with their impressive stratigraphies and their magnificent rock art. Research on late Prehistory has been less intense and it has rarely achieved the high standard of the Palaeolithic (the only exception might be the Asturian Mesolithic). Moreover, the geographical distribution of the research has been clearly uneven, with much more interest in later Prehistory in some areas such as the Basque country, whereas in others (especially in Cantabria) no serious investigations have been attempted before the 1980s. 2. The Mesolithic evidence (9000-5000 cal BC)

Figure 3. Human mandible in the shell midden of La Poza l’Egua (Asturias). Photo: P. Arias. For the beginning of the period, the most relevant document is the Azilian grave of Los Azules (Asturias), dated to the first half of the ninth millennium cal BC. It was an individual inhumation in an elongated pit opened in the entrance of a cave that was extensively occupied during the period, although it is not clear whether there was a settlement at the time of the burial. The skeleton of an adult male was lying in dorsal decubitus position (fig. 2), associated to several items that might be considered an offering: some Azilian painted cobbles, ochre, a skull of badger (Meles meles), an accumulation of not perforated shells of Modiolus barbatus with remains of ochre inside, and some artifacts -harpoons, endscrapers, burins-, as well as some rests of different phases leading to the fabrication of such artifacts (FernándezTresguerres 1976, 1980). The hypothesis that the deceased had been symbolically furnished with a daily tool kit, rough material, and tools that made possible the making of new tools (as Fernández-Tresguerres has suggested) seems very likely. The early stages of postazilian Mesolithic are represented by two interesting contexts, located in both edges of the region: Tito Bustillo (Asturias) and Jaizkibel (J3) (Guipúzcoa). The former, dated to the mid eighth millennium cal BC (Beta197042: 8470 ± 50; 7590-7470 cal BC) is not a burial in the etymological sense of the word, but the result of the deposition of a corpse on the floor of a cave, in an area that, at that time, was quite apart from the entrance. The body was in a flexed position lying on the left. Some remains of red colorant were also found.

Figure 2. Azilian burial of Los Azules (Asturias) (from Fernández-Tresguerres 1980).

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Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) The grave of J3, dated around 7000 cal BC (GrNA-23733: 8300 ± 50 BP; 7150-6800 cal BC) (Iriarte et al. 2005, 2010) appeared in a shell midden in a sandstone rockshelter, close to the coast. The acidity of the soil, partially compensated by the shells, explains the poor preservation of the human remains. Yet M.J. Iriarte and her team were able to document the burial of an adult male, lying on his right, in a flexed position. No grave offering was detected.

Figure 5. Los Canes (Asturias). Burial III. Photo: P. Arias. they come from destroyed graves. However, it is likely that they can be related with other kinds of funerary treatment (secondary burial, open-air decomposition of the corpses, discarnation), which appear to be relatively frequent in Europe at that time (Pariat 2007). The most relevant funerary site for northern Iberia late Mesolithic is Los Canes, a cave located in an inland mountain setting. In the small entrance of this cave three very well-preserved burials dating to the sixth millennium cal BC have been found (Arias & Garralda 1996) (fig. 4). However, it appears that these graves are just the last stage of a long period of funerary activity in this place, since they cut previous Mesolithic structures (possibly earlier burials) and mid-seventh millennium cal BC dates have been obtained for human bones (some of them corresponding to very young children). Moreover, evidence of a successive use of the graves has been found in structure II, where remains of an earlier skeleton appeared.

Figure 4. Los Canes (Asturias). Location of the Mesolithic burials. Many of the funerary evidences of the Cantabrian Mesolithic are associated to the Asturian, the coastal facies spread in Eastern Asturias and Western Cantabria. The best-preserved one was excavated in the 1920s in the Molino de Gasparín rockshelter (Carballo 1926). It was also an individual inhumation, possibly in a ditch dug in a settlement site, and covered by a small mound. The corpse rested in dorsal decubitus, and, according to Carballo, was associated to a red deer tibia and three Asturian picks. That might be corroborated by the fact that one of the picks was still sharp, when most of those tools are always extremely worn out. However, apart from another possible dismantled grave in the Colomba cave (Arias et al. 2007), the Asturian evidence consists in isolated bones in shell midden deposits, as have been found in the caves of Cuartamentero, Balmori, Mazaculos and La Poza l’Egua (fig. 3), as well as in the inland cave of Arangas, not far from the former coastal sites. Obviously, we cannot completely discard the possibility that

All the documented graves at Los Canes were individual burials in elongated pits. The corpses of structures I and III and possibly also the earlier individual of structure II where lying on their backs, with their legs forcedly bent, so their feet soles were plain on the floor and their knees in a much higher position than the rest of the body (fig. 5). The best-

9

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic preserved individual of burial II was slightly turned to his left shoulder, but his position was quite similar. However, this difference might also be related to a particularity of this burial. Whereas the Archaeo- tanatological analysis demonstrates that the bodies of burials I and III have decomposed in a completely filled space, structure II may have been a closed but hollow space. The existence of an important variability in the abundance and variety of funerary offerings must be highlighted. Whereas the adult male of burial III was associated to no observable item, and the old woman of burial I just to a red deer blade bone and three pendants, the main skeleton of grave II (a male youngster) presented one of the most complex funerary ensembles in Mesolithic Europe (fig. 6). It included two forehead bones of female ibex, a red deer antler bâton percé, a very long pointed bone, a picked cobble (possible a rough representation of a human head), and a long cobble with traces of ochre, as well as many pendants (most of them on Trivia sp. shells). The latter were spread around the back of the head and trunks of the skeleton, what might suggest that they were sewn to a dress, perhaps something like a cloak. A smaller concentration of pendants found in the sector where the head of the earlier individual appears to have been suggest that this person (an adult of indeterminate sex) was also wearing personal adornments. It is also likely that the abnormal concentration of shells of the edible land snail Cepaea nemoralis in the filling of burial I might be related to funerary practices. Land snails were also frequent in the late seventh millennium burial of La Paré de Nogales, a rockshelter near Los Canes where a poorly preserved burial, in lateral flexed position, was found (Rodríguez Otero 1992).

Figure 6. Los Canes (Asturias). Burial II. P. Arias. evidence of funerary contexts which do not involve the opening of pits. That is particularly clear at La BrañaArintero (León), a cave site located in the southern slope of the Cantabrian range (Vidal & Prada 2010). The corpses of two adult males were laid on the floor and no evidence has been found of any covering above them. However, in both cases a secluded place was chosen for the funerary deposit. The skeletons were probably laid in flexed position, and one of them was associated to 24 perforated red deer canines, and the other one presented some rests of ochre. At Aizpea (Navarre), a rockshelter in the Western Pyrenees, the body of a woman was laid on the floor in lateral flexed position, and then it was covered by a small stone mound (Barandiarán & Cava 2001). The reader has probably observed that many Mesolithic burial sites in Cantabrian Spain are located in caves and rockshelters that present evidence of settlement. However, in no case has it been demonstrated that the graves were opened while the site was occupied. Moreover, there is some evidence that suggests some kind of temporal or spatial separation between funerary and living areas. At Los Canes, a cave that was probably a settlement from the Solutrean to the early Mesolithic, there is no evidence of domestic activity during the sixth millennium cal BC, when the whole area of the cave entrance was occupied by funerary structures. In other sites, such as Los Azules, Colomba, El Truchiro and La Poza l’Egua, the graves were opened in parts of the cave that at that time were already nearly filled up with sediments. Therefore, it is most probable that the activity areas, if coeval with the burials, had moved to other sectors of the settlement, in most cases in the outer rockshelter.

A particularly interesting issue is the indirect evidence of infant burials provided by at least two seventh millennium individuals. A big part of the skeleton of one of them was found on the upper part of the filling of burial III (apparently the opening of the pit removed an early child burial), associated to a concentration of coeval faunal bones, including red deer (Cervus elaphus), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). This suggests that, as in the contemporaneous cemeteries of the lower Tagus, in Cantabrian Spain funerary treatment of children was similar to adults’. Most interesting details on late Mesolithic funerary practices have been provided by a recently excavated site, the cave of El Truchiro, in Cantabria (Armendariz, Arias & Ontañón in press). In this cave, a shallow pit was open in a narrow lowceiling gallery. In its bottom, remains of a six-millennium cal BC juvenile individual lying on the side, with flexedlegs and a probable funerary deposit including flint cores and nodules and perforated shells of cockle (Cerastoderma sp.) and red deer canines, was found. It should also be highlighted that carbonized remains of a wooden structure (probably oak bark) were found under the skeleton.

One of the clearest regularities is the predominance of individual funerary deposits. In fact, there is no clear evidence of multiple or even double burials, since the only example of the presence of two individuals in the same burial (Canes II) seems to be better explained as the result of the reopening of a grave. Moreover, this suggests the possibility of some kind of mark that permitted the recognition of a tomb, or at least a memory of where the burials were. Some variability in the sepulchral morphology has been detected. Whereas most graves were inhumations in pits filled with sediments, there is one

Two important sites sixth millennium cal BC sites located in the surroundings of the Cantabrian region provide new 10

Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) case of a hollow sepulchre (Canes II) and two sites where the corpses were not strictly buried, but just laid on the floor, in secluded parts of caves (Tito Bustillo, La BrañaArintero). El Truchiro has provided additional information on the use of wooden structures inside the burials. The causes of the presence of isolated human bones in Asturian shell middens remain unresolved, but it might also be an evidence of the existence of alternative funerary practices, at least in the Western part of the Cantabrian Mesolithic. The positions of the bodies are quite regular. The skeletons were usually in lateral flexed position, although there are some cases of dorsal decubitus. In several cases, they are associated to probable funerary offering, consisting in daily use artifacts (occasionally never used) and faunal remains, probably meat offerings, or remnants of funerary meals. However, one of the most frequent types of items (beads on marine shells and other materials) should be interpreted as related to the personal ornaments worn by the deceased person, either directly (necklaces, bracelets, hair ornaments…) or attached to the clothes or a shroud. Red ochre, one the classical features of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic burials, has seldom been documented..

Figure 7. Diachronic evolution in the density of huntergatherers’ funerary sites in the Iberian Peninsula. research, nor to demographic factors. The best explanation seems to be a change in the funerary behaviour of the Cantabrian foragers, which tended to concentrate the burials in the settlements or their surroundings. Although more research is required to explain this fact, a common feature of European Mesolithic (Grünberg 2000), some traits of late hunter-gatherer societies, such as a lower mobility, or a tendency to reinforce territorial behaviour (see Arias & Fano 2005 for the Eastern Asturias case), should be considered.

The seventh millennium cal BC remains from Los Canes, as well as the possible Azilian burial from La Paloma cave, in Asturias (Hernández-Pacheco 1923), and a late seventh millennium cal BC burial recently documented at Linatzeta, in Guipúzcoa (Tapia et al 2008), raise an interesting issue: whether small children were included in the “normal” funerary practices during the Mesolithic. As we have highlighted, in the Iberian Peninsula there is a significant increase in the indexes of children burials in the Late Mesolithic (Arias & Álvarez Fernández 2004).

3. Change and variability: The fifth millennium cal BC The fifth millennium cal BC is a most important period of change in the Prehistory of the Cantabrian region. According to current information, it is then when the transition to the Neolithic took place. Although the general outline has been reasonably established (the chronology of the earliest introduction of domestic species, the important role played by the local Mesolithic population) (Arias 2007), many important aspects are still poorly understood. One of them is the funerary behaviour, particularly during the transition phase itself. No burial has been recorded for the first half of the fifth millennium cal BC, the only information related to the funerary realm coming from three caves where human bones dated to this time been recovered: Los Canes, Lumentxa and El Portillo del Arenal.

In fact, the distributions of age at death estimated for the Portuguese cemeteries of Moita do Sebastião and Cabeço da Arruda (Jackes, Meiklejohn 2004), while exhibiting underrepresentation of infants, might approach the demographic structure of those populations, whereas in previous times (Palaeolithic and Early and Middle Mesolithic) young children are seldom found, and are undoubtedly below the actual mortality rates of that class of age in the past. Obviously, the Cantabrian sample is not statistically significant. Yet the scarce available data might be another example of a general trend in the evolution of hunter-gatherer funerary behaviour in this part of the world.

At Los Canes, an early fifth millennium cal BC deposit covers the Mesolithic structures described above. It already includes evidence of some kind of relationship with the Neolithic, as some sherds of pottery –probably locally made (Cubas 2010) - have been recorded. However, no evidence of the exploitation of domestic species, either vegetal or animal, has been found, which suggests that this context might be related to hunter- gatherer groups, and therefore should be classified as late Mesolithic instead of Neolithic. Human bones coming from several individuals have been found here, although some of them may be the result of the dismantlement of the upper part of the sixth millennium burial phase, as two Radiocarbon dates corresponding to ca. 5400 cal BC demonstrate. However,

Another general tendency that might be documented in Cantabrian Spain is the increase of funerary testimonies among the latest hunter-gatherers, also attested in the Iberian Peninsula as a whole (Arias & Álvarez Fernández 2004). The Cantabrian data are consistent with the Iberian (fig. 7): the diachronic evolution of the number of graves and buried individuals shows a shift towards a progressive increase from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic, and a sharp qualitative change in the sixth millennium cal BC, in which are concentrated nearly 40 % of the burials corresponding to hunter-gatherers. As in the rest of the Peninsula, this fact cannot be related to any statistical artefact or bias in the 11

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic one of those bones has provided an early fifth millennium date (TO-11219: 5980 ± 70; 5050-4710 cal BC), very close to the determination obtained for a piece of charcoal included in one of the pottery sherds (AA-5788: 5865 ± 70; 4910-4540 cal BC). The case of Lumentxa, a cave located close to the current coast in Biscay, is less clear. The excavations directed by T. de Aranzadi and J.M. de Barandiaran between 1926 and 1929 and by the latter in 1963 and 1964 (Aranzadi & Barandiarán 1935, Barandiarán 1965, 1966a, 1966b) documented a Neolithic layer above the Upper Palaeolithic and Azilian sequence of the site. Yet some evidence suggests that a late Mesolithic layer, providing among other materials, Asturian picks, might have also occurred (see Arias 1991: 65-67 for a discussion on the stratigraphic problems concerning this site ). A sample from a human fibula coming from the collection attributed to the Neolithic layer has been dated to the second quarter of the fifth millennium (OxA-18236: 6122 ± 38 BP;4724-4523 cal BC with ∆R correction). Yet, the high marine signal provided by the stable isotope analysis (d13C: -16,74 ‰; d15N: 11,95 ‰) suggests the possibility that this bone comes from a individual corresponding to the late Mesolithic rather than to the Neolithic (see Arias 2005/2006 for the sharp contrast usually found between both periods), although its relation to early Neolithic groups largely depending on wild resources cannot be completely discarded.

Figure 8. Late fifth millennium megalithic structure at Sierra Plana de la Borbolla 24 (Asturias). Photo: P. Arias.

It is tempting to link that change to the transition to the Neolithic, which occurred at approximately that time. However, the available chronological framework is still quite rough, and it cannot be established whether the end of the late Mesolithic practices occurred at the beginning of the Neolithic, or before. Yet it is not unlikely that it is related to the processes of social and ideological transformation of the hunter-gatherer groups that led (or at least contributed) to the introduction of the Neolithic in the Cantabrian region.

Finally, at El Portillo del Arenal (Cantabria) a surface funerary deposit at the bottom of a shaft, with remains of sixteen individuals associated to pottery and bone and lithic tools, included at least one person dating to the mid fifth millennium cal BC (AA-20043: 5743 ± 111 BP; 4830-4360 cal BC). Unfortunately, the ensemble was formed by materials of very diverse chronology, most of them dating to much later periods (Chalcolithic and Bronze Age and even early Middle Ages) (Muñoz & Morlote 2000), so the supposedly early Neolithic individual lacks an acceptable context.

However, it is not until the second half of the fifth millennium that we find the earliest evidence of the Neolithic funerary practices, the megalithic monuments. These spread along the region around 4300 cal BC, although some earlier dates, such as Monte Areo VI (Asturias), located around 4700 cal BC) (Blas 1999) cannot be altogether discarded. In any case, the beginning of Cantabrian megaliths is roughly coeval to the same process in neighbouring regions such as Galicia, northern Portugal and the Upper Ebro valley (Scarre et al. 2003). Moreover, although they share some common traits with the rest of the Atlantic megalithic phenomenon, the architectural solutions adopted in each region are very diverse. This, together with some evidence of continuity with the Mesolithic funerary tradition (for instance, Asturian picks in the megaliths of Sierra Plana de la Borbolla), suggest that these structures might be a particular interpretation of the concept of monumental architecture by the local Neolithic groups rather that the result of a population movement, as has been frequently proposed (for instance, González Morales 1992). Thus, it is worth exploring whether some particular traits of the earliest megaliths of Cantabrian Spain, such as the high proportion of “atypical” (i.e. non-dolmenic) structures, including spaces defined by small slabs (fig. 8), wooden structures, pits, and other forms, or their apparent spatial proximity to areas of dense late Mesolithic settlement, might reflect that the adoption of megaliths was the last stage of complex and long process of transition to the Neolithic, as we have suggested elsewhere (Arias 1997).

The first two cases appear to be a continuation of a phenomenon that is relatively frequent in the regional late Mesolithic, as discussed above: the occurrence of unarticulated human remains in apparently non- funerary deposits. Yet continuity with the late Mesolithic funerary practices should have been limited. There is a sharp contrast between the high density of burials during the sixth millennium cal BC and the absence of any evidence of this kind during the two earliest thirds of the fifth. Moreover, the sample of cave sites of the latter chronology is big enough not to attribute this variability to sampling biases. Rather, it appears that we are facing the consequence of a change in the funerary behaviour. Apparently the late Mesolithic practice of the concentration of individual burials in caves was abandoned. Unfortunately, apart from the elusive evidence from Los Canes, Lumentxa and El Portillo del Arenal described above, no information on the alternative is available. 12

Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) 4. The apogee of megaliths Megalithic tombs are the most frequent kind of funerary context in the Cantabrian Neolithic (and in the whole Prehistory of the region). Although their preservation is frequently very poor, and the archaeological record related to this phenomenon scarce, it must be stressed that around 1250 monuments have been catalogued in Cantabrian Spain (fig. 10). Densities are higher in Asturias and the Basque Country (ca. 7 monuments/100km2) than in Cantabria (ca. 3.44 monuments/100km2), but this is probably largely related to the less intense field research effort in the latter. Although all kind of geographical settings are known (from sites close to the sea to monuments higher than 1800 m above sea level (fig. 11), there is a predominance of middle mountains location, frequently preferring areas with a dominating position in the landscape. They also tend to to be grouped, frequently in lines, forming in some cases large necropolis of several tens of monuments (Arias, Armendariz & Teira 2006).

Figure 9. Neolithic burial at Marizulo (Guipúzcoa) (from Laborde et al. 1967). Yet megaliths were not the only kind of funerary context in late fifth millennium Cantabrian Spain. There was some variability of burial practices, as shown by a very interesting feature recorded in the cave of Marizulo (Guipúzcoa) (Laborde et al. 1967). A human burial was located in the rear part of the small vestibule of this cavity. There, the skeleton of an adult was found inside a stone structure formed by three blocks disposed as three sides of a rectangle (fig. 9). The human remains were associated to a dog and a lamb, and possibly to a flint dagger (see Arias 1991: 225-226 for further comments on taphonomic problems concerning this burial).

Dating long-term monuments, as many megalithic monuments apparently were, is a difficult task. However, the distribution of the probabilities of the reliable dates show a clear pattern, different from the characteristic elongated gaussian form, with a short and low tail in the last third of the fifth millennium cal BC, a major summit around 4000-3900 cal BC, and a decrease along the fourth millennium. That suggests that the construction of the monuments was concentrated in a relatively short period of time. As stated above, the earliest monuments would have been built in the last third of the fifth millennium,

Figure 10. Geographical distribution of megalithic monuments in the Cantabrian region. 13

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 11. The highest megalithic monument in the Cantabrian range: Riofrío (Palencia) Photo: Luis C. Teira.

Figure 12. Megalithic chamber of Cantos Huecos (Cantabria). Photo: Luis C. Teira. of triangles and vertical lines in a zigzag, produced by a combination of picking the rock and red paint (Blas 1979) (fig. 15). These motifs, as those in a slab from another asturian megalith, the so-called “dolmenic stela of Allande”, might be interpreted as schematic representations of snakes, a motif which is very frequent in Iberian megalithic art (Bueno & Balbín 1995).

but a veritable “explosion” would have occurred at the beginning of the fourth millennium cal BC. After this time, the intensity of the building would have decreased throughout the fourth millennium, and even more in the third, when there is hardly any evidence of the construction of new monuments (although some evidence has been found; see, for instance, López Quintana 2001 or Mujika & Edeso 2011). This contrasts with panorama shown by the grave goods, which frequently include late Neolithic or Copper Age items, such as flat retouch arrowheads, bell beaker pottery, or metal. Apparently many tombs were in use for a very long period of time, as some well documented monuments in northern Spain, such as San Martín (Barandiarán & Fernández Medrano 1964) or Dombate (Alonso Mathias & Bello 1997).

Information on the ritual aspects related to megaliths is extremely scarce, as most of the monuments are located in

Although there is an ample variability, Cantabrian megaliths tend to be relatively simple. Their outer part is, in every well-recorded case, a circular mound, usually relatively small (most of them 10-15 m in diameter) (fig. 11). Most chambers are rectangular or polygonal orthostatic structures (figs. 12 and 13), usually around 2m2. Special mention should be made of a very small group of more monumental tombs, among them what have been described as dolmen with portal or vestibule, such as the imposing dolmens of Santa Cruz (Vega del Sella 1919), and Monte Areo XV, both in Asturias (Blas 1999), or the poorly preserved monument of Cotero de la Mina (Cantabria) (fig. 14), probably the largest chamber in the region, with nearly 5 m in one of its sides (Armendariz & Teira 2000). Yet it should be stressed that with a couple of exceptions in the western and southeaster edges of the region, no passage grave has been described. This is particularly striking, since this type is very frequent in the neighbouring regions of Galicia and the Upper Ebro valley.

Figure 13. Dolmen of Sagastietako Lepoa (Guipúzcoa). Photo: Ángel Armendariz

Some megalithic burials in Cantabrian Spain include graphic representations on their walls. They concentrate in Asturias, and they have usually been envisaged as the eastern edge of one of the most important nucleus of megalithic art in Europa, that of northern Portugal and Galicia. The most outstanding example is the dolmen of Santa Cruz, whose headstone shows a pattern made up

Figure 14. Megalithic monument of Cotero de la Mina (Cantabria). Photo: Ángel Armendariz and Luis C. Teira

14

Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) the “battle ax” from Balenkaleku (Navarre), the gold and amber beads from Trikuaizti I (Guipúzcoa) and the corded bell beakers from Pagobakoitza, Gorostiaran, Trikuaizti I and Larrarte, all in Guipúzcoa. 5. The sepulchral caves

Figure 15. Graphic manifestations of the dolmen of Santa Cruz (Asturias). Design: Luis C. Teira, after Blas 1979.

areas with acid soils, where the preservation of the bones is nearly impossible. Human remains recovered in some megaliths in the eastern end of the region confirm the collective character of these tombs, including at least 27 individuals in Jentillari, 12 in Larrarte and 30 in Igaratza South. Moreover, evidence has been found in Larrarte of a reorganisation of the tomb in order to leave space for new burials (Mujika & Armendariz 1991).

Figure 16. Entrance of the sepulchral cave of Txispiri (Guipúzcoa). Photo: Ángel Armendariz.

One of the most frequent kinds of funerary contexts in Cantabrian Spain Prehistory are natural caves with collective deposits, usually on the surface, of which around 360 cases have been catalogued (Armendariz 1990, Muñoz & Malpelo 1993). It is most interesting to highlight that, unlike megaliths, this kind of funerary sites are not evenly distributed along the region. Yet, there is a sharp contrast between the eastern and western halves of the Cantabrian corridor. Their presence in Asturias and the western extremity of Cantabria is so exceptional, despite the high density of caves in some areas of this territory, that it seem reasonable to suggest that a real cultural border existed between both areas. Moreover, in Cantabria and the Basque country they are not evenly distributed in space. They tend to concentrate in the lower areas (below 400m) probably reflecting the settlement patterns and the main activity zones, unlike the megaliths, which, as stated above, are more frequent in the mountains (Ontañón & Armendariz 2005/2006).

Grave goods are not particularly abundant in the Cantabrian megaliths. As it might be presumed for the large number of sites and the prolonged use of the monuments, they are quite varied. Yet some general trends can be observed, such as the predominance of polished axes, weapons (microliths, arrowheads with bifacial flat retouch) and personal adornment items (mainly stone beads or pendants, including green stones of the variscite type, of lignite and even, very rarely, of amber, but also perforated shells). In many cases the lithic tools found in the megaliths are notoriously better than their nonfunerary counterparts (larger, made on excellent flint), suggesting that they may have been manufactured for the sole use of being deposited in a tomb (Arias, Armendariz & Teira 2006). Some objects might easily be considered prestige item, such as the perforated fibrolite ax from Santa Cruz, the gold ring from Mata’l Casare (Asturias), 15

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Accurate dating of this kind of contexts is also quite a difficult task, as we are dealing with very poorly preserved sites. However, Radiocarbon dates and materials associated to the human remains are consistent pointing to the third and second millennia cal BC as the chronology for most sites. Yet we should not envisage the use of sepulchral caves as just a Chalcolithic and Bronze Age practice, as some sites have provided dates located in the fourth millennium (Ekain, Pico Ramos, Urtao II). Apparently, many sepulchral caves were used for a short period of time, as suggested by the relative homogeneity of the grave goods and the low number of buried people. However, there are notorious exceptions, such as Pico Ramos, with more than one hundred individuals and evidence of burial activity for (Zapata 1995). Usually, funerary contexts are located in small cavities (fig. 16), frequently with low ceilings, or in small galleries in larger caves. It seems quite evident that the groups that used this cave to deposit their relative were looking for secluded places, some kind of natural sepulchre, separated from the rest of the activities of the group. Moreover, at least in one case it has been observed that the burial area was deliberately closed. In the cave of La Garma C (Cantabria) the remains of a stone wall that blocked off the entrance of the cave were found (Arias et al. 2003). A most particular variety of funerary spaces are copper mines, whose galleries were used as sepulchral areas during the third millennium cal BC at El Aramo and El Milagro, in Asturias (Blas 1996, 2007, de Blas & Suárez 2010). It is obvious that mine galleries provide an artificial cavelike space. Yet the deep symbolic significance of using this particular underground environment for burials (sacralisation of mining activity, return to the earth of the wealth extracted from it…) must also be highlighted (de Blas 2003).

Figure 18. Copper Age burial in a pit at La Garma C (Cantabria). Photo P. Arias. it appears that the predominant funerary practice was primary deposition of the corpses, lateral flexed position having been recorded (Urtao II). The disorganization of the bodies derives from taphonomic processes, but also from the deliberate removal of previous humans remains to leave space for new burials, as has been documented in the northern gallery of Urtao II (Armendariz 1989) and in Pico Ramos (Zapata 1995), both in the Basque Country. However, some evidence of secondary burial can also be found, as has happened in La Garma A, where the flowstone layer of the floor of the cave was perforated to open up two pits in which disarticulated bones of at least four adults and one child were buried.

The information provided by most recorded sites suggests that the bodies were just laid on the surface of the caves (fig. 17), without any kind of arrangement. Yet at least in two cases (La Garma A and La Garma C, in Cantabria) the human remains were buried in shallow pits (fig. 18). Although in most cases the skeletons were not in connexion,

A large variability has been recorded in the number of buried people in the Cantabrian sepulchral caves. Although in most cases just a few corpses (usually below ten) were deposited, in some sites many more people were buried, as recorded in Pico Ramos, Lacilla II, Urtao II and Kobeaga I, with MNI of, respectively, 104, 57, 46 and 40 individuals. The bodies were usually accompanied by adornment items, pottery vessels (probably originally containing some kind of drink or food), weapons (particularly flint arrowheads) and other objects characteristics of the period. Among them we can find a relevant representation of objects that might be considered prestige items, such as the early Chalcolithic

Figure 17. Funerary context at the cave of Belako Arkaitza I (Guipúzcoa). Photo: Ángel Armendariz. 16

Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) pits, although some problematic evidence of alternative rites can also be envisaged. A dramatic increase in the density of funerary documents during the sixth millennium cal BC suggests that the funerary activity was playing a major role in the social changes related to the transition to the Neolithic. This is also suggested by the apparently sharp abandonment of the concentration of burials in caves that occurred in the early fifth millennium cal BC. The second major stage is defined by collective burials, which appear to be predominant –although not exclusive- during the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and most of the Bronze Age (ca. 4500-1500 cal BC). This period is also characterised by the pluralism of funerary spaces, which include megalithic monuments, sepulchral caves and mine galleries. This variability is probably mainly related to social and symbolic differences within late Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations, although a shift from the predominance of megaliths to sepulchral caves might have occurred by the second half of the fourth millennium cal BC. Acknowledgements This paper is a contribution to the research project ‘Coastal transitions: A comparative approach to the processes of neolithization in Atlantic Europe’ (COASTTRAN) (HAR2011-29907-C03-00), granted by the VI Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica 2008-2011 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. All the radiocarbon dates cited in this paper have been calibrated according to the IntCal09 curve (Reimer et al. 2009), except those coming from samples of human bones that have provided evidence of a relevant incidence of marine proteins. In this case, a combination of that curve and Marine09 (Reimer et al. 2009) has been used, applying the ΔR value of 210 years calculated for northern Spanish coast by Dr. Joan Mestres (Mestres & Arias 2006) and an estimation of marine component of the diet interpolating the values of < 13C (see Arias 2005/2006 for details). In all cases, the 4.1 revision of the OxCal program (Bronk Ramsey 2009) has been used. If no other indication is made, the author of the graphics is Luis C. Teira.

Figure 19. Flint dagger from one of the Copper Age collective burials of La Garma A (Cantabria). Photo: P. Arias. flint dagger of La Garma A (probably an imported object) (Arias et al. 1999) (fig. 19), metallic items and decorated pottery (bell beakers, for instance). As R. Ontañón and A. Armendariz (2005/2006) have showed, there are significative differences between the grave goods found in the megaliths and in the sepulchral caves. Although some of them may be attributed to a certain diachrony between both types of context (the chronological centre of gravity of the megaliths being somewhat earlier), it is likely that they are related to social and symbolic differences, rather than to the existence of different cultural traditions or other explanations of that kind.

References

6. Final remarks

Alonso Mathias, F. and Bello, J.M. 1997. Cronología y periodización del henómeno megalítico en Galicia a la luz de las dataciones por C14. In A.A. Rodríguez Casal (ed.), O Neolítico Atlántico e as orixes do megalitismo: Actas do Coloquio Internacional, Santiago de Compostela, 1-6 de abril de 1996. Servicio de Publicacións e Intercambio Científico da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, 507-520. Aranzadi, T. and Barandiarán, J.M. 1935. Exploraciones en la caverna de Santimamiñe (Basondo: Cortézubi): 3.ª memoria.-Yacimientos azilienses y paleolíticos: Exploraciones en la caverna de Lumentxa (Lequeitio), Excma. Diputación de Vizcaya, Bilbao.

Cantabrian Spain is one of the most relevant areas of the Iberian Peninsula for the study of the evolution of the funerary behaviour of the Prehistoric populations. The region provides a high density of sites (around 1800 have been catalogued) and a very continuous record since the Azilian to the Copper Age. Moreover, some contexts are particularly well preserved (especially in the Mesolithic) and many of them have been carefully recorded. As we have shown in the previous pages, two main stages can be distinguished in the evolution of the funerary realm for the analysed period. The first one corresponds to the hunter-gatherers, characterised by individual inhumation in

17

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Mensua, C. and Teira, L.C. 2007. Programa de sondeos en concheros holocenos del oriente de Asturias” in Excavaciones arqueológicas en Asturias 1999-2002. Consejería de Cultura, Comunicación Social y Turismo del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo, 107-116. Arias, P. and Garralda, M.D. 1996. Mesolithic burials in Los Canes cave (Asturias, Spain). Human Evolution 11 (2), 129-138. Arias, P., Ontañón, R., Armendariz, Á. and Pereda, E. 2003. Zona Arqueológica de La Garma (Ribamontán al Monte): La Garma A, cuevas sepulcrales y castro del Alto de la Garma. In P. Arias, R. Ontañón, C. GarcíaMoncó & L.C. Teira (eds.), III Congreso del Neolítico en la Península Ibérica. Santander, 5 a 8 de octubre de 2003. Libro Guía de la excursión. Preactas. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, 42-57. Arias, P., Ontañón, R., González Urquijo, J.E. and Ibáñez, J.J. 1999. El puñal de sílex calcolítico de La Garma A (Omoño, Cantabria). Sautuola VI. Estudios en homenaje al profesor Dr. García Guinea Consejería de Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander, 219-228. Armendariz, Á. 1990. Las cuevas sepulcrales en el País Vasco. Munibe (Antropologia-Arkeologia) 42, 153-160. Armendariz, Á. 1989. Excavación de la cueva sepulcral Urtao II (Oñati, Guipúzcoa). Munibe (AntropologiaArkeologia) 41, 45-86. Armendariz, Á., Arias, P. and Ontañón, R. in press. A Grave in the Lab. The late Mesolithic burial at El Truchiro Cave (Cantabria, northern Spain). In P. Arias and M. Cueto (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of the Mesolithic in Europe. Santander 13th-17th September, 2010. Oxbow, Oxford. Armendariz, Á. and Teira, L.C. 2000. El megalitismo en la Marina occidental de Cantabria. Excavación arqueológica del dolmen Cotero de la Mina (San Vicente de la Barquera). In R. Ontañón (ed.), Actuaciones arqueológicas en Cantabria 1984-1999. Consejería de Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander, 283-284. Barandiarán, J.M. 1966a. Breve reseña de las excavaciones de Lumentxa (Lequeitio), de Aitzbitarte (Rentería), de Marizulo (Urnieta), de Lezetxiki (Mondragón) y del dolmen de San Martín (Laguardia, Álava). Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico VIII-IX (1-3), 33-38. Barandiarán, J.M. 1966b. Excavaciones en Lumentxa (Campaña de 1964). Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico VIII-IX (1-3), 24-32. Barandiarán, J.M. 1965. Excavaciones en Lumentxa (Campaña de 1963). Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico VII (1-3), 56-61. Barandiarán, I. y Cava, A. 2001, Cazadores- recolectores en el Pirineo navarro. El sitio de Aizpea entre 8.000 y 6.000 años antes de ahora, Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria.

Arias, P. 2007. Neighbours but diverse: social change in north-west Iberia during the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (5500-4000 cal BC). In A. Whittle and V. Cummings (eds.), Going Over:The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 53-71. Arias, P. 2005/2006. Determinaciones de isótopos estables en restos humanos de la región Cantábrica. Aportación al estudio de la dieta de las poblaciones del Mesolítico y el Neolítico. In Homenaje a Jesús Altuna. Tomo III: Arte, Antropología y Patrimonio arqueológico Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, San Sebastián, 359374. Arias, P. 1997. ¿Nacimiento o consolidación? El papel del fenómeno megalítico en los procesos de neolitización de la región Cantábrica. In A.A. Rodríguez Casal (ed.), O Neolítico Atlántico e as orixes do megalitismo: Actas do Coloquio Internacional, Santiago de Compostela, 1-6 de abril de 1996. Servicio de Publicacións e Intercambio Científico da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, 371-389. Arias, P. 1991. De cazadores a campesinos. La transición al neolítico en la región cantábrica, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de CantabriaAsamblea Regional de Cantabria, Santander. Arias, P. and Álvarez Fernández, E. 2004. Iberian foragers and funerary ritual – A review of Paleolithic and Mesolithic evidence on the Peninsula. In M.R. González Morales and G.A. Clark (eds.), The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade: Proceedings of the Santander Symposium, Arizona State University, Tempe, 225-248. Arias, P., Armendariz, Á., Balbín, R., Fano, M.Á., Fernández-Tresguerres, J., González Morales, M.R., Iriarte, M.J., Ontañón, R., Alcolea, J.J., Álvarez Fernández, E., Etxeberria, F., Garralda, M.D., Jackes, M. and Arrizabalaga, Á. 2009. Burials in the cave: new evidence on mortuary practices during the Mesolithic of Cantabrian Spain. In S.B. McCartan, R.J. Schulting, G. Warren and P. Woodman (eds.), Mesolithic Horizons: Papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005. Oxbow, Oxford, 650-656. Arias, P., Armendariz, Á. and Teira, L.C. 2006. The megalithic complex in Cantabrian Spain. In A.A. Rodríguez Casal (ed.), Le Mégalithisme Atlantique/ The Atlantic Megaliths: Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress. University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Symposium 9.4. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 11-29. Arias, P. and Fano, M.Á. 2005. Le rôle des ressources marines dans le Mésolithique de la région Cantabrique (Espagne) : L’apport des isotopes stables. In G. Marchand and A. Tresset (eds.), Unité et diversité des processus de néolithisation sur la façade atlantique de l’Europe (6e-4e millénaires avant J.-C.) Table Ronde de Nantes 26-27 avril 2002. Société préhistorique française, Paris, 173-188. Arias, P., Fano, M.Á., Armendariz, Á., Álvarez Fernández, E., Cueto, M., Fernández García, R., Garralda, M.D., 18

Funerary practices in Cantabrian, Spain (9000-3000 cal BC) Hernández-Pacheco, E. 1923. La vida de nuestros antecesores paleolíticos : según los resultados de las excavaciones en la caverna de la Paloma (Asturias). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. Iriarte, M.J., Arrizabalaga, Á., Etxeberria, F. & Herrasti, L. 2005, “La inhumación humana en conchero de J3 (Hondarribia, Guipúzcoa)” in Actas del III Congreso del Neolítico en la Peninsula Ibérica. Santander, 5 a 8 de octubre de 2003, eds. P. Arias, R. Ontañón & C. García-Moncó, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, pp. 607-613. Iriarte, M.J., Arrizabalaga, Á., Etxeberria, F., Herrasti, L. & Álvarez Fernández, E. 2010, “Shell midden people in northern Iberia. New data from the Mesolithic rock shelter of J3 (Basque Country, Spain)”, Zephyrus, vol. LXV, pp. 117-127. Jackes, M. and Meiklejohn, C. 2004. Building a method for the study of the Mesolithic Neolithic transition in Portugal. Documenta Praehistorica XXXI, 89-111. Laborde, M., Barandiarán, J.M., Atauri, J.M. and Altuna, J. 1967. Excavaciones en Marizulo (Urnieta). (Campañas de 1965 y 1967). Munibe XIX, 261-270. López Quintana, J.C. (ed) 2011, XIX Jornadas de Arqueología de Urdaibai-2009. El conjunto monumental de Katillotxu (Mundaka): una mirada al megalitismo cantábrico, Agiri, Gernika-Lumo. Mestres, J.S. and Arias, P. 2006. Datación por Radiocarbono y calibración de las fechas radiocarbónicas aplicadas a materiales de origen terrestre y marino procedentes de la región Cantábrica. In I. Clemente (ed.), Explotación de recursos litorales y acuáticos en la Prehistoria. Workshop, Barcelona 1516 abril 2005. Departament d’Arqueologia i AntropologiaInstitució Milà i Fontanals CSIC, Barcelona, 7-10. Mujika, J.A. & Edeso, J.M. 2011, Los primeros agricultores y ganaderos en Gipuzkoa del Neolítico a la Edad del Hierro, Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa, San Sebastián. Mujika, J.A. and Armendariz, Á. 1991. Excavaciones en la estación megalítica de Murumendi (Beasain, Gipuzkoa). Munibe (Antropologia-Arkeologia) 43, 105-165. Muñoz, C., Ramil, P. and Gómez Orellana, L. 2004. Vegetation of the Lago de Sanabria area (NW Iberia) since the end of the Pleistocene: a palaeoecological reconstruction on the basis of two new pollen sequences. Veget. Hist. Archaeobot. 13, 1-22. Muñoz, E. and Malpelo, B. 1993. Las cavidades sepulcrales en Cantabria. Actas del VI Congreso Español de Espeleología. La Coruña 10-12 de ocutubre de 1992. Federación Galega de Espeleoloxía, La Coruña, 287308. Muñoz, E. & Morlote, J.M. 2000. Documentación arqueológica de la cueva del Calero II y la sima del Portillo del Arenal, en Piélagos. In R. Ontañón (ed.), Actuaciones arqueológicas en Cantabria 1984-1999. Consejería de Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de Cantabria, Santander, 263-266. Ontañón, R. and Armendariz, Á. 2005/2006. Cuevas y megalitos: los contextos sepulcrales colectivos en

Barandiarán, J.M. and Fernández Medrano, D. 1964. Excavación del dolmen de San Martín. Boletín de la Institución Sancho el Sabio, VIII (112), 41-66. Blas, M.Á.de 2007. Minería prehistórica del cobre en el reborte septentrional de los Picos de Europa: las olvidadas labores de “El Milagro” (Onís, Asturias). Veleia 24-25, 723-753. Blas, M.Á.de 2003. La mina como ámbito infraterreno y el cadáver como ofrenda ritual. A propósito de los esquletos humanos hallados en las explotaciones cupríferas del Aramo. In J. Fernández Manzano & J.I. Herrán (eds.), Mineros y fundidores en el inicio de la Edad de los Metales. El Midi francés y el Norte de la Península Ibérica. Caja España-Fundación Las Médulas, León, 32-48. Blas, M.Á. de 1999. El Monte Areo, en Carreño (Asturias): un territorio funerario de los milenios V a III a. de J.C. Ayuntamiento de Carreño, Candás. Blas, M.Á. de 1996. La minería prehistórica y el caso particular de las explotaciones cupríferas de la Sierra del Aramo. Gallaecia 14-15, 167-195. Blas, M.Á. de 1979. La decoración parietal del dolmen de la Santa Cruz (Cangas de Onís, Asturias). Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, 33 (98), 717-757. Blas, M.Á. de and Suárez, M. 2010. La minería subterránea del cobre en Asturias: un capítulo esencial en la prehistoria reciente del norte de España. In J.A. Fernández-Tresguerres (ed.), Cobre y Oro: Minería y metalurgia en la Asturias prehistórica y antigua. Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, Oviedo, 43-82. Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon, 51 (1), 337-360. Bueno, P. and Balbín, R. 1995. La graphie du serpent dans la culture mégalithique péninsulaire. Représentations de plein air et représentations dolméniques. L’Anthropologie 99, 357-381. Carballo, J. 1926. El esqueleto humano más antiguo de España, author’s edition, Santander. Cubas, M. 2010. La aparición de la tecnología cerámica en la región Cantábrica. Secuencias de producción durante el V milenio cal BC. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander. Fernández-Tresguerres, J. 1980. El Aziliense en las provincias de Asturias y Santander. Ministerio de Cultura, Santander. Fernández-Tresguerres, J.A. 1976. Azilian burial from Los Azules I, Asturias, Spain. Current Anthropology 17, 769-770. González Morales, M.R. 1992. Mesolíticos y megalíticos: la evidencia arqueológica de los cambios en las formas productivas en el paso al megalitismo en la costa cantábrica. In A. Moure (ed.), Elefantes, ciervos y ovicaprinos : economía y aprovechamiento del medio en la Prehistoria de España y Portugal. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, 185-202. Grünberg, J.M. 2000. Mesolithische Bestattungen in Europa: Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Gräberkunde. Leidorf, Rahden/Westfalen.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic la Prehistoria reciente cantábrica. Homenaje a Jesús Altuna. Tomo II: Arqueología Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, San Sebastián, 275-286. Pariat, J. 2007. Des morts sans tombe? Le cas des ossements humains en contexte non sépulcral en Europe tempérée entre les 6e et 3e millénaires av. J.-C-, BAR Publishing, Oxford. Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J. and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51 (4), 1111-1150. Rodríguez Otero, V. 1992, “Informe preliminar sobre la excavación en la Paré de Nogales (Peñamellera Alta, Asturias) 22 de junio-20 de julio de 1990” en Excavaciones arqueológicas en Asturias 1987-90 Servicio de Publicaciones del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo, pp. 105-112. Scarre, C., Arias, P., Burenhult, G., Fano, M.Á., Oosterbeek, L., Schulting, R.J., Sheridan, A. and Whittle, A. 2003. Megalithic chronologies. In G. Burenhult (ed.), Stones and bones. Formal disposal of the dead in Atlantic Europe during the Mesolithic- Neolithic interface 6000-3000 BC. Archaeological Conference in Honour of the Late Professor Michael J. O’Kelly. Proceedings of the Stones and Bones Conference in Sligo, Ireland, May 1-5, 2002. BAR Publishing, 65-111. Tapia, J., Álvarez Fernández, E., Cubas, M., Cueto, M., Etxeberria, F., Gutiérrez Zugasti, I., Herrasti, L. & Ruiz, M. 2008, “La cueva de Linatzeta (Lastur, Deba, Gipuzkoa). Un nuevo contexto para el estudio del Mesolítico en Gipuzkoa”, Munibe (AntropologiaArkeologia), vol. 59, pp. 119-131. Vega del Sella, Conde de la 1919. El dolmen de la capilla de Santa Cruz (Asturias). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. Vidal, J.M. and Prada, M.E. (eds) 2010. Los hombres mesolíticos de la cueva de La Braña-Arintero (Valdelugueros, León). Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid. Zapata, L. 1995. El depósito sepulcral Calcolítico de la cueva Pico Ramos (Muskis, Bizkaia). Munibe (Antropologia-Arkeologia) 47, 33-197.

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FROM PITS TO MEGALITHS: NEOLITHIC BURIALS IN THE INTERIOR OF IBERIA Manuel A. ROJO-GUERRAa and Rafael GARRIDO-PENAb a. Departamento de Prehistoria, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Valladolid. Plaza del Campus Universitario, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain ([email protected]). b. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Ctra. de Colmenar Km. 15. 28049 Madrid, Spain ([email protected]). Abstract: An outline of the Neolithic burial evidences from the interior of Iberia is offered, from the earliest (second half of the Vth millennium cal BC), simple pits with single or double inhumations accompanied by scarce grave goods, to the Megalithic Monuments of the IVth millennium cal BC. The social and ritual dimensions of those archaeological evidences are analyzed in the context of the process of social and economic transformation that Inner Iberia Neolithic groups experimented along this period. Keywords: Pit graves, Neolithic, Megalithism, social ontext, ritual.

1. The Meseta: a vast and diverse geographical area1 The Meseta is an immense and diverse region occupying the interior of Iberia. With an average altitude of 600-700 m, is surrounded by mountains separating this area from the coastal periphery. Its origin is in the Hesperic Massif, evolved from the hercynian orogeny, swept away by the erosion during the Secondary Era, converted in a peneplain that is now the base of the Meseta, later altered by the alpine orogeny during the Tertiary, resulting in the folding of the margins (Cantabric Mountains to the north, Iberic System to the northeast, and the fractures of the Central System, and the Toledo Mountains and Sierra Morena to the south). This resulted in the division of the Meseta in two big units, the Northern Meseta in the Duero Basin and the southern Meseta in the Tagus and Guadiana Basins, separated by the Central System.

Figure 1. Location of the study area.

This huge interior area of Iberia has always offered a wide range of environments to the human groups living in this area. Despite of being surrounded by mountain fringes the Meseta has numerous natural communications with the periphery, which were well known by the prehistoric populations. In the Neolithic farming arrived since the mid VIth millennium cal BC, extending through most of the region before the end of this millennium. One of the areas where this first Neolithic has been documented is the Ambrona Valley (Soria), in the southeast of the Northern Meseta, around 5400-5200 cal BC (Rojo et al. 2008), in one of those natural passes between both Mesetas and also outside with the Ebro Valley (Figure 1).

where just some individual or double inhumations, with poor offerings, mostly from the VIth millennium cal BC and concentrated around the Portuguese shell-middens of the Tagus estuary (Muge, Sado Valley) have been documented. More exceptional are the Mesolithic burials in the interior of Iberia, although there is a recent find of two inhumations in the cave of La Braña-Arintero (León, northern fringe of the Meseta in the southern area of the Cantabric mountains), one of them accompanied by numerous perforated deer teeth (Vidal and Prada 2010). The beginning of the Neolithic, with the quick expansion of the farming communities, brought many important technological, economic, ideological and social transformations, but no evident change in the burial rituals (Bernabeu 2010, 45). Recent research has revealed that the arriving of farming to the Meseta was rather early (5400-5200 cal BC) (Rojo et al. 2006, 2008). Amongst those discoveries burial finds were also documented. There are scattered human remains in secondary position discovered in domestic contexts, mixed with potsherds, lithics, faunal remains and charcoal, such as the skull of an

2. The tombs of the first farmers of the interior of Iberia (2nd half of the VI millennium cal BC- beginning of the Vth millennium). The burial finds of this period are extraordinarily scarce in Iberia, which is also the case of the previous Mesolithic,  Authors’ research is part of the project HAR-2009-09027( Los Caminos del Neolítico), from Plan Nacional de I+D+I, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. 1

21

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 2. adult male found in the Vaquera cave (Segovia) (Delibes et al. 1999), belonging to the Phase I of this site (53004700 cal BC). This has parallels with other Iberian cave sites such as Chaves in Aragón (Utrilla et al. 2008) or Can Sadurní in Catalonia (Blasco et al. 2005).

(pot sherds with incised and impressed decoration, lithics, faunal remains, etc.). Although it was found isolated in a rescue excavation, a few meters close to this area there is a Neolithic open air settlement with several pits. More recently two new graves have been discovered in Burgos (Northern Meseta). In El Alto de Rodilla (Burgos) another single inhumation was found in a pit. It was an infant seated in crouched position to the wall of the pit that was closed with limestone slabs. The infilling was full of ashes but had no archaeological materials. Beside the body two decorated potsherds, a quartz prism and a quartzite element were recovered. It has been radiocarbon dated to 5297-4988 cal BC (Jiménez and Alonso in press).

On the other hand, individual burials are known in pits, also from domestic, but open air, sites, such as the La Lámpara one in Soria (Northern Meseta) (Rojo et al. 2008, 379-393) or Villamayor de Calatrava (Rojas and Villa 1996) in Ciudad Real (Southern Meseta). The La Lámpara grave (Figure 2) is a single inhumation of a senile woman deposited inside one of the pits of this habitat, which has been radiocarbon dated to 5200-4840 cal BC. It was accompanied by a small pot decorated with incisions and impressions and a flint blade. The infilling of this pit was a huge concentration of archaeological materials, a lot of faunal remains of domestic sheep included, but also a complete decorated ceramic bowl, broken in pieces scattered inside this layer, fragments of other potteries, such as a bottle with a complex geometric comb decoration and diverse lithic and bone industry elements (Rojo et al. 2008, 379-393).

In the Fuente Celada site (Burgos) an adult individual in crouched position with a necklace of three bone rings was found inside a pit of a domestic open air Neolithic habitat, with a radiocarbon date of 5208-4961 cal BC (Alameda et al. 2011). In the Southern Meseta another recent discovery has come from a rescue excavation: El Congosto, in the area of Madrid. It is a double inhumation of an adult and an infantile individual deposited inside a domestic pit of an open air Neolithic settlement, which has a C14 date of 5043-4788 cal BC (Martín 2007, 201).

A similar pattern was found in the single grave of an adult individual, lacking burial offerings, which was found in Villamayor de Calatrava (Rojas and Villa 1996). The body was placed inside a pit filled with archaeological materials 22

From pits to megaliths: Neolithic burials in the interior of Iberia

Figure 3. C14 ages table NORTHERN MESETA Site

Context

Sample

Lab

BP

Cal BC 2σ

Reference

La Lámpara

Pit 1 (Single inhumation)

Charcoal

KIA4780

6390±60

5479-5228

Rojo & others 2006

La Lámpara

Pit 1(Single inhumation)

cereal

UtC13346

6280±50

5366-5073

Stika 2005

La Lámpara

Pit 1(Single inhumation)

Human bones

KIA6790

6144±46

5216-4961

Rojo & others 2006

La Lámpara

Pit 1(Single inhumation)

Human bones

KIA6789

6055±34

5047-4848

Rojo & others 2006

Fuente Celada

Pit 62 (Single inhumation)

Human bones

UGA-7565

6120±30

5208-4961

Alameda & others 2011

Fuente Pecina 2.3

Megalithic grave Upper part of burial layer

Charcoal

GrN18669

5375±45

4334-4055

Delibes & Rojo 1997

Sima 1.2

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Charcoal

BLN5362

5308±31

4238-4043

Rojo & others 2005

Rebolledo 3

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Charcoal

GrN19568

5305±30

4236-4044

Delibes & Rojo 1997

Sima 1.5

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Charcoal

BLN5377

5303±34

4240-4003

Rojo & others 2005

El Miradero 2

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

GrN12101

5155±35

4043-3811

Delibes & others 1986

El Miradero 3

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

*

5135±45

4040-3799

Delibes & Etxeberria 2002

El Miradero 4

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

*

5120±25

3978-3804

Delibes & others 2009

El Miradero 1

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

GrN12100

5115±35

3980-3800

Delibes & others 1986

Peña Abuela 5

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5054

5110±39

3981-3797

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela 4

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5053

5099±39

3972-3797

Rojo & others 2005

Sima 1.3

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Charcoal

BLN5363

5082±31

3961-3797

Rojo & others 2005

Sima 1.6

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Charcoal

BLN5378

5068±33

3958-3791

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela 3

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5052

5054±39

3960-3716

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela 1

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

KIA4781

5050±50

3961-3712

Rojo & others 2005

Sima 1.1

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Human bones

BLN5349

5048±27

3950-3779

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela 2

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5026

5033±32

3948-3714

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela 6

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5055

5029±30

3945-3713

Rojo & others 2005

Sima 1.4

Megalithic grave Burial layer

Human bones

BLN5376

5001±32

3941-3700

Rojo & others 2005

Tarayuela 2

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

BLN5541

5000±38

3943-3696

Rojo & others 2005

Dehesa de Rio Fortes

Megalithic grave (Mound)

Charcoal

Beta164477

4970±80

3950-3641

Estremera & Fabián 2002

El Miradero 5

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

4940±40

3930-3654

Delibes y Etxeberria 2002

Sima 2.2

Megalithic grave (tholos) Burial layer

Human bones

KIA21551

4919±28

3765-3646

Rojo & others 2005

Tarayuela 1

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

BLN5540

4892±36

3764-3636

Rojo & others 2005

Zumacales 3

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

4870±60

3790-3522

Delibes & others 2009

Sima 2.4

Megalithic grave (tholos) Burial layer

Human bones

KIA21553

4865±23

3701-3636

Rojo & others 2005

Sima 2.3

Megalithic grave (tholos Burial layer

Human bones

KIA21552

4862±27

3703-3544

Rojo & others 2005

La Vega 1

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

GrN17559

4840±25

3694-3535

Delibes & others 1992

Sima 2.1

Megalithic grave (tholos) Burial layer

Human bones

KIA21550

4839±27

3695-3533

Rojo & others 2005

Peña Abuela

Megalithic grave (Postholes surrounding the burial chamber)

Charcoal

BLN5056

4773±29

3641-3386

Rojo & others 2005

La Velilla 6

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

*

4640±40

3620-3351

Delibes & others 2009

El Miradero 6

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Charcoal

*

4490±20

3339-3096

Delibes & Etxeberria 2002

El Congosto

Double inhumation in a pit (UE 2242)

Human bones

KIA-27582

6015±50

5043-4788

Martín 2007

Azután

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

UGRA-288

5060±90

4039-3656

Bueno 1991

Azután

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

Beta-145277

4620±40

3520-3138

Bueno & others 2002

Azután

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

Ly-4500

4590±90

3631-3026

Bueno 1991

Entretérminos

Megalithic grave

?

4250±50

3011-2668

Jiménez 2005

El Castillejo

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

GX-29784

4180±50

2896-2621

Bueno & others 2005

El Castillejo

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

GX-29783

4050±70

2876-2459

Bueno & others 2005

El Castillejo

Megalithic grave (Burial layer)

Human bones

Beta-145274

3810±70

2467-2041

Bueno & others 2000

*

*

SOUTHERN MESETA

?

* Calibrated with OxCal 4.1 (IntCal09). Dates with more than 100 years of standard deviation have not been included.

23

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 4. Finally we have the old and vague reference to a pit grave in the Arenero de Valdivia site (Madrid), where a big decorated ceramic bottle and a stone bracelet were discovered (Jiménez 2001).

another place, caused by the death of certain individuals, as it has been proposed by Whittle (2003, 7) in other cases? Nevertheless it could also be just the evidence of an ancestor cult, whose physical proximity could be important for protecting or propitiating purposes.

To sum up, with the available information we can say that the tombs of this first farming communities of the interior of Iberia were scarce and isolated graves, always in domestic contexts, both in caves and open air habitats, where individual, and exceptionally double, inhumations were deposited in crouched position, accompanied by poor offerings. There is a remarkable chronological homogeneity (Figure 3), since all of them can be situated between 5300-5200 and 4800-4700 cal BC, despite they come from very distant areas in a huge geographical region, so defining an authentic chronological horizon.

With so reduced a sample of graves, all of them isolated and simple structures with few grave goods, it is very difficult to discuss about the social context of these groups. Settlements lack evident signs of hierarchisation (Rojo et al. 2008). Even though there are indications that the development of farming in this region had important economic, social and ideological consequences (Ibidem), it seems that they are not related with the emergence of social complexity, whose first traces are to be found along the IVth millennium cal BC with the evolving of the funerary monumentality.

Regarding the burial ritual it seems that the bodies were deposited in a single ceremony, and so, that they were closed structures, which were not opened anymore to introduce new individuals. This remarks the importance of the funeral ceremony for those groups, since it was the only opportunity to show all the important messages to the attending community, in the course of which probably symbolic banquets could be celebrated, where meat could be consumed, and also drinking with pots finally broken and thrown inside the pit, together wit part of the residues of that ritual, as it seems to be the case in the Lámpara and Villamayor tombs. It is also interesting to say that both burial pits had a sinuous profile which is characteristic of the structures used as grain silos, yet documented, for example, in the Lámpara domestic structures (Rojo et al. 2008, 379-393). Perhaps this form of the pit was chosen because of the powerful metaphor of the regeneration of life embedded in the concept of the storage of grain (Williams 2003, 242).

3. The development of complexity: megalithic graves (IV millennium cal BC). Along the Vth millennium cal BC the Iberian Neolithic will show increasing indications of the emergence of funerary monumentality and the first differences in the distribution of grave goods inside the burial structures (Molist and Clop 2010; Gibaja 2004, 12). However, those first indicators of change are lacking in the Meseta during this period. Pits in open air settlements still are the model of tombs, such as in El Hoyo (Burgos, Northern Meseta) where and adult individual upside down in crouched position was found accompanied by scarce grave goods (a flint blade, burin and arrowhead, bone necklace beads, and a perforated shell placed in the mouth), which has a 14C date of 4347-4069 cal BC) (Jiménez and Alonso in press). The IVth millennium cal BC is the scenario of monumental tombs in the interior of Iberia, with the extension of megalithic graves (Figure 1). They are mainly distributed in the western side of both Mesetas, but with profound penetrations inside, as the recent research is increasingly

But what was the reason behind the systematic use of the domestic contexts for burials in this period? Could it be related with the possible temporal closing of a settlement and the subsequent displacement of the group to

24

From pits to megaliths: Neolithic burials in the interior of Iberia showing (Bueno et al. 2002). In the Northern Meseta megalithic tombs are mainly found in the western provinces of Salamanca and Zamora, but also in a big cluster of finds in the north of Burgos, as a continuation of the BasqueRioja area (Delibes 2010, 12-17). Nevertheless there are also examples in other regions, even in the centre of the Duero Basin, although they are clearly exceptional. The passage grave (Figure 4), with a circular or polygonal chamber, a corridor oriented to the south-southeast, and a stone mound covering the structure is the paradigm of megalithic tomb in this region, there is an additional diversity of collective graves such as the simple dolmen (Fuente Pecina II in Burgos, El Guijo I in Salamanca), barrows without internal stone chamber, and other peculiar regional forms, such as the so-called “redondiles” or the “limekiln tombs”. Amongst the typical passage graves we have many examples with an extremely diverse range of sizes and complexity (short or long corridors), several of them outstanding examples of the megalithic architecture, for instance El Torrejón or El Teriñuelo in Salamanca, or Las Arnillas in Burgos, with a huge stone mound of 30 m of diameter and 2m of height. This contrasts with the 15 m barrow of Fuente Pecina II, yet mentioned (Delibes 2010, 19), and the modest dimensions of many simple barrows (El Rebolledo in Burgos, for example). As we have already mentioned there are two peculiar types of regional collective graves with identical features in their ossuary, grave goods, etc, but lacking the typical internal stone structure (chamber, corridor). The “redondiles” are a particular version of the passage grave model where the stone slabs are not vertical but horizontal, as a sort of basement of the tomb walls made of mud. It is the case of two collective sepulchres in the centre of the Duero Basin: Los Zumacales in Valladolid and La Velilla in Palencia (Delibes 2010, 19-20). The other regional type of tombs is the so-called lime-kiln grave, in which the burial structure, made of limestone, is closed with a very complex and sophisticated ritual by burning down and melting the whole chamber, thus sealing the burial level with a quicklime mantle, as it has been mainly documented in the Ambrona Valley (Soria), to the southeast of the Northern Meseta (Rojo et al. 2005, 2010), but also at the centre of the Duero basin (El Miradero, Valladolid) (Delibes et al. 1986).

Figure 5. 2010, 169), close to the Ambrona Valley, and also isolated examples such as Entretérminos in Madrid (Losada 1976). As it has been documented in the Northern Meseta there is an increasing number of simple stone barrows, also in the central area of the Tagus Basin (Bueno et al. 2002). There is also a strong diversity from the architectonic point of view in the megalithic graves of the Southern Meseta, although again in this area it is the passage grave, with the corridor oriented to the south-southeast, the most widely documented model, with a strong presence of the anthropomorphic figure (for instance the menhir-statue at the entrance of the Navalcán passage grave chamber) (Bueno et al. 2010). Remarkable examples of this type of grave are Navalcán, Azután and La Estrella in Toledo. Azután has a chamber of 5 m of diameter, and a huge stone mound of 20 m (Bueno et al. 2005). The chronological framework of Megalithism in the interior of Iberia (Figure 3) is a very complex matter, especially the beginning, since it is very difficult to establish when these monuments were built on the basis of the 14C. The usual procedure is to sample charcoal from the basement of the mound, but many of them clearly belong to pre-megalithic times. For that reason we have decided to exclude them all from the table of radiocarbon dates of the Meseta Neolithic burial contexts, even though there are a few examples (such as El Rebolledo or El Moreco) that seem to be valid for the construction of a megalithic grave, but we must be clear in the criteria used to display them because otherwise we would admit just those that apparently fit well with our current vision of the chronology of the Meseta Megalithism. We have neither included those radiocarbon dates with more than 100 years of standard deviation, since they are useless once they are calibrated. As Delibes (2010, 28-29) has recently pointed out the radiocarbon series obtained from the human bones of the megalithic ossuaries of the interior of Iberia suggest that, in contrast with the traditional ideas, they were used

Another exceptional monument is the stone tholos of La Sima, in the Ambrona Valley (Figure 5), which was built over a previous lime-kiln tomb (Rojo et al. 2005, 2010), since it is the only tholos documented in the Meseta and one of the oldest known in Iberia (mid IVth millennium cal BC), because most of the examples belong to the Late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic of other areas (especially in Andalusia, Southern Iberia). Regarding the Soutern Meseta, the geographical distribution shows a pattern clearly concentrated in the western areas of the Toledo province, as a continuation of the megalithic area of the Spanish Extremadura and the Portuguese Alentejo. There is a small cluster of passage graves in the region of Aguilar de Anguita (Guadalajara) (Bueno et al. 25

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in a rather short period of time, and so they are a good alternative to establish when were built those structures. With all this in mind it seems clear that megalithic tombs in the Meseta are known since the end of the Vth millennium cal BC and the beginning of the IVth, and are documented along this millennium down to the Chalcolithic, around the onset of the third millennium when other burial structures began to appear. If in the Northern Meseta, especially in areas as the Lora in Burgos, it seems that a sequence of increasing complexity along the time is documented (Delibes 2010, 26), in the southern Meseta it is likely that the simple mounds and the huge passage graves coexisted (Bueno et al. 2010). During the third and the second millennia cal BC megalithic monuments were reused as powerful symbols, especially in Bell Beaker times, perhaps for legitimation of the new political structures where power was still unstable (Garrido 2000). Nevertheless, and excepting the area of Salamanca, where pre-Beaker Chalcolithic use has been extensively documented, there is a very long chronological hiatus (more than 1000 years) between the abandonment of megaliths and this reusing in Beaker times. Although there is a strong diversity of megalithic structures in the interior of Iberia they all share rather similar ossuaries and the same sort of accompanying grave goods. They were used as collective pantheons where the bodies of the deceased were deposited. The bones are mostly found in secondary position, although it is also frequent to find partial anatomical connections that are showing that bodies actually decomposed inside those structures. Reorganizations of bones (grouped skulls, packages of long bones, associations of skulls and long bones, etc.) have been occasionally documented inside the chambers, and remains of ochre or even cinnabar (such as in La Velilla, Delibes 2000) have been also found.

Figure 6. microliths (Figure 5: F), which were used as arrowheads as the use-wear analysis has demonstrated (Gibaja 2003). Polished stone hand axes are also frequently found (Figure 5: B-C), and the lack of ceramic vessels (very clear in the earlier phases) is a solid indicator of the ritual/ cultural selection of the materials accompanying the dead. Necklace beads of different materials (bone, lignite, variscite, etc), forms and sizes are abundant (Figure 5: G-H). Bone awls and spatulas are also typical, and in particular the so called spatula-idols (Figure 5: D-E), often decorated with geometric or even anthropomorphic motifs (always feminine traits as hair, breasts, as in La Velilla in Palencia). In the Miradero barrow a package of eleven spatula-idols were found beside the head of an individual, also accompanied by many other offerings (Guerra et al. 2009, 54-55). Interestingly in the Zumacales grave of Valladolid a spatula-idol was recovered that was made of human bone (Delibes and De Paz 2000).

Regarding the number of individuals that were deposited inside the megalithic tombs there are examples of just around ten but also others with more than a hundred. Not all the population had access to the megalithic burial, as it is clearly indicated by the sex and age analysis of the human bones. In most of the graves that had been studied males are predominant (Delibes 1995, 77-78, Rojo et al. 2005, 218), but interesting exceptions (Ibidem, 168) suggest that things are complex. Infantile individuals are really scarce (Delibes 1995, 78; Rojo et al. 2005, 218-222), but again in remarkable passage graves as the Azután dolmen in Toledo have been documented (even neonatal ones) (Bueno et al. 2005, 180). Nevertheless the percentage they represent is minimal, especially when compared with the original population, given the presumed prehistoric infant mortality rates.

4. Conclusions To sum up, it seems clear that along the IVth millennium cal BC important transformations occur in the burial rituals of Neolithic groups in the interior of Iberia. The extension and evolution of megalithic tombs is reflecting the evolving of profound social, economic and ideological changes. Farming groups in the interior of Iberia receive the technological innovations of the “secondary products revolution” (Sherratt 1981), notably increasing

The grave goods deposited with the dead are strikingly uniform (Figure 6), especially the lithic industry, where diverse types of flint blades (Figure 5: A) and other elements had been recovered, but especially geometric 26

From pits to megaliths: Neolithic burials in the interior of Iberia their production surplus, and perhaps the population. Societies emerging from this process exhibit important transformations in the economic and social structure, but also in their symbolic and ideological world (Criado 1989, Vicent 1990). The human impact on the surrounding environment is increasingly considerable, since the plough extends the cultivated area, clearing the landscape (López et al. 2011, 216).

Treserras, J., López, P., López, J.A., Matamala, J.C. and Sánchez, B. 2002. Áreas habitacionales y funerarias en el Neolítico de la cuenca interior del Tajo: la provincia de Toledo. Trabajos de Prehistoria 59 (2), 65-79. Bueno, P., Balbín, R. and Barroso, R. 2005. El dolmen de Azután (Toledo). Áreas de habitación y áreas funerarias en la cuenca interior del Tajo. Alcalá de Henares. Universidad de Alcalá. Diputación de Toledo. Bueno, P., Barroso, R. and Balbín R. de 2010. Megalitos en la cuenca interior del Tajo. In J. Fernández and J.A. Mújika (eds), Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre megalitismo y otras manifestaciones funerarias contemporáneas en su contexto social, económico y cultural. Munibe (suplemento) 32, 152-187. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi. San Sebastián. Criado F. 1989. Megalitos, espacio, pensamiento. Trabajos de Prehistoria 46 (1), 75-98. Delibes, G. 1995. Ritos funerarios, demografía y estructura social entre las comunidades neolíticas de la submeseta norte. In R. Fábregas, F. Pérez & C. Fernández (eds.), Arqueoloxía da Morte. Arqueología da Morte na Península Ibérica desde as Orixes ata o Medievo. Excmo. Concello de Xinzo de Limia, 63-94. Delibes, G. 2000. Cinabrio, huesos pintados en rojo y tumbas de ocre: ¿prácticas de embalsamamiento en la Prehistoria? Scripta in Honorem Enrique A. Llobregat Conesa. Alicante. Ed. Universidad de Alicante. Diputación de Alicante, 223-236. Delibes, G. 2010. La investigación de las sepulturas colectivas monumentales del IV milenio A.C. en la submeseta Norte española. Horizonte 2007. In J. Fernández and J.A. Mújika (eds), Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre megalitismo y otras manifestaciones funerarias contemporáneas en su contexto social, económico y cultural. Munibe (suplemento) 32, 12-56 Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi. San Sebastián. Delibes, G., Alonso, M. and Galván, R. 1986. El Miradero: un enterramiento colectivo tardoneolítico de Villanueva de los Caballeros (Valladolid). Estudios en Homenaje al Dr. Antonio Beltrán Martínez. Zaragoza, 227-236. Delibes, G., Estremera, M.S., Alonso, O. and Pastor, F. 1999. ¿Sepultura o reliquia? A propósito de un cráneo hallado en ambiente habitacional en la cueva de La Vaquera (Segovia). Actas del II Congrés del Neolític a la Península Ibèrica, Saguntum (P.L.A.V.), Extra 2, 429-434. Delibes, G. and Paz, F.J. de 2000. Idolo-espátula sobre radio humano en el ajuar de un sepulcro megalítico de la Meseta. SPAL, Revista de prehistoria y arqueología de la Universidad de Sevilla 9, 341-350. Garrido, R. 2000. El Campaniforme en la Meseta Central de la Península Ibérica (c. 2500-2000 A.C.). Oxford. BAR International Series 892. Gibaja, J.F. 2003. Comunidades Neolíticas del Noreste de la Península Ibérica. Una aproximación socioeconómica a partir del estudio de la función de los útiles líticos. Oxford. BAR International Series S1140.

The construction of Megalithic Monuments, as powerful and permanent symbols, transforms the natural landscape into a cultural one, where ritual cycles (solstices and equinoctials mark the different seasons, the harvest, etc.) organize the recurrent frequentation of those sacred spaces in the context of cyclic ceremonies. Inside these structures the deceased people are transformed into ancestors, becoming part of a social body represented by the mass of bones in the ossuary, where the remains of man, women and children mix together (Rojo et al. 2005, 2010). However this apparent unity could be masking an emergent reality of social differentiation, to be fully evolved along the third millennium cal BC (Ibidem). As we have previously pointed out it seems that not everyone had access to the megalithic burial ritual, and, at least, in some areas it is also clear an increasing monumentality and complexity in the construction of megaliths along the IVth millennium cal BC. Structures separating certain bodies inside the mass of bones of the ossuary have also been documented (Rojo et al. 2005), as well as concentrations of grave goods around some individuals (Guerra et al. 2009). This entire picture is reflecting that certain individuals or families increased their power in the social and economic structure, probably by controlling the increasing production surpluses, and they were beginning to exhibit those privileges also in the symbolic arena of burials. It is likely that the image of a strong united community around the powerful collective symbol of the megalithic sepulchre was beginning to crack. References Alameda, M.C., Carmona, E., Pascual, S., Martínez, G. and Díez, C. 2011. El campo de hoyos calcolítico de Fuente Celada (Burgos): datos preliminares y perspectivas. Complutum 22(1), 47-69. Bernabeu, J. 2010. El Mundo funerario entre el VI y el II milenio A.C. In A. Pérez Fernández y B. Soler Mayor (eds), Restos de vida, restos de muerte. La muerte en la Prehistoria (Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia, del 4 de Febrero al 30 de Mayo de 2010), 45-54. Museo de Valencia. Diputación de Valencia. Blasco, A., Edo, M., Villalba, M.J. and Saña, M. 2005. Primeros datos sobre la utilización sepulcral de la Cueva de Can Sadurní (Begues, Baix Llobregat) en el Neolítico Cardial. In R. Ontañón, C. García-Moncó and P. Arias (eds), Actas del III Congreso del Neolítico en la Península Ibérica (Santander, 5-8 de octubre de 2003), 625-634. Universidad de Cantabria. Santander. Bueno, P., Barroso, R., Balbín, R. de, Campo, M., Etxeberría, F., González, A., Herrasti, L., Juan27

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Gibaja, J.F. 2004. Prácticas funerarias durante el Neolítico en Cataluña. Mainake XXVI, 9-27. Guerra, E., Delibes, G., Zapatero, P. and Villalobos, R. 2009. Primus inter pares: estrategias de diferenciación social en los sepulcros megalíticos de la submeseta norte española. BSAA arqueología LXXV, 41-65. Jiménez, J. 2001. El yacimiento de Valdivia (Madrid). Nuevos elementos materiales para la interpretación del Neolítico del interior peninsular. Estudios de Prehistoria y Arqueología Madrileñas 11, 59-68. Jiménez, J. and Alonso, C. in press. El Neolítico en el Corredor Alto Ebro-Alto Duero: dos hallazgos funerarios del Neolítico Antiguo y Reciente en Monasterio de Rodilla (Burgos). 5º Congreso do Neolítico Peninsular, Lisboa (7-9 Abril 2011). Universidade de Lisboa. López, J.A., López, L., Pérez, S. and Alba, F. 2011. Paleopaisajes de Andalucía oriental durante la transición Mesolítico-Neolítico antiguo. In J.F. Gibaja and A.F. Carvalho (eds), Os últimos caçadores – recolectores e as primeiras comunidades produtoras do sul da Península Ibérica e do norte de Marrocos. Actas do Workshop (Faro, 2-4 de Novembro de 2009). Universidade do Algarve, Faro. Promontoria Monográfica 15, 213-220. Losada, H. 1976. El dolmen de Entretérminos (Madrid). Trabajos de Prehistoria 33, 209-226. Martín, A. 2007. Yacimiento de El Congosto (RivasVaciamadrid). La fase neolítica. Actas de las segundas jornadas de Patrimonio Arqueológico en la Comunidad de Madrid. Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, 201-205. Molist, M. and Clop, X. 2010. Los orígenes del megalitismo en Cataluña en el marco de las prácticas funerarias del Neolítico. In J. Fernández & J.A. Mujika (eds), Actas del Congreso Internacional sobre Megalitismo y otras manifestaciones funerarias contemporáneas en su contexto social, económico y cultural. Munibe (suplemento) 32, 212-224. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi. San Sebastián. Rojas, J.M. and Villa, J.R. 1996. Una inhumación individual de época neolítica en Villamayor de Calatrava (Ciudad Real). Actas del I Congrés del Neolític a la Península Ibérica. Rubricatum 1, vol. 2, 509-518. Rojo, M.A., Kunst, M., Garrido, R., García, I. and Morán, G. 2005. Un desafío a la eternidad. Tumbas monumentales del Valle de Ambrona. MemoriasArqueología en Castilla y León 14, Junta de Castilla y León. Rojo, M.A., Kunst, M., Garrido, R. and García, I. 2006. La Neolitización de la Meseta Norte a la luz del C-14: análisis de 47 dataciones absolutas de dos yacimientos domésticos del Valle de Ambrona, Soria, España. Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina XXVI, 39-100. Rojo, M.A., Kunst, M., Garrido, R., García, I. and Morán, G. 2008. Paisajes de la Memoria. Asentamientos del Neolítico antiguo en el Valle de Ambrona (Soria, España). Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Valladolid. Valladolid.

Rojo, M.A., Garrido, R. and García, I. 2010. Tombs for the Dead, Monuments to Eternity: the deliberate destruction of Megalithic graves by fire in the interior highlands of Iberia (Soria province, Spain). Oxford Journal of Archaeology 29 (3), 253-275. Sherratt, A. 1981. Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the secondary products revolution. In I. Hodder, G. Isaac and N. Hammond (eds), Pattern of the past. Studies in Honour of David Clarke. Cambridge, C.U.P., 261-305. Utrilla, P., Lorenzo, J.I., Baldellou, V., Sopena, M.C. and Ayuso, P. 2008. Enterramiento masculino en fosa, cubierto de cantos rodados, en el Neolítico Antiguo de la Cueva de Chaves. In M. Hernández, J.A. Soler & J.A. López (eds), Actas del IV Congreso del Neolítico Peninsular (Alicante, 27-30 Noviembre 2006), MARQ. Diputación Provincial de Alicante, Alicante. Vol. II, 131-140. Vicent, J.M. 1990. El neolític: transformacions socials i econòmiques. In J. Anfruns y E. Llobet (eds), El canvi cultural a la Prehistòria. Barcelona. Columna, 241293. Vidal, J.M. and Prada, M.E., eds. 2010. Los hombres mesolíticos de la cueva de La Braña-Arintero (Valdelugueros, León). Junta de Castilla y León. Museo de León. Whittle, A. 2003. The archaeology of people: dimensions of Neolithic life. Routledge. London & New York. Williams, M. 2003. Growing metaphors: the agricultural cycle as metaphor in the later prehistoric period of Britain and North-Western Europe. Journal of Social Archaeology 3 (2), 223-255.

28

FUNERARY PRACTICES DURING THE EARLY-MIDDLE NEOLITHIC IN NORTH- EAST IBERIA Juan F. GIBAJA,a Maria Eulàlia SUBIRÀ,b Xavier TERRADAS,a Eva FERNÁNDEZc and Jordi RUÌZb a. CSIC–IMF. Departamento de Arqueología y Antropología. Investigador contratado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Subprograma Ramón y Cajal. C/Egipciàques, 15. 08001 Barcelona, Spain ([email protected], terradas@ imf.csic.es). b. GRAPAC (Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural), Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica, Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d’Ecologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain ([email protected], [email protected]). c. Instituto de Arqueologia e Paleociências. Universidade Nova de Lisboa e do Algarve. Lisboa 1069-061, Portugal ([email protected]) Abstract: The North-East of the Iberian Peninsula is doubtlessly one of the areas where the funerary practices of Neolithic communities have best been documented. Although little evidence has been found of human remains and burials belonging to the first moments of the period, the situation changes greatly after the late fifth millennium cal BC. At that time, the occupation of the valleys and the plains is accompanied by the expansion of communities in the area, as reflected by the numerous necropolises and graves that are dated up to the late fourth millennium. Keywords: North-East Iberia, Neolithic, Graves, Anthropological study

1. Geographical and Historical Background: the Early Neolithic

The first Neolithic occupations have been documented in areas near the coast, although they spread through much of the region after about 5200 cal BC. The first groups, like those that would later expand throughout the region, were perfectly versed in the techniques to make pottery and chipped and polished stone tools. Their agriculture and animal husbandry was consolidated, including the production of cereals and legumes (Triticum aestivum t. compactum, Triticum aestivum/durum, Triticum dicoccum, Hordeum vulgare nudum and Hordeum vulgare, Vicia fava and Pissum sativum) and livestock (sheep – Ovis aries, goats – Capra hircus, cattle – Bos taurus, and swine – Sus domesticus).

The geography and climate in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula is extremely heterogeneous. The peaks of the Pyrenees in the north contrast with the plains of central Catalonia and Aragon, and the gentle hills of the coastal ranges running north-south parallel to the Mediterranean shore. These ranges consist of two lines of mountains: the pre-littoral chain and the littoral chain. Between them, a wide valley is extremely fertile because of the geological substrate and the numerous springs that water it and which did not go unnoticed by past communities. It is a natural corridor enabling north-south connections and communications across the region of Catalonia. In turn, the plains in the central depression possess good communications with the Mediterranean along the Llobregat and Ebro rivers (Fig. 1).

2. Funerary practices: burial structures What do we know about the funerary practices of the first Neolithic communities that settled in North-East Iberia? Unfortunately, hardly anything. To date, the oldest evidence comes from the burial in “Plaza de la Vila de Madrid” in Barcelona, where one of the bones of the deceased was dated to the mid-sixth millennium cal BC (see below).

In this geographical area, the first, very incipient, evidence of the Neolithic is dated to 5500-5400 cal BC at a number of sites in caves, rock-shelters and in the open air: e.g. Can Sadurní, Cova del Vidre, Cueva de Chaves, La Font del Ros and Cova del Frare (Martín et al. 1985, Pallarès et al. 1997, Bosch 2001, Blasco et al. 2005, Utrilla et al. 2008).

The cave of Can Sadurní is also near Barcelona, in the town of Begues. This site has a long stratigraphic sequence with occupations going from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. Within Level 18, belonging to the initial Neolithic, five possible burials have been documented (an adult, an individual of indeterminate age, a subadult and two infants). According to the excavators, these were associated with large vessels full of cereal, remains of sheep and goats, stone tools, and a series of adornments (bracelets made with shells and beads shaped out of fish vertebrae).

The information we currently possess about the last indigenous Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities is very limited. In fact, at the few sites where stratigraphic continuity exists with the first Neolithic occupations, a hiatus of about 600 or 1000 years is observed, possibly as a result of the 8200 yr cal BP event (Berger and Guilaine 2009, González et al. 2009).

29

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 1. Sites cited in the text. 1. La Draga, 2. el Puig d’en Roca (Girona), 3. Cova del Pasteral, 4. Cova del Avellaner, 5. Grupo sepulturas Tavertet (Rajols, Font de la Vena y el Padró), 6. Cova de les Grioteres, 7. La Font del Ros, 8. Feixa del Moro, 9. Sepultura Segudet, 10. Pla del Riu de les Marcetes, 11. Cova del Frare, 12. Can Roqueta, 13. Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús,14. Camí de Can Grau,15. Les Agulles, 16. Contextos funerarios documentados en Barcelona (Plaza de la Vila de Madrid, Carrer Reina Amàlia, Sant Pau del Camp, Ave Sant Andreu), 17. Minas GavàFerreres, 18. Cova Can Sadurní, 19. Ca l’Estrada and Cova Foradada, 20. Pou Nou 2, 21. Pujolet de la Moja, 22. Hort d’en Grimau, 23. Grupo sepulturas del Ebro (Mas de Serós, Mas de Xies, Clota del Molinàs o Mas de Benita), 24. Cova del Vidre.

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Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia The determinations made of some cereal grains found near the burials situate the occupation of this level in the middle of the sixth millennium cal BC. However, it is not until the mid-fifth millennium cal BC that we begin to find different forms of burials more assiduously: multiple burials in caves and rock-shelters, and individual burials in graves and in structures made with large flagstones (cists). In the caves of Avellaner, Les Grioteres, Pasteral and Chaves, the collective burials (which were possibly successive and not simultaneous) were made with very little preparation of the area where the body was to be interred. They are places where the Neolithic societies lived and carried out certain economic and subsistence activities, and also where they buried their dead. The remains are usually associated with few grave goods, even in the case of numerous burials, as at Cova de l’Avellaner, with 19 individuals (Bosch and Tarrús 1991). At Cueva de Chaves (Huesca), an adult individual was found in a grave sealed with cobblestones forming a small tumulus. He was seated with his legs folded in a kind of a shroud. The grave goods included a blade in rock crystal and a bone ring (Utrilla et al. 2008). The groups settled on the coast or near it carried out burials in graves and in cists. In the central coast and surrounding areas there are burials in individual graves which are often in isolation, as at the sites of Carrer Reina Amàlia and Ca l’Estrada. In contrast, in the south, in the 1950s and 60s, a series of burials were excavated at the mouth of the Ebro (Mas de Serós, Mas de Xies, Clota del Molinàs and Mas de Benita), where the graves were enclosed with flagstones placed vertically and lateral chamber (Fig. 2) (Bosch and Santacana 2009).

Figure 2. Burials found at the end of the Ebro river, Tarragona (Bosch and Santacana 2009). del Camp (Barcelona) with 25 graves, Camí de Can Grau (Barcelona) with 25, Puig d’en Roca (Girona) with 16, Pla del Riu de les Marcetes (Barcelona) with 8, and above all at the archaeological complex of Bòbila MadurellCan Gambús (Barcelona) with about 180 graves (Guitart 1987, Martín et al. 1988, 1996, Alaminós and Blanch 1992, Granados et al. 1993, Pou et al. 1994, Martí et al. 1997, Gibaja 2003, Molist et al. 2008, Roig and Coll 2010, Roig et al. 2010).

In areas near the Pyrenees (Tavertet, Girona), we can observe the first megalithic structures at the sites of Rajols, Font de la Vena and El Padró (Molist et al. 1987). These are rectangular or trapezoidal cists covered by large mounds (with a maximum diameter of 22m and height of 2m), bounded by an outer ring formed by a circle of standing stones (cromlech).

The typology of these grave burials is quite diverse in their general morphology: the form of the entrance, the presence or not of side chambers, the methods of sealing the tomb, etc. The recent excavation of the necropolis at Can Gambús 1, with the exceptional conservation of some of the funerary structures, has enabled the definition of six forms of burials in graves dated this period (Roig and Coll 2010, Roig et al. 2010) (Fig. 3).

After the late fifth millennium, and above all during the fourth millennium, the Neolithic communities began to exhibit a preference for valleys and plains near the rivers. These are places with outstanding climatic and edaphic conditions for farming. At the same time, certain areas near the settlements were chosen as places to bury their dead; the first necropolises are documented in this period. The burials are usually in graves under floors and in cists, which can take different shapes (Cura 1992, Martí et al. 1997, Roig and Coll 2010, Roig et al. 2010). The former are usually in areas near the coast, whereas the latter are found in inland regions and occasionally even in high mountain areas.

The burials in cists (Fig. 4) are usually found in isolation or forming small groups, as in the case of the five burials at El Solar (Lleida). They have been found in inland Catalonia and also in the foothills of the Pyrenees: the burials at Feixa del Moro and Segudet in Andorra (Royo 1984 Llobera 1986, Cardona et al. 1996, Yáñez et al. 2002, Castany 2008). Finally, during this period, funerary practices have been recorded in such a specific context as the Gavà Mines (Barcelona). The mines were worked mainly to extract

The burials in graves are found both in isolation and grouped together to form necropolises, as at Sant Pau

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic variscite to make ornaments and were re-used as funerary places (Villalba 1999, Bosch and Borrell 2009). Collective burials have been found inside the mines, associated with a few artefacts, while structures were made ex profeso to hold a single individual with very rich grave-goods. Finally, about 3000-2500 cal BC, these burial forms were gradually abandoned as a result of the increase in the building of megalithic structures such as hypogeums and burial caves that were occasionally artificial. 3. Disposal of the dead In caves, the remains are usually found dispersed and rarely in anatomical connection. Caves were used by humans and as shelters for animals, whether they were wild or stabled. The use of these caves, added to their own geological evolution, causes the disturbance of the human remains in the burial level. As a result, the original position of the remains cannot always be assessed, nor their association with any grave-goods. Although the individuals are generally found with a low skeletal representation and badly fragmented, some ritual aspects may be determined. In certain caves, the most representative skeletal parts, enabling the quantification of the individuals (MNI or minimum number of individuals), are the teeth and the hand and foot bones. These are all small pieces that tend to remain in situ after the cadaver is deposited and demonstrate its primary nature. This has been seen in burial caves like Can Sadurní (Castellana et al. 1989, Carrasco et al. 1989), Les Agulles (Gómez et al. 2011) and Foradada (Cebrià et al. 2011). At the latter site,

Figure 3. Morphology of the burials in Can Gambús 1 site, Barcelona (Roig et al, 2010).

Figure 4. The burials in cists: morphology (Bosch and Santacana 2009).

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Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia interment and cremation have been documented. Nine individuals were interred: a four-year old infant and a 9-11 year old child, a female juvenile about 18 years old, a 25-35 year old adult, a 45-65 year old female, and three individuals of indeterminate age and sex.

together with the rite of inhumation, it has been possible to document the cremation of a minimum number of three individuals. The information that can be obtained from individual graves and the necropolises is much greater, and certain diachronic traits can be determined. As noted above, the oldest remains have been found at the site of Plaza de la Vila de Madrid. The individual was found seated inside the structure, resting against its wall, with the legs bent and probably covered by a shroud (Pou et al. 2010). The studies made of the individual found at Ca l’Estrada also suggest that the body would have been inside a shroud lying on its right side, with the lower limbs flexed (Subirà 2004). Therefore, in the case of the few early Neolithic burials that have been documented, the individuals had their arms held around their flexed legs and were wrapped in a shroud.

Three individuals were cremated: 1 perinatal, 1 infant and 1 indeterminate adult (Cebrià et al. 2011). Another small cave where similar results have been obtained is Cova de les Agulles: 1 neonate, 1 infant 2.5 - 5 years old, 4 children between 6 and 12 years old, 3 adults and 1 aged adult. The proportion of children is therefore larger than at Cova Foradada (Gómez et al. 2011). Of all the caves that have been studied, Can Sadurní is doubtlessly the best known. It is a large cave where human remains dated from the Early Neolithic onwards have been found. In 1989 a minimum number of 48 adults and 14 children was established (Castellana et al. 1989, Carrasco et al. 1989). More recently, individuals belonging to different age groups have been documented in Early Neolithic layers (Level 18) (see above).

In the Middle Neolithic (after the early fourth millennium), the site that has yielded the greatest amount of information is Can Gambús 1. All the burials, whatever the shape of the grave, were inside an empty space, without covering the cadaver with earth. In over 80% of the cases, the cadavers were lying on their backs; although the figure could be higher as in 11% of the graves the position of the cadaver could not be determined. In half the cases the bodies were not lying flat, but had their legs flexed upwards. It seems that the head would have been placed on a cushion-like object made of a perishable material. Another important Middle Neolithic necropolis is Camí de Can Grau. A total of 24 graves with 36 individuals have been documented, as some graves contained several bodies. Like at Can Gambús 1, the graves were not filled with earth and the cadavers were laid on their backs with their legs flexed upwards.

More information can be obtained from the necropolises owing to the higher number of individuals. Two of the largest necropolises that have been studied to date will serve as examples: Camí de Can Grau and Can Gambús 1. The population at Camí de Can Grau consisted of 14 males, 9 females and 13 individuals of indeterminate sex, in ten cases because they were sub- adults. As regards the age of the deceased, there were six infantile individuals, five sub-adults, 22 adults and three mature individuals. The number of adult and mature men is larger than that of women of the same age, which suggests men enjoyed a higher life expectancy. There are no neonates or individuals of senile age. At Can Gambús 1, from a total of 51 individuals, we have identified 21 males and 15 females. This proportion is similar to that at Camí de Can Grau if we take into account that the sex of a significant number of individuals is unknown. However, unlike Camí de Can Grua, there are no infants or children under 18 years of age. Again, life expectancy is higher for men than for women, and one man reached a senile stage. In general, life expectancy is higher than at Camí de Can Grau, as over 40% of the individuals reached over 35 years of age.

4. Anthropological description With the archaeological data that is currently available, the number of skeletal remains that have been found does not define the population that lived in North-East Iberia in the Early and Middle Neolithic (sixth-fourth millennium cal BC). The necropolises that have been excavated are small, except for Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús, and anthropological studies have either not been carried out or have not been undertaken from a wide enough perspective. For example, in recent years finds have been made in larger necropolises, but no anthropological information is available for most of them. However, the data from some sites will be used to explain what the population in NorthEast Iberia might have been like.

The absence of infantile burials should not be associated with good living conditions and extreme care, which would avoid their death. We believe that the life expectancy study, the location of the graves in one particular sector of the site, and the richness of the grave-goods indicate that the deceased were individuals with certain significance within the community, and we should not expect children to be buried in the same area.

In the case of burial caves, not all the material has been recovered, as these have tended to be short excavations. In most cases, studies have still not been carried out and only partial data is known.

In both necropolises it is seen that, although the living conditions were presumably quite hard, this is not reflected in the bones, and nor can any appreciable differences be

The results from Cova Foradada have recently been published. This is a small cave where rituals of both 33

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 5. Burial of Can Gambus 1 with the grave goods (Photo Arrago S.L.). seen between the individuals buried in caves and those in the necropolises. Life expectancy was not very high, as might be expected in a rural community, but no evidence for the cause of death can be recognised in most of the individuals, not even in the younger ones. The life expectancy itself reduces the possibility of finding degenerative diseases, since these appear later in life, even in those cases where physical activity must have been significant. In this respect, slight articular lesions have been observed which can generally be attributed to arthritic processes in the cervical and lumbar regions of the spinal column.

artefacts, and it is usual to find burials with no gravegoods. This is the case of the caves of Avellaner, Grioteres and Pasteral, where hardly any offerings were left with the deceased. In these caves, only occasionally a few individuals are accompanied by pottery vessels, stone or bone tools, remains of fauna or adornments like bracelets and stone pendants (Bosch and Tarrús 1991). In the cist burials in inland Catalonia, the individuals are similarly rarely associated with quantitatively and qualitatively significant grave-goods. This may be the result of the ideological dynamics of the community, the poor state of conservation of some of the tombs, or later intrusions suffered during the intervening millennia. The situation of the burials in graves is absolutely different, especially those dated after the late fifth millennium cal BC. In the first grave burials found in the sites in the city of Barcelona and surrounding area, with chronologies ranging from the mid-sixth millennium to the middle-late fifth millennium cal BC, the burials contain few or no grave-goods. This is the case of the burials at “Plaza de la Vila de Madrid”, Reina Amàlia, Ave Sant Andreu, Pujolet de la Moja, Hort d’en Grimau, Pou Nou 2, Ca l’Estrada and those in the necropolis at Sant Pau del Camp (Mestres 1988/1989, Mestres et al. 1997, Fortó et al. 2006, Molist 2008, Molist et al 2008, González and Harzbecher 2010,

Most of the traumatisms are fractures in the fore-arm caused by blows or falls. They have been documented in three individuals at Camí de Can Grau and four from Can Gambús 1. Infection lesions have been detected in few cases, although it is clear that part of the population would have died from pathogenic agents. In these cases, they must have been rapid infection processes which left no evidence in the bones. 5. Description of associated artefacts In the Early Neolithic, many of the burials that have been documented are associated with a very small number of

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Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia

Figure 7. Grave goods found in a tomb of the mining complex of Gavà-Ferreres, Barcelona (Photo Gavà Museum).

Figure 6. Core and the unused blade from Can Ganbús 1 (Roig et al, 2010). Arroyo in press). There is only one exception; the 10 or 11-year old male individual buried in Grave 17 at Sant Pau del Camp, who was found together with two goats, some potsherds, a polished axe, and several flint and jasper flakes and blades (Gibaja 2003).

with pottery and bone instruments, while the most representative goods found with infants are adornments made with stone beads (mainly variscite). However, some adults were also buried with necklaces with numerous beads. Functional analysis of the lithic implements showed that certain activities were linked mainly with males (defleshing, wood-working and hunting/defence), with females (treating hides) or with all the group regardless of age or sex (cereal-reaping) (Gibaja 2003).

The situation changes radically in the fourth millennium cal BC, with the presence of male, infantile and to a lesser extent female burials associated with grave-goods characterised by their abundance and the presence of objects that must have been quite valuable, if we take into account their origin and the time and effort needed to obtain, manufacture and transport them (Fig. 5). These objects include the numerous implements made from “honey flint”, which possibly came from south-east France (Fig. 6); a series of axes and adzes made from raw materials like serpentine or jadeite that in many cases came from the Alps; the outstanding products made from obsidian (several blades and a core) that must have come from Italian islands (in one case, almost certainly from Monte Arci, in Sardinia) and the variscite ornaments made from the rock extracted from Gavà Mines in Barcelona and which certainly reached as far as the Rhone and the whole Ebro Valley (Terradas and Gibaja 2002, Gibaja 2003, Bosch et al. 2009, Roig et al. 2010).

6. Chronology Until quite recently, the approximate chronology of the Early and Middle Neolithic sites was determined from the archaeological record, above all from the shape and decoration of the pottery. By the end of the twentieth century, few radiocarbon determinations had been obtained apart from at Gavà Prehistoric Mines, Bòbila Madurell, La Draga and Can Sadurní (Figs. 8 and 9) The situation has now changed as regards the burials, as most researchers have dated samples of biological matter with a short life. Most of these dates come from: Can Sadurní, the Gavà-Ferreres mine system, Can Gambús 1, Camí de Can Grau, Can Roqueta, Ca l’Estrada, Plaza de la Vila de Madrid and Carrer Reina Amàlia (Mestres and Martín 1996, Martí et al. 1997, Blasco et al. 2005, Roig et al. 2010, Gibaja et al. 2010, Pou et al., 2010).

The burials with large numbers of grave-goods of outstanding quality are found in isolation or forming part of some of the largest necropolises at that time, like Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús, and in some of the mine tunnels re-used or opened ex profeso in the Gavà Mines (Fig. 7). Therefore, these goods are not distributed equally among all the individuals in the community and there were differences between men and women. At Bòbila Madurell necropolis, it has been seen that male individuals are associated with lithic implements and females more

These dates have enabled us to appreciate that funerary evidence is found in North-East Iberia from the start of the Neolithic (burial in Plaza de la Vila de Madrid), although it becomes more frequent in the second half of the fifth millennium cal BC, both in caves and in grave and cist burials (Fortó et al. 2006; González and Harzbecher 2010). However, the latter structures are most representative of

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic the first half of the fourth millennium cal BC in much of the region. It is therefore necessary for further dating to be carried out in order to attain an understanding of when and for how long the different funerary practices were being followed, and how long the different necropolises were in use.

biomolecular degradation, which depends mainly on the depositional environment and the conditions in which the remains are stored after being excavated. Despite these difficulties, three studies have explored the genetic makeup of Neolithic populations; a total of 31 individuals have been analysed, whose chronology goes from the midsixth to the early fourth millennia cal BC.

7. Other analyses: aDNA

The first study (Sampietro et al. 2007) focused on the analysis of 23 graves at the site of Camí de Can Grau. Mitochondrial genetic background of 11 individuals was similar to that of the modern population in the same geographical region in terms of the presence and frequency

To date, only a few studies of ancient DNA have been carried out on samples from the North-East of the Iberian Peninsula. Few human remains are available to be sampled, in addition to the limitations imposed by

Site Plaça Vila de Madrid Can Sadurní Can Sadurní Padró II –TavertetAvellaner Padró II –TavertetCa l’estrada Carrer Reina Amàlia Lladres Bòbila Madurell Hort Grimau Cova del Pasteral Hort Grimau Can Roqueta Els Mallols Can Roqueta Cal Oliaire Can Tintorer Pla Riu Marcetes Minas Gavà -Ferreres Pujolet de Moja Can Gambús Minas Gavà -Ferreres Garrics de Caballol I Minas Gavà -Ferreres Minas Gavà -Ferreres Can Gambús Garrics de Caballol II Can Gambús Camí Can Grau Bòbila Madurell Camí Can Grau Camí Can Grau Cova del Toixó Can Tintorer Bòbila d’en Joca Can Gambús Bòbila Madurell

Level/Burial Capa 18 Capa 18 exterior cámara z3 ext.cámara Tumba SF-501 E-XIV (UF I) Sep G17 E17 Espai III E8 Capa 1 tumba E114 Capa 1 Fossa F6 Mina 6-Pozo 1g Mina 90 Tumba E167 Mina 84 cista 1 Mina 84 Mina 84 Tumba E246 Tumba E110 CCG-5 BMS 78 CCG-44 CCG-38 Mina 28A-CIV Tumba E515 Ind.2 BM M7

Sample

Dates BP

Laboratory

Human bone Cereal seed Cereal seed Charcoal Human bone Charcoal Human bone Human bone Charcoal Human bone Charcoal Human bone Charcoal Human bone Human bone Human bone Human bone Charcoal Human bone Charcoal Charcoal Human bone Charcoal Human bone Human bone Human bone Human bone Human bone Human bone Human bone Charcoal Human bone Human bone Human bone Charcoal Human bone Human bone Human bone

6440±40 6421±34 6405±55 5870±100 5830±100 5770±80 5740±-40 5720±40 5330±90 5310±90 5270±65 5270±70 5250±65 5220±50 5170±80 5130±50 5080±80 5070±100 5040±100 5000±40 4990±70 4980±40 4960±40 4950±70 4910±40 4880±40 4865±40 4860±45 4850±80 4840±40 4810±70 4790±50 4760±50 4740±70 4610±90 4600±70 4570±60 4560±80

Beta-180271 OxA-15488 UBAR-760 UBAR-115 UBAR-109 UBAR-114 Poz-10391 Beta-259279 UBAR-63 UBAR-442 A-465 UBAR-101 A-464 Beta-189077 UBAR-583 Beta-189075 Beta-147811 I-11786 UGRA-349 Beta-250404 Beta-62851 UBAR-901 Beta-250402 UBAR-127 Beta-250406 Beta-250405 UBAR-902 UBAR209 UBAR-900 Beta-120560 UBAR-586 Beta-120559 Beta-120561 UBAR408 UBAR-47 Oxa-8876 UBAR-903 UBAR-443

Figure 8. Dates obtained in funerary contexts. 36

Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia

Figure 9. Calibrated dates.

Finally, the recent study by Lacan et al. (2011) reports on the results of mtDNA (maternal line), Y- chromosome (paternal line) and autosomic STRs (close family relationships) for a total of seven individuals from the epicardial site of Cova de l’Avellaner (Bosch and Tarrús 1991). In this case, the results suggest different origins for the maternal line, with a Palaeolithic molecular dating, and the paternal line, dated in the Neolithic in accordance with population genetic studies. These results seems to suggest differences in the mobility pattern of males and females in the Neolithic, pointing at a predominant role of male individuals in the spread of the Neolithic. However, as the authors acknowledge, the stablished criteria of authenticity for the publication of ancient DNA studies were not observed strictly. The absence of data in the publication about some of the criteria used, such as cloning and repetition in the extraction and amplification of some samples, makes it difficult to assess the results from a methodological point of view.

of mitochondrial haplogroups. This was interpreted as evidence of genetic continuity between both periods and, consequently, of a predominantly demic role of the spread of the Neolithic in the region. Gamba et al. 2012 obtained mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from a minimum number of 13 individuals from the Cardial Neolithic sites of Can Sadurní, Cueva de Chaves and the post-Cardial site of Sant Pau del Camp. In this case, together with a qualitative assessment of the frequencies of haplogroups and haplotypes, a bayesian simulation analysis was performed. The genetic background of the studied population was compared with the modern population in the same region and with the Middle Neolithic population studied by Sampietro et al. (2007). The results showed a genetic difference between the first group and the other two, which could only be explained by small populational sizes at the beginning of the Neolithic according to the simulation studies. In addition, mitochondrial haplogroups N1 and X1, very rare nowadays in Europe but more common in the Near East, were detected in the studied samples. These results have been interpreted as evidence of a pioneering colonisation by small groups from the Near East in the Early Neolithic. The genetic footprint left by these first groups would have been erased later by a process of “genetic drift”; the random transmission of certain lineages from one generation to another.

Consequently, while ancient DNA is a powerful tool to understand the dispersion pattern of the Neolithic, the available results are still very fragmentary. The differences in the quality of the data, the methodologies employed, and the available data used for comparison and interpretation of the results makes it difficult to compare the outcome of the different studies.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic 8. Discussion

Investigació sobre el Neolític a Catalunya. 9è Col.loqui International d’Arqueologia de Puigcerdà,181-182. Arroyo, S. in press. LAV Sector Sant Andreu. Anuari d´Arqueologia i Patrimoni de Barcelona. Berger, J.F. and Guilaine, J. 2009. The 8200 cal BP abrupt environmental change and the Neolithic transition: A Mediterranean perspective. Quaternary International 200, 31-49. Blasco, A.,, Edo, M,, Villalba, M. and and Saña, M. 2005.. Primeros datos sobre la utilización sepulcral de la Cueva de Can Sadurní (Bergues, Baix Llobregat) en el Neolítico Cardial. III Congreso del neolítico de la Península Ibérica, 625-634. Bosch, A. and Tarrús, J. 1991. La cova sepulcral del Neolític antic de l´Avellaner, Cogolls, Les Planes d’Hostoles (La Garrotxa). Girona. Sèrie Monogràfica 11, Centre d’Investigacions Arqueològiques. Bosch, J. 2001. Les ocupacions prehistòriques de caçadors-recol·lectors a la Cova del Vidre (Roquetes): Assentament i clima. Recerca 5, 9-20. Bosch, J. and Borrell, F. 2009. Intervencions arqueològiques a les Mines de Gavà (sector serra de les Ferreres), anys 1998-2009. Rubricatum 4. Bosch, J. and Santacana, J. 2009. Blat, metalls i cabdills. Catalunya del neolític a la iberització. Rafael Dalmau Editor. Barcelona. Bosch, J., Gibaja, J.F. and Gratuze, B. 2009. Estudi de una peça neolítica d’obsidiana procedent de la mina 83 de Gavà: tipologia, funcionalitat i petrografia. Intervencions arqueològiques a les Mines de Gavà (sector de les Ferreres). Anys 1998-2009. De la variscita al ferro: neolític i antiguitat. Rubricatum 4, 133-138 Cardona, R., Castany, J., Guardia, J., Guerrero, Ll., Ramon, M. and Solé, J. 1996. Estrategias d’intercanvi i societat a la Catalunya interior durant el Neolític Mig: el Solsonià. I Congrés del Neolític a la Península Ibèrica, Rubricatum 1, 537-548. Carrasco, T, Malgosa, A, Subirà, M.E. and Castellana, C.1989. Dental anthropology of “Cova de Can Sadurní”, (4225±90B.P.). Begues, Barcelona, Spain. Humanbiologia Budapestinensis 19, 27-30. Budapest. Castany, J. 2008. Els megàlits neolítics del Solsonià. PhD. Thesis Universitat de Lleida. Inédita. Castellana, C., Malgosa, A., Subirà, M.E. and Carrasco, T. 1989. Estudi antropològic de les restes humanes de la cova de Can Sadurní Begues. I Jornades arqueològiques del Baix Llobregat, 55-64. Castelldefels. Cebrià A., Morales J.I.. Oms X., Pedro M. and Subirà M.E. 2011. La Cova Foradada (Calafell, Baix Penedès), la problemàtica de la convivència en el registre d’inhumacions i cremacions durant la prehistòria recent. In A. Blasco, M. Edo and M.J. Villalba (eds), La Cova de Can Sadurní i la Prehistoria del Garraf. Recull de 30 anys d’investigació, 411-420. Edar Arqueología y Patrimonio. Milano. Cura, M. 1992. Noves aportacions al megalitisme català: revisió de las sepulturas del “Solsonià” amb la aparició de les primeres cambres neolítiques”. Estat de

Neolithic funerary practices in North-East Iberia are so relevant that they have even been catalogued as a new culture: the “Pit Grave Culture”. The numerous burials made in different structures and their association with grave-goods and offerings of outstanding quality and quantity have always attracted the attention of archaeologists. In recent years, the interest in the study of the funerary record in this period and the application of new methods and techniques is slowly enabling a greater understanding of the human communities of the time. Although we are in a very early stage, our interest now lies in obtaining data from the graves and their contents, and not only in describing them. Careful excavation methodologies in which the smallest details are recorded are showing that the graves were much more complex that what was originally thought. We are referring to the ways of sealing the graves, the possible presence of moveable and fixed internal structures (e.g. types of coffins and shrouds) and documenting disturbances linked with opening the grave to rob certain valuable objects such as the variscite adornments (Roig et al. 2010). Anthropological studies are revealing an endless stream of data about nutrition and the health of the population, and about kinship relationships between individuals uried in the same or different graves. In turn, the studies made of the different objects deposited with the deceased as gravegoods, or which formed part of their attire or personal adornments, can show for example, the source of the raw materials used to make them (sometimes the sources are as distant as south-east France or Sardinia). They can also indicate what the implements were used for, or the implications of the fact that some individuals are accompanied by artefacts that must have been “valuable”, because of the time and effort required to obtain and manufacture them. Acknowledgements Some of the information in this paper comes from the reflections born out of several projects: “Approach to the first Neolithic communities in North-East Iberia through their funerary practices” HAR2011-23149), supervised by J.F. Gibaja; “Study of the anthropological characteristics of populations in the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the North-East of the Iberian Peninsula” (CGL2009-07572-E), supervised by M. E. Subirà; and the projects on aDNA: CGL2006-07828 and CGL2009-07959. References Alaminos, A. and Blanch, R.M. 1992. Consideracions generals sobre les fosses d’enterrament recentment excavades en el jaciment de la Bòbila Madurell (Sant Quirze del Vallès, Vallès Occidental). Estat de la

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Funerary practices during the Early-Middle Neolithic in north-east Iberia la Investigació sobre el Neolític a Catalunya. 9è Col. loqui International d’Arqueologia de Puigcerdà, 262264. Fortó, A., Martínez, P. and Muñoz, V. 2006. Ca l’Estrada (Canovelles, Vallès Oriental): un exemple d’ocupació de la plana vallesana des de ls Prehistòria a l’alta edat mitjana. Tribuna d’Arqueologia 2004-2005, 45-70. Gamba, C., Fernández, E., Tirado, M., Deguilloux, M.F., Pemonge, M.H., Utrilla, P., Edo, M., Molist, M., Rasteiro, R., Chikhi, L., Arroyo, E. 2012. Ancient DNA from an Early Neolithic Iberian population supports a pioneer colonization by first farmers. Molecular Ecology 21(1), 45-56. Gibaja, J.F. 2003. Comunidades Neolíticas del Noreste de la Península Ibérica. Una aproximación socioeconómica a partir del estudio de la función de los útiles líticos. BAR International Series S1140. Oxford. Gibaja, J.F., Majó, T., Chambon, P., Ruíz, J. and Subirà, E. 2010. Prácticas funerarias durante el neolítico. Los enterramientos infantiles en el noreste de la Península Ibérica. Complutum 21/12, 47-68. Gómez, A., Tornero, C., Saña, M. and Molist, M. 2011. La cova de les Agulles: un espai sepulcral entorn el III mil. Cal ane al massís de l’Ordal. In A. Blasco, M. Edo and M.J. Villalba (eds), La Cova de Can Sadurní i la Prehistoria del Garraf. Recull de 30 anys d’investigació, 421-428. Edar Arqueología y Patrimonio. Milano. González, P., Utrilla, P., Mazo, C., Valero, B., Sopena, M.C., Morellón, M., Sebastián, M., Moreno, A. and Martínez, M. 2009. Patterns of human occupation during the early Holocene in the Central Ebro Basin (NE Spain) in reponse to the 8.2 ka climatic event. Quaternary Research 71, 121-132. González, J. and Harzbecher, K. 2010. Carrer de la Reina Amàlia, 31-33, carrer de la Lleialtat, 1-9, carrer de les Carretes, 46 i 58. Anuari d’Arqueologia i Patrimoni de Barcelona 2009. Museu d´Historia de Barcelona Granados, O., Puig, F. and Farré, R. 1993. La intervenció arqueològica a Sant Pau del Camp: un nou jaciment prehistòric al Pla de Barcelona. Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 27-38. Guitart, I. 1987. La necrópolis neolítica del Pla del Riu de les Marcetes (Manresa, Bages). Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 41-47. Lacan, M., Keyser, C., Ricaut, F.-X., Brucato, N., Tarrús, J., Bosch, A., Guilaine, J., et al. 2011. Ancient DNA suggests the leading role played by men in the Neolithic dissemination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(45), 18255-18259. Llovera, X. 1986. La Feixa del Moro (Juberri) i el Neolític Mig-Recent a Andorra. Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 15-24. Martí, M., Pou, R. and Carlús, X. 1997. Excavacions arqueològiques a la Ronda Sud de Granollers, 1994. La necròpolis del Neolític Mitjà i les restes romanes del Camí de Can Grau (La Roca del Vallès, Vallès Oriental) i els jaciments de Cal Jardiner (Granollers, Vallès Oriental). Excavacions Arqueològiques a Catalunya 14. Barcelona, 235 p.

Martín, A., Biosca, A. and Albareda, M.J. 1985. Excavacions a la Cova del Frare (Matadepera, Vallès Occidental). Dinàmica ecològica, seqüència cultural i cronologia absoluta. Tribuna d’Arqueologia. 19831984, 91-103. Martin, A., Miret, J., Bosch, J., Blanch, R.M., Aliaga, S., Enrich, R., Colomer, S., Albizuri, S., Folch, J., Martinez, J. and Casas, T. 1988. Les excavacions al paratge de la Bòbila Madurell i de Can Feu (Sant Quirze de Vallès, Vallès Occidental). Tribuna d’Arqueologia, 77-92. Martín, A., Bordas, A. and Martí, M. 1996. Bòbila Madurell (St. Quirze del Vallès, Barcelona). Estrategia económica y organización social en el Neolítico Medio. I Congrés del Neolític a la Península Ibèrica, Rubricatum 1, 423-428. Gavà-Bellaterra. Mestres, J. 1988/1989. Les sepultures neolítiques de l’Hort d’en Grimau (Castellví de la Marca, Alt Penedès). Olerdulae, Revista del Museu de Vilafranca 1-4, 97129. Mestres, J. and Martín, A. 1996. Calibración de las fechas radiocarbónicas y su contribución al estudio del neolítico catalán. I Congreso del Neolític a la Península Ibérica, Rubricatum 1, 791-804. Mestres, J., Nadal, J., Senabre, M.R., Socias, J. and Moragas, N. 1997. El Pujolet de Moja (Olèrdola, Alt Penedès), ocupació d´un territori durant el neolític i la primera edad del ferro. Tribuna d’Arqueologia 19951996, 121-148. Molist, M. (coord.) 2008. Estudi del jaciment neolític de Caserna de Sant Pau (Barcelona). Quarhis, Època II, núm. 4, Revista del Museu d’Història de la Ciutat de Barcelona, 12-87. Molist, M., Cruells, W. and Castells, J. 1987. L’àrea megalítica de Tavertet (Osona). Cota Zero 3, 55-68. Molist, M., Vicente, O. and Farré, R. 2008. El jaciment de la caserna de Sant Pau del Camp: aproximació a la caracterització d’un assentament del neolític antic. Quaris 4: 14-24. Pallares, M.; Bordas, A.; Mora, R. 1997. El proceso de neolitización en los Pirineos Orientales. Un modelo de continuidad entre los cazadores-recolectores y los primeros grupos agro-pastoriles. Trabajos de Prehistoria 54, 121-141 Pou, R., Martí, M., Díaz, J. and Bordas, A. 1994. Estudio de la necrópolis del grupo de sepulcros de fosa del yacimiento de “Bòbila Madurell” (Sant Quirze del Vallès, Barcelona) en el contexto del Neolítico Medio reciente en Catalunya. 1º Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, Oporto 1993, Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 35/IV, 61-80. Pou, R., Martí, M., Jordana, X., Malgosa, A. and Gibaja, J.F. 2010. L’enterrament del neolític antic de la Plaça de la Vila de Madrid (Barcelona). Una estructura funeraria del VIè mil.leni aC. Quaris 6, 94-107. Roig, J. and Coll, J. M. 2010. La necrópolis del neolític mitjà de Can Gambús-1 (Sabadell, Vallès Occ.): Nova tipología dels sepulcres de fossa i practiques funeràries

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic durant el IV mil.leni cal BC a Catalunya. Cypsela 18, 93-122. Roig, J., Coll, J. M., Gibaja, J.F., Chambon, P., Villar, V., Ruiz, J., Terradas, X. and Subirà, M. E. 2010. La necrópolis de Can Gambús-1 (Sabadell, Barcelona). Nuevos conocimientos sobre las prácticas funerarias durante el neolítico medio en el noreste de la Península Ibérica. Trabajos de Prehistoria 67 (1), 59-84. Royo, J.I. 1984. Excavaciones del Museo de Zaragoza en la necrópolis prehistórica del Barranco de la Mina Vallfera, Mequinenza, Zaragoza. Boletín del Museo de Zaragoza 3, 5-22. Sampietro, M. L., Lao, O., Caramelli, D., Lari, M., Pou, R., Martí, M., Bertranpetit, J., et al. 2007. Palaeogenetic evidence supports a dual model of Neolithic spreading into Europe. Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society 274(1622), 2161-2167. Subirà, M.E. 2004. Estudi de les restes antropològiques procedents de Ca l’Estrada (Canovelles, Vallès Oriental). In P. Martínez, A. Fortó and V. Muñoz, V. (eds), Memòria científica de les intervencions arqueològiques a Ca l´Estrada. Servei d’Arqueologia de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Terradas, X. and Gibaja, J.F. 2002. La gestión social del sílex melado durante el neolítico medio en el nordeste de la Península Ibérica. Trabajos de Prehistoria 59(1), 29-48. Utrilla, P., Lorenzo, J.I., Baldellou, V., Sopena, M.C. and Ayuso, P. 2008. Enterramiento masculino en fosa, cubierto de cantos rodados, en el neolítico antiguo de la cueva de Chaves. In M. Hernández, J.A. Soler and J.A. López (eds), IV congreso del neolítico peninsular, 131-140. Villalba, M. J. 1999. Las sepulturas neolíticas del complejo minero de Can Tintorer y el modelo social de la población minera. Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent 9, 41-73. Yáñez, C., Malgosa, A., Burjachs, F., Díaz, N., García, C., Isidro, A., Juan, J. and Matamala, J. 2002. El món funerari al final del V mil·lenni a Andorra: la tomba de Segudet (Ordino). Cypsela 14, 175-194.

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MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC FUNERARY PRACTICES IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF SPAIN Oreto GARCÍA PUCHOL,a J. Emili AURA TORTOSAa and Sarah B. McCLUREb a. Departament de Prehistoria i Arqueologia. Universitat de Valencia. Av. Blasco Ibáñez 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain ([email protected], [email protected] b. Department of Anthropology. The Pennsylvania State University. University Park, PA 16802. USA ([email protected]). Abstract: In this paper we present Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices (from the 10th to the 5th millennium cal BP) in the central Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. Recent archaeological research has enriched the record to the extent that it is now possible to trace key aspects of funerary practices in the region. In turn this allows us to develop explanatory hypotheses for the diachronic shifts in funerary behavior observed, on the one hand during the shift from foraging to farming societies, and on the other with the emergence of social inequality. Our aim is to present the current state of knowledge concerning funerary practices, using primary contextual information as well as focusing on a small number of particularly distinctive examples. Keywords: Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, C14, funerary practices, social relationships, central Mediterranean Spain.

1. Presentation

We present the current state of knowledge concerning funerary practices, focusing on a small number of particularly distinctive examples (Figure 2). Our aim is to develop an understanding of the behavioral profile of these societies during life and especially in death. Our assessment of the data stresses the perceptible differences in social structure through time and in relation to changing socioeconomic contexts.

This paper sets out to create a synthesis of late prehistoric funerary practices during the Mesolithic to Chalcolithic as recorded in the Valencian archaeological record. This area occupies the central Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula (Figure 1). The Mediterranean landscape of the area is characterized by contrasting relief created by mid altitude mountains and the littoral plateau. Increased urban development during recent decades has led to numerous discoveries, some of which have plugged a number of gaps in our understanding of the archaeological record of the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Bell Beaker period. Moreover, advanced bioarchaeological research has provided results concerning the palaeodiet, palaeogenetics, palaeopathology and paleodemography of prehistoric populations in the area.

2. The chronological framework The archaeological visibility of funerary practices is variable as a result of internal (the effect of more or less deliberate activities) or contextual factors (possibilities of preservation) and of the importance that the investigation of such practices receives by the prevalent research tradition in an area. An additional limiting factor in the study of funerary practices, particularly from the diachronic perspective as adopted by this study, was the scarcity of burials from certain chrono-cultural periods. We focus on societies with clearly different modes of subsistence and use of the landscape. Central to our study is an understanding of the relevant socioeconomic contexts, in order to assess the degree to which funerary practices reflect organizational structures within these groups. The record extends from circa 10.000 cal BP to the 4200 cal BP, coinciding with final hunter-gatherer societies (Mesolithic: 10.000- 7700 cal BP), continuing with the appearance and expansion of farming (Early and Middle Neolithic: 7600-5600 cal BP) and followed by signs of inequality in production (Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic: 5600-4100 cal BP). Our interpretations are based on the assumption that the trajectory of social evolution is not linear, and therefore may be subject to particular changes in direction (Bentley 2003, Bernabeu et al. 2011).

Figure 1. Location of the study area.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic form of processing or consumption related to funerary practices (ritual or cannibalism?). The dating of one of these skeletons places it within the Early Mesolithic (10.000 to 8700 cal BP), phase that is characterized by a technology of flakes and an important number of notches and denticulates (Aura et al. 2010). At Penya del Comptador, the partially preserved skeletal remains of two individuals were found at the base of a long wall (Aura et al. 2011). The date obtained directly from bone from one of the individuals overlaps with that from Santa Maira, although the associated archaeological materials were more ambiguous. At the Mesolithic necropolis of El Collao, 15 pit burials were found in association with a concentration of mollusk shells (VVAA 2008). The site was excavated in the mid 1980s, with the publication focusing mostly on aspects of physical anthropology and bioanthropology (palaeopathology and diet) (García et al. 2006, VVAA 2008). The published radiocarbon dates obtained from the bones from three individuals (VVAA 2008) indicate use of the necropolis during the Early Mesolithic phase. The site was in use for approximately a millennium until the Late Mesolithic phase from 8700 to 7700 cal BP and characterized by geometric microliths (trapezes and triangles). New evidence for funerary practices during the Late Mesolithic comes from the open-air site of La Corona (Villena, Alicante) where two burials were found. The results, although still preliminary, suggest the continuity of similar burial practices until the beginning of the 8th millennium cal BP (Figure 3) (Fernández et al. 2011). An other example for funerary practices during the Late Mesolithic comes from the site of Mas Nou (Castellon) where a pit burial with 6 individuals was excavated (Olaria 2002/2003, 2008 and 2010). The pit was used for a short period of time, with an initial primary male burial, followed by secondary interments (Olaria 2010). Palaeoanthropological analysis has identified certain characteristics that indicate kinship between the individuals, a male (25-35 years), a female (20-25 years) and 4 infants between 1 and 6 years of age. One of the peculiarities of this burial was the presence of a ball of red ochre placed within the eye socket of the male, suggesting the presence of an artificial eye.

Figure 2.Main sites cited in the text.

3. A diachronic view of the record from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic The data for the Mesolithic period are scarce and they reflect a broad spectrum of different funerary practices and contexts in which human remains have been found (Figure 3). There are three examples from the earliest Mesolithic, from the Coves de Santa Maira (Castells de Castells, Alicante), the interment at Penya del Comptador (Alcoi, Alicante) and the Mesolithic necropolis of El Collao (Oliva, Valencia).

Funerary practices during the Early Neolithic are largely unknown (Figure 3). In part this is due to the fact that most of the information for the period comes from old excavations. Moreover, direct dating of skeletal material from burials found in contexts covering a long time-span is lacking (Bernabeu et al. 2001). The only site in which funerary evidence has been found is Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, Alicante) (Casanova 1978, García Borja et al. 2011). Intermittently excavated during the 20th century, the sequence mainly dates to the Early Neolithic. Skeletal material from the cave, possibly

At Santa Maira, a cave with a long sequence from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic, 30 very fragmentary pieces from three individuals were found. The remains were scattered within the habitation deposit. The study of their taphonomy revealed cut marks produced by stone tools, fractures and thermal alteration, indicating human manipulation. These characteristics are identical to those observed on the bones of hunted animals (ibex, deer, chamois, fox) suggesting the possibility of some 42

Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices in the central Mediterranean region of Spain SITE

Sample ID

Laboratory

Material

PERIOD

AGE BP

Cal BC 95,4%

Cal BP 95,4%

REFERENCES

S MAIRA P COMPTADOR EL COLLAO EL COLLAO EL COLLAO EL COLLAO LA CORONA MAS NOU MAS NOU COVA SARSA C. S. MARTÍ EN PARDO T. BASSES T. BASSES T. BASSES T. BASSES T. BASSES T. BASSES T. BASSES EN PARDO EN PARDO EN PARDO EN PARDO PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA PASTORA AVENC BENITEIXIR VITAL VITAL VITAL VITAL

W/ 3-18

Beta-24410 Beta-156025 UBAR-927 UBAR-928 UBAR-281 UBAR-280 Beta-272856 Beta-170714 Beta-170715 OxA-V-2392-26 Beta-166467 Beta-208464 Beta-225216 Beta-225223 Beta-225227 Beta-225222 Beta-225218 Beta-225224 Beta-225217 Beta-231875 Beta-203493 Beta-231886 Beta-95394 Beta-231884 UCIAMS-66309 UCIAMS-66314 UCIAMS-66312 UCIAMS-66305 UCIAMS-66307 UCIAMS-66313 Beta-231885 UCIAMS-66310 UCIAMS-66311 UCIAMS-66318 * Beta 222444 OxA-V-2360-15 Beta 229791 Beta 222443

H bone H. bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H. bone H bone H bone H. bone H. bone H. bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H bone H Bone H bone H bone H bone H bone

EM EM EM EM LM LM LM LM LM EN EN EN EN EN EN EN MN MN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN ChA ChA ChA BB ChA ChA ChA ChA BB BB

8690 ± 50 8570 ± 40 8690±100 8080±60 7640±120 7570±180 7070±40 7010±40 6920±40 6341±30 5740±40 5740±40

7936-7591 7653-7532 8195-7550 7300-6778 6770-6232 7002-6054 6023-5849 5990-5794 5890-5724 5462-5222 4694-4491 4694-4491 4590-4450* 4590-4450* 4460-4330* 4450-4330* 3966-3787 3944-3704 3633-3372 3486-3100 3351-3029 3330-2922 3024-2680 3712-3529 3347-3103 3347-3100 3346-3098 3338-3039 3339-3031 2912-2882 3011-2704 2874-2634 2461-2292 2864-2577 2852-2476 2836-2346 2566-2344 2568-2212 2460-2146

9886-9540 9602-9481 10.134-9500 9250-8728 8719-8181 8951-8003 7972-7798 7939-7743 7840-7674 7412-7171 6643-6440 6643-6440

Aura et al. 2011 Aura et al. 2006 VV.AA. 2008 VV.AA. 2008 VV.AA. 2008 VV.AA. 2008 Fernández et al. 2011 Olaria y Gusi 2005 Olaria y Gusi 2005 García Borja et al. 2011. López et al. 2004 Soler et al. 2010 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Rosser 2007 Soler et al. 2010 Soler et al. 2010 Roca y Soler 2010 Soler et al. 2010 Roca y Soler, 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 Roca y Soler, 2010 McClure et al., 2010 McClure et al., 2010 García et al. 2010 Pascual Beneyto 2010 Pérez et al. 2011 Pérez et al. 2011 Pérez et al. 2011 Pérez et al. 2011

EIV EVI E13 E13 Grave 1 3 3 Grieta S2 UE 206 T2 T9 T13 T8 T4 T10 T3 III III Emp 1 IIB LP53 LP-m-14 LP-m-39 LP-m-23 LP-3 LP-9 LP-m-31 LP77 LP-m-17 LP-m-21 6 13 UE 2214 UE 2214 UE 3056 UE 3110

5080±40 5010±40 4710±40 4550±40 4490±40 4430±40 4270±50 4860 ± 40 4510 ± 20 4505 ± 25 4500 ± 25 4480 ± 20 4480 ± 25 4275 ± 20 4270 ± 40 4150 ± 20 3875 ± 20 4115 ± 25 4060 ±40 4000 ± 50 3946 ± 28 3920 ± 50 3830 ± 40

5915-5736 5893-5653 5582-5321 5435-5049 5300-4978 5280-4871 4973-4629 5661-5478 5296-5052 5296-5049 5295-5047 5287-4988 5288-4980 4862-4831 4960-4653 4823-4584 4410-4241 4813-4526 4801-4425 4785-4295 4515-4293 4518-4162 4409-4096

Figure 3. Radiocarbon dates of human bone from the Mesolithic to Chalcolitic in the Valencian region calibrates with OxCal 4.1 program (Bronk Ramsey 2009), inCal09 curve (Reimer et al. 2009). EN: Early Neolithic; MN: Middle Neolithic; LN: Late Neolithic; ChA: Chalcolitic; BB: Bell Beaker. In dark, we show incomplet published dates. representing 7 individuals, is associated with this period (De Miguel 2008). A double male and female burial has been radiocarbon dated to the Early Neolithic. The burial was placed in a remote and inaccessible part of the cave where other symbolic evidence is present (schematic rock art, water availability, natural shapes resembling the figure of a feline) (García Borja et al. 2011, López et al. 2010). Grave goods included stone tools, worked bone and a ceramic vessel with cardium decoration. One radiocarbon date (from human skeleton –Figure 3) allow us confirm this relation (Casanova 1978, García Borja et al. 2011).

burial structures are scattered within the settlement and apart from their final funerary usage, show no difference in terms of morphology and content from other nearby similar structures. The finding of charcoal layers and animal remains in the latter may reflect rites associated with the burial pits (Flors 2010). Two of these had been sealed with stones and in one case a stone had been used as a landmark/flagstone. Among other grave goods, the ornaments (bracelets and necklace) that accompanied one individual are exceptional and probably indicate higher status.

Funerary rites during the postcardial Neolithic culture are well-known from the recent publication of the site of Costamar (Oropesa, Castelló) (Flors 2010), an openair settlement with pits and trenches related to two Neolithic phases. Associated with the first phase (final 8th to early 7th millennium cal BP) are 4 pits including the primary burials of three male individuals between 30 and 40 years of age and an infant of 4 to 6 years of age. In all cases the bodies had been placed in a lateral decubitus position with legs and arms flexed, possibly reflecting the use of some type of shroud (Figure 4) (Flors 2010). The

The interment excavated at Cova de Sant Martí (Agost, Alicante) (Torregrosa and López 2004) is also dated to the Postcardial Neolithic culture. The publication presents evidence for the funerary use of a subterranean cavity during the mid 7th millennium cal BP (Figure 3). This chronological attribution, apart from the artifacts found, has also been confirmed by the date of the skeletal remains of one individual. The remains of at least 5 individuals were recovered, three infants (3-6, 7-8 and 10-12 years of age), a juvenile (±15 years) and an adult (De Miguel 2004). The cranial fragment from Cova d´En Pardo (Soler

43

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 5.Pastora cave, collective Late Neolithic burial (Alcoi, Alacant). of the mid 6th millennium cal BP (Rosser and Fuentes 2008, Rosser 2010).

Figure 4. Pit tomb 310 and grave goods (Postcardial Neolithic culture) at Costamar (Oropesa, Castelló) (Flors 2010).

From the Late Neolithic onwards (mid 6th millennium cal BP), collective burials take place in natural caves. This is a characteristic of the central Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula where the megalithic monuments used in other regions, are absent. The funerary use of caves continues during the Chalcolithic and until the Bronze Age. The site of Pastora provides the most complete series of dates (12), from the middle of the 6th to the beginning of the 4nd millennium cal BP (McClure et al. 2010, 2011, Roca de Togores and Soler 2010) (Figures 3 and 5).

and Roca de Togores 2010) is of a similar date (Figure 3) and together with the above evidence supports a diversity of funerary contexts and cases. An important set/group of burials dated between the second half of the 7th millennium and the first half of the 6th millennium cal BP was uncovered at the open- air site of Tossal de les Basses (Alicante) (Rosser 2010). Out of a total of 16 prehistoric interments, 7 have been directly radiocarbon dated (Figure 3). The archaeological material and remains are at present under study. Initial results suggest that the earliest burials may be associated with the Postcardial Neolithic culture, middle of the 7th millennium cal BP.

Abundant literature is available for this period with approximately 130 caves with funerary contexts attributed to the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic. However, a large part of the dataset derives from old excavations with poor stratigraphic resolution and control. A synthesis of the bibliography allows us to assess the primary characteristics of funerary practices. In caves, the number of interments is variable and on occasion more than 50 individuals may have been buried (García Puchol and McClure 2010). In certain cases various caves or cavities are concentrated in a certain area, thus forming real necropolises (García Puchol et al. 2011). The skeletal remains are generally disarticulated forming ossuaries, a situation resulting from the need to create space for successive burials by moving previous ones and reorganizing the available space. In those cases where the skeletal remains have been subjected

At this time burials appear to have been placed in pits nearby the habitation area. Their location was probably indicated with some type of marker. They were all single burials and the individuals were lying on their sides or backs and accompanied by a variable number of pottery vessels. During the following period, the Middle Neolithic, burials were placed within the habitation area and the ditch of the previous phase. The continuity of burial practices during the Neolithic is indicated by a radiocarbon date 44

Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices in the central Mediterranean region of Spain to osteoarchaeological analysis, there is no evidence for sex or age discrimination in relation to ritual practices. Neither is there any evidence for social dissymetry as reflected by an association between different individuals and objects. In this regard, it has been stressed that the number of burials does not fit the expected demographic pattern and this in turn may suggest that there existed selective use of caves by certain lineages or families over a more or less prolonged period of time (Soler 2002). Grave goods include stone tools of local (arrow points) or extralocal production (large blades and knives of tabular flint), ornaments of variable provenance (lignite, shell, variscite), worked bone, polished stone tools and pottery (Figure 6). The presence of faunal remains may suggest food offerings although this is not certain. Cova d´En Pardo (Planes, Alicante) is an important site for the study of funerary practices, revealed through systematic excavations during the last few years (Soler 2002, Soler et al. 2010). In one of the cave chambers a collective burial was identified in level III. The skeletal remains of more than 40 individuals, very few in correct anatomical position, were scattered along with other objects in a deposit 30-40cm deep. The dates from this level bracket funerary use of the site to between the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th millennium cal BP (Soler et al. 2010). Collective burials in caves and/or cavities are widespread during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic but single or double pit burials also persist in low numbers. At the site of Tossal de les Basses (Alicante) (Rosser 2010) at least one of the burials is dated to the middle of the 6th millennium cal BP. For the earliest part of the 5th millennium cal BP there is similar evidence from Costamar–Oropesa, Castellón- (Flors 2010) and Beniteixir (Piles, Valencia) (Pascual 2010). At Costamar the evidence indicates the presence of secondary burials, including one significant double burial of an infant and a male individual accompanied by 2 polished axes, a chisel and 36 green stone beads (Flors 2010). At Beniteixir, five single pit burials with characteristic grave goods (pottery, ornaments, flaked tools, grinding stones) were excavated. Two dates from this site (one of them directly from bones of an individual) place the finds within the early 5th millennium cal BP.

Figure 6.Skull trepanation and grave goods of Pastora Cave (Alcoi, Alacant).

were excavated. They document exceptional funerary rites and intentional manipulation of the corpse. The most elaborate was the burial of a young female, accompanied by offerings including rabbit, a typical Bell Beaker vessel and other smaller ones possibly used during the funeral ceremony (Figure 7). In the other three burials, two male and one of undetermined sex, metal objects including cooper daggers, axes and awls stand out amongst other grave goods. Manipulation of the corpse was documented in two cases. The first included only the skull, together with a few postcranial bones and some metal object, placed in a hole at the bottom of the pit. In the second, only the postcranial remains were present, placed in the pit together with a Bell Beaker vessel and a copper dagger. The presence of specific funerary rites and exceptional objects (Bell Beaker vessels, metal objects) associated with only a few individuals, suggests increasing social dissymmetry during the Chalcolithic period.

Similar dates have been obtained from the nearby site of La Vital (Gandía, Valencia), which provide a complete chronology for both the buried individuals (up to 4 dates on bones have been published) and duration of the settlement (Figure 3) (Pérez et al. 2011). La Vital is an open-air settlement on the mouth of Serpis River, characterized by a diversity of negative structures (pits, habitation structures and a ditch). The life of the settlement begins during the Chalcolithic and continues until the Bell Beaker period, with clear evidence for metallurgical activity during the mid 5th millennium cal BP (Pérez et al. 2011). In the sectors of the settlement investigated in 2005 and 2006, four pit burials with distinctive differentiating characteristics

4. Burials and social relationship evolution The evidence from the funerary record and from the application of bioarchaeological analyses to funerary contexts is variable. An important aspect is the need to

45

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Recent craniometric studies on a European scale indicate a change between Mesolithic and Neolithic populations that may suggest an east to west flow (Pinhasi and Noreen 2009). Relevant information may be forthcoming from the multiplication of ancient DNA studies, which on the one hand may offer direct data concerning the Neolithic transition (Fernández et al. 2010), and on the other may help to generate discriminating factors for the understanding of social structure. Palaeodiet is another aspect that has been studied using δ13 C and δ15 N isotope analyses (García et al. 2006, Salazar 2010, 2011, McClure et al. 2011), along with trace element analyses (Marín et al. 2011) and dental microstriations (Romero and De Juan 2007). As an example of the application of these methods, figure 8 presents the results of C and N isotope analysis in ancient populations of the central Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. In all periods, the diet was mainly based on C3 terrestrial resources while a low percentage of marine resources would have formed part of the diet of some individuals during the Mesolithic and the final Neolithic (Salazar 2010). In any case, for synchronic and diachronic comparisons some criteria for the significance and validity of the sample are required. In the following paragraphs we summarize the available information from the perspective of population and social dynamics. During the Mesolithic there is evidence for the recurrent use of certain spaces as necropolises across time (El Collao). The variability noted in the location and catchment of the Mesolithic sites suggests patterns of logistic and residential mobility within territories of 30km2 radius between the coastline and the first mountain valleys (Martí et al. 2009). The burials cover a wide timespan thus implying stable occupation patterns within the territory as well as continuity in its symbolism for the population. The low number of Mesolithic burials may be related to the mobility of these groups, although it is possible that funerary rites were reserved for certain individuals within otherwise egalitarian societies.

Figure 7. Pit tomb 11 (Bell Beaker) at La Vital (Gandía, València). obtain dates directly from the skeletal remains. The absence of direct dates may introduce serious errors as has been seen lately in relation to the Early Neolithic (García Borja et al. 2011). Equally important is the evidence provided by disciplines associated with physical anthropology and chemical analyses (DNA, palaeodiet, mobility). Anthropological studies are numerous among the funerary contexts considered in this paper (Riquet 1953, Fusté 1957, Campillo 1976, Soler and Roca de Togores 1999, De Miguel 2004, 2010). Moreover, other information concerning palaeopathology or specific practices such as skull trepanation are available in certain cases (Rincón de Arellano and Fenollosa 1949, Campillo 1976, 2007, Roca de Togores and Soler 2010).

The establishment of farming and production resulted in the multiplication of sites with distinctive characteristics (production, new material culture, symbolic spaces) and in similar changes in demography (Bocket Appel and De Miguel 2002). However, funerary practices are largely unknown. The Mesolithic rites did not continue in the Neolithic or they became even more selective and reduced to a very limited number of individuals. The only known case for the second half of the 8th millennium cal BP is the double burial at Sarsa, indicating the funerary use of caves possibly in relation to the symbolism arising from the special characteristics of these places (García Borja et al. 2011). It has been suggested that social inequality with an ideological base existed in this area of the Serpis valleys during the initial phases of the Early Neolithic (Bernabeu et al. 2011) and therefore it is reasonable to consider the

In relation to the physical characteristics of the population from a diachronic perspective, the anthropological analyses point towards progressive gracilization as particularly characteristic of the Neolithic, although the studied samples derived mostly from the latter part of the period (Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic). The scarce Mesolithic remains indicate a higher proportion of mesocephalic individuals compared to the Neolithic (García et al. 1996). 46

Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices in the central Mediterranean region of Spain

Sample COLL 1 COLL 2 COLL 3 COLL 4* COLL 5 COLL 6* COLL 7 COLL 12 COLL 13* CM 7606 CM 7608 CM 7611 CM 7609 CM 7610 CM 7612 LP-m-14* LP-m-39* LP-m-23* LP-3* LP-9* LP-m-31* LP-m-17* LP-m-21* AVF6* AVF7 LV 7402* LV 7400* LV 7401*

Period M M M M M M M M M EN EN EN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN LN ChA ChA BB ChA ChA ChA BB BB

Sex

Age

δ13C (‰ PDB)

δ15N (‰ AIR) C:N ratio

? F M M F M F M M ? M? M M? M? ? M? M? F M? M ? M? M ? ? M F M

Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Inf Adult Adult Young Adul Inf Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult

-19.5 -19.1 -17.6 -17.6 -18.2 -18.2 -17.9 -19.0 -18.1 -21.83 -19.07 -18.99 -17.83 -18.16 -26.45 -19.5 -1.0 -19.1 -19.6 -19.5 -19.3 -19.3 -19.6 -19.1 -19.1 -19.25 -18.28 -18.57

10.2 8.9 10.2 12.8 10.6 10.9 8.9 9.5 10.4 4.64 7.94 8.49 10.35 9.78 2.23 9.0 10.0 9.7 8.1 9.5 9.7 10.6 9.5 10.0 10.4 10.33 9.03 9.01

3.4 3.3 3.2 3.4 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.3 3.97 3.37 3.20 3.24 3.39 10.41 3.26 3.26 3.27 3.25 3.29 3.24 3.34 3.34 3.24 3.32 3.21 3.21 3.14

Figure 8. Results published of Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Values of humans bones in Valencia region. COLL: El Collao; CM: Costamar; LP: Cova de la Pastora; AV: Avenc dels dos forats; LV: La Vital. M: Mesolithic; EN: Early Neolithic; LN: Late Neolithic; ChA: Chalcolitic; BB: Bell Beaker. F: female; M: male. possibility that burials, as at Sarsa may reflect relations of power during that period.

structures of the period that may indicate dissymmetry in the accumulation and distribution of production. From the Chalcolithic onwards the divergence increases both within the settlement but also inter-regionally. Although metallurgy starts during the Chalcolithic, it does not become generalized in time and space and there are markers pointing to unequal access to certain goods (Pérez et al. 2011). Such markers may be encoded in the presence and continuity of individual burials in the settlements, accompanied by specific funerary rites. Caves continue to be used for burials but both, the funerary spaces and their symbolism, are now shared by various individuals in accordance with changes in the economic, social and ideological conditions during the Chalcolithic.

From the 7th millennium cal BP onwards, various changes in the patterns of territorial occupation took place (Bernabeu and Molina 2009) congruent with a heterogeneous record of funerary practices (pit burials in the settlements/continuous use of cave) as documented in recent publications (Costamar, Tossal de les Basses, Cova Sant Martí, En Pardo). However, the principal change in funerary practices occurred during the middle of the 6th millennium cal BP, when collective burials became generalized in the Valencian area. Caves, occasionally concentrated in the same area and used for the burial of various individuals were widespread. From a social perspective there is an open debate concerning the possibility of exclusive use of caves by certain lineages (Soler 2002, García Puchol and Gómez 2011). However, diagnostic indicators from DNA analysis are not available at present. Grave goods from collective burials indicate common patterns although differences in the concentration of certain items may exist that could imply differential accumulation of wealth between groups. Such a possibility is stressed by Bernabeu et al. (2011) in relation to the observed differences in the capacity of the storage

5. Conclusion Funerary practices, from a diachronic point of view present both common and different elements. In the Mesolithic they are diverse, with open air necropolises (El Collao), single pit burials in which multiple individuals were added (Mas Nou), simple pit interments (La Corona) or at the base of rockshelters (Penya del Comptador). The presence of human remains with clear signs of anthropogenic manipulation (Coves de Santa Maira) must be studied in

47

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic the broader Mesolithic context to evaluate whether they represent an isolated case or an additional funerary practice. The variability observed in the Mesolithic contrasts the scarce data for both the Palaeolithic and the Early Neolithic (Aura 2010). The dates from el Collao indicate that from the Early Mesolithic (exclusively?) funerary spaces existed. Although it is not clear whether interment was a generalized practice or reserved for certain individuals as an act of social discrimination, the available data does support the latter. It is very characteristic that even during the Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic, the period from which the majority of the evidence derives, burials do not correspond to the demographic estimates based on the identification of habitation spaces and their temporal use (Soler 2002, García Puchol and Gómez 2011). Neither do the funerary data indicate any discrimination on the basis of sex or age. Therefore it seems that it was the act of interment that marked the difference between individuals. From the Chalcolithic onwards funerary practices become more complex and there is evidence for exceptional grave good offerings as documented at La Vital (metal objects, Bell Beaker ware).

Arqueológico de Alicante, Diputación Provincial de Alicante. Bernabeu, J., Moreno, A. and Barton, C.M. 2011. Complex systems, social networks and the evolution of social complexity. In M. Cruz Berrocal, L. García Sanjuán, L. and Gilman, A. (eds), The Prehistory of Iberia Debating Early Social Stratification and the State. Routledge, London Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51 (1), 337-60. Bocquet-Appel, J-P. and De Miguel M.P. 2002. Demografía de la difusión neolítica en Europa y los datos paleoantropológicos. El paisaje en el Neolítico mediterráneo. Neolithic landscapes of the Mediterranean. Sagumtum, Extra-5, 23-44. Campillo, D., 1976. Lesiones patológicas en cráneos prehistóricos de la Región Valenciana. Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica, Diputación Provincial de Valencia, Valencia. Campillo, D. 2007. La trepanación prehistórica. Edited by Bellaterra, Barcelona. Casanova, V., 1978 Enterramiento doble en la Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, València). Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina XV, 27-36. De Miguel, M.P. 2004. Antropología física y paleopatología. In Torregrosa, P. and López, E. (eds), La Cova de Sant Martí (Agost, Alicante). Alicante. De Miguel, M.P. 2008. La Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, Valencia): osteoarqueología de un yacimiento del neolítico cardial. IV Congreso del Neolítico peninsular, 85-91. Alicante Flors, E. (coord) 2010. Torre la Sal (Ribera de Cabanes, Castellón). Evolución del paisaje antrópico desde la prehistoria hasta el medioevo. Monografies de Prehistòria i Arqueologia Castellonenques 8. Fernández, E., Gamba, C., Turbón, D. and Arrollo, E. 2010. ADN antiguo de yacimientos neolíticos de la Cuenca Mediterránea. La transición al Neolítico desde una perspectiva genética. In F. Gibaja & A.F. Carvalho (eds), Os últimos caçadores-recolectores e as primeiras comunidades productoras do sul da Península Ibérica e do norte de Marrocos. Universidad do Algarve. Promontoria Monográfica 15, 205-212 Fernández. J., Gómez, M. and Martínez, A. 2011. Systematic consumption of non-marine gastropods at open-air sites in the Iberian Mediterranean región. Quaternary International 244, 45-53 Fusté, M. 1957. Estudio antropológico de los pobladores neo-eneolíticos de la Región Valenciana. Valencia. Serie Trabajos Varios del SIP 20. 128 p. García Borja, P., Salazar, D.C., Pérez Fernández, A., Pardo, S. and Casanova, V. 2011. El Neolítico antiguo cardial y la Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, València). Nuevas perspectivas a partir de su registro funerario. Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia 62. Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi. García Puchol, O., Cotino, F., Miret, C., Pascual Benito, J.Ll., McClure, S.B., Molina, Ll., Alapont, Ll., Carrión, Y., Morales, J.V., Blasco, J. and Culleton, B. 2010.

The data presented in this paper summarize our current state of knowledge of funerary practices in the central Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. At the same time they stress the need to broaden the funerary record and to increase multidisciplinary studies (anthropological, chemical). These are prerequisites for developing an in depth knowledge of the economic and social conditions as suggested by funerary practices. References Aura 2010. Uno de los nuestros. Notas para una arqueología de las prácticas funerarias de los cazadores prehistóricos de la península Ibérica. In A. Pérez and B. Soler (eds.), Restos de vida, restos de muerte: 31-44. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Aura, J.E., Morales, J.V. and De Miguel, M.P. 2010. Restos humanos con marcas antrópicas en les Coves de Santa Maira (Castells de Castells, Alicante). In A. Pérez and B. Soler (eds), Restos de vida, restos de muerte: 169174. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Aura, J.E., Jordá, J.F., Montes, L. and Utrilla, P. 2011. Human responses to Younger Dryas in the Ebro valley and Mediterranean watershed (Eastern Spain). Quaternary International 242, 348-359. Bentley, R Alexander. 2003. An introduction to complex systems. In R Alexander Bentley and Herbert D G Maschner (eds), Complex Systems and Archaeology: Empirical and Theoretical Applications, 9-24. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Bernabeu, J., Molina Balaguer, Ll. and García Puchol, O. 2001. El mundo funerario en el horizonte cardial valenciano. Un registro oculto. Sagvntvm-PLAV 33: 27-35. Bernabeu, J. and Molina L. 2009. La Cova de les Cendres (Moraira-Teulada, Alicante), Alicante, MARQ. Museo 48

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Olaria, C. 2010. El asentamiento Mesolítico final y Neolítico antiguo del Cingle del Mas Nou (Ares del Maestre, Castelló). In A. Pérez and B. Soler (eds), En Restos de Vida y Muerte 175-178. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Pascual Beneito, J. 2010. El Barranc de Beniteixir (Piles, La Safor, Valencia). In A. Pérez and B. Soler (eds.): Restos de vida, restos de muerte. Museu de Prehistòria de València, 191-194 Pérez, G., J. Bernabeu, Y. Carrión, O. García, Ll. Molina and M. Gómez, 2011. La Vital (Gandia, Valencia). Vida y muerte en la desembocadura del Serpis durante el III y el I milenio AC. (Serie de Trabajos Varios del SIP 113). Diputació de València. Pinhasi, R. and Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, 2009. Craniometric Data Supports Demic Diffusion Model forthe Spread of Agriculture into Europe. PLoS ONE 4 (8): e 6747. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006747 Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.E., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T. J., Hogg, A. G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D. A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turner, C. S. M., van der Plicht, J., Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50.000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51 (4), 1111-1150. Rincón de Arellano, A. and Fenollosa, J., 1949. Algunas consideraciones acerca de los cráneos trepanados de la Cova de la Pastora (Alcoy). La labor del S.I.P. y su Museo. Años 1940-48. Valencia, 66-76. Riquet, R., 1953. Analyse anthropologique des cranes énéolithiques de le grotte sepulcrale de “La Pastora” (Alcoy). Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina IV, 105-122. Roca de Togores, C. and Soler, J.A., 2010. Trepanaciones en la Prehistoria. Los casos datados por C14 de las cuevas de La Pastora (Alcoy) y En Pardo (Planes). In A. Pérez y B. Soler (eds): Restos de vida, restos de muerte: 117-140. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Romero, A. and De Juan, J. 2007. Intra- and inter population human bucal tooth surface microwear analysis: inferencesabout diet and formation processes. Anthopologie 45 (1), 61-70. Rosser, P. 2010. Enterramientos neolíticos y creencias en el Tossal de les Basses: Primeros datos. In A. Pérez and B. Soler (eds): Restos de vida, restos de muerte, 183190. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Rosser, P. and Fuentes, C. 2008. Tossal de les Basses, seis mil años de historia de Alicante. Patronat Municipal de Cultura, Ajuntament d’Alacant. Salazar, D.C. 2010. Estudio de la dieta en la población neolítica de Costamar. Resultados preliminares de análisis de isótopos estables de C y N. In E. Flors (coord), Torre la Sal (Ribera de Cabanes, Castellón). Evolución del paisaje antrópico desde la prehistoria hasta el medioevo, 411-420. Monografies de Prehistòria i Arqueologia Castellonenques 8

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Salazar, D.C. 2011. Aproximación a la dieta de la población calcolítica de La Vital a través del análisis de isótopos estables del Carbono y del Nitrógeno sobre restos óseos. In Pérez, G., J. Bernabeu, Y. Carrión, O. García, Ll. Molina and M. Gómez (eds), La Vital (Gandia, Valencia). Vida y muerte en la desembocadura del Serpis durante el III y el I milenio AC. (Serie de Trabajos Varios del SIP 113). Diputació de València. Soler, J. A. 2002. Cuevas de Inhumación múltiple en la comunidad valenciana. Real Academia de la Historia, Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante. Soler, J. and Roca de Togores, C., 1999. Estudio de los restos humanos encontrados en las intervenciones practicadas en los años 1961 y 1965 en la Cova d’En Pardo, Planes, Alicante. Análisis antropológico y aproximación a su contexto cultural, 369-377. Saguntum extra-2. Soler, J.A., Roca de Togores, C. and Ferrer, C. 2010, Cova d´En Pardo. Precisiones sobre la cronología del fenómeno de la inhumación múltiple. In A. Pérez y B. Soler (eds): Restos de vida, restos de muerte, 195-201. Museu de Prehistòria de València. Torregrosa, P. and López, E. 2004. La Cova de Sant Martí (Agost, Alicante). Serie Memorias de Excavaciones arqueológicas 3. Museo Arqueológico de Alicante. VVAA. 2008. La Necrópolis Mesolítica de El Collado (Oliva-Valencia). In J. Aparicio (ed). Sección de Estudios Arqueológicos V. Serie Arqueológica.Varia VIII. Diputación Provincial, Valencia.

50

FUNERARY PRACTICES AND DEMOGRAPHY FROM THE MESOLITHIC TO THE COPPER AGE IN SOUTHERN SPAIN Marta DÍAZ-ZORITA,a Manuel Eleazar COSTAb and Leonardo GARCÍA SANJUANb a. Department of Archaeology, Durham University, United Kingdom ([email protected]). b. Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Seville, Spain ([email protected], lgarcia@ us.es). Abstract: This paper provides an overview of funerary practices in southern Spain from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age. In particular, the authors analyse the Megalithic structures that have been radiocarbon dated and those which yield results when using a bioarchaeological approach. Broadly speaking, at this time funerary containers present different morphological types, the most frequent being the Megalithic construction; funerary practices were collective and grave goods were communal. Paleodemographics have found that there was equal distribution of both sexes and that the population was represented normally and included subadults and all age categories. However, more bioarchaeological information must be provided in combination with absolute dating. Keywords: Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age, Bioarchaeology, Megalithic sites, Stable isotopes.

1. Introduction This paper proposes a general synthesis of funerary practices from the Mesolithic to the end of the Copper Age in southern Spain, including the regions of Andalusia, Extremadura and Murcia (Figure 1). Given the wide scope of this subject, the sites chosen for discussion are those which have been dated using absolute dating and those where a fairly full study has been carried out, especially on anthropological remains. A shorter list of archaeological sites that would provide higher quality information was drawn up from the original selection. There is very little evidence on the funerary practices of the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods in southern Spain: only one case at Nerja cave (Málaga) is known (García Sánchez 1982, González 1990, Lalueza, 992, Turbón et al, 1994, Aura et al. 1998), but its C14 chronology is very unclear (Jordá and Aura 2008: Table 1). More and better data are available for the Neolithic period (Figure 2). These include non- megalithic sites (or, in some cases, premegalithic) such as Cerro Virtud (Almería) (Montero and Ruiz 1999, Montero et al. 1999), Campo de Hockey (San Fernando, Cádiz) (Vijande 2009), Polideportivo de Martos (Martos, Jaén) (Lizcano 1999), Cueva de Nerja (Málaga) (Simón et al. 2003, Aura et al. 2006, Jordá and Aura 2008) and Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol, Granada) (Cacho et al. 1996), as well as megalithic sites such as, for example, the dolmens at Alberite (Cádiz) (Ramos and Giles 1996), Antequera (Málaga) (Ruiz González 2009) and others. However, the majority of sites where funerary practices have been well researched are dated in the Copper Age (Figure 3). Among those selected for this study are Tesorillo de la Llaná (Málaga) (Márquez et al. 2009), La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz) (Hurtado et al. 2000), Huerta Montero (Badajoz) (Blasco and Ortiz 1992), La Orden-El Seminario (Huelva) (Vera et al. 2010) and Valencina de la Concepción (Seville) (Vargas 2004a,

Figure 1. Location of the area of study. 2004b, Costa et al. 2010, etc.). The funerary structures at Los Millares (Almería), which have been studied several times, have not been radiocarbon dated. Other sites which include anthropological data have not been C14dated, but are discussed in this paper (Figure 4). 2. Architecture There are few findings from the Epipalaeolithic and Mesolithic, except for the grave found at Cueva de Nerja cave (Málaga), which has been radiocarbon dated (García Sánchez 1982, 1986) but is not unproblematic. From the Neolithic period, findings of funerary practices preceding megalithic developments comprise burials in natural caves and open-air structures dug into the underlying subsoil, with no stone architecture. The oldest in this series date from the 6th and 5th millennia BC and lie in the Los Murciélagos cave (Albuñol, Granada), one of the most outstanding funerary sites in Iberian Late Prehistory. According to the description provided by

51

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 2. Map of Neolithic sites.

Figure 3. Map of Copper Age sites. 52

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain

Figure 4. Map of non C14-dated sites which include anthropological study.

Manuel de Góngora y Martínez at the time (the cave was subsequently destroyed), in its interior the well-preserved mummified human remains of more than sixty people were found. Twelve of these individuals were located in a semicircle around a woman dressed in a leather tunic and adorned with a necklace of esparto grass, from which seashells and a carved boar tusk hung. Other skeletons were found in other chambers of the cave, often dressed in tunics, caps and esparto grass sandals, with esparto grass baskets at their side (Góngora 1868: 29-50). In Cerro Virtud (Almería), a 4.5 x 2.2 m burial pit was found, which had perhaps had a roof of perishable materials (the remains of a wooden beam were preserved). This contained the remains of 11 individuals laid out around a fireplace with one side bounded by three stones, one of which was a mill fragment. The 7 radiocarbon datings from the site place it at the first half of the 5th millennium BC (Montero and Ruiz 1999, Montero et al. 1999).

on the Menga dolmen (Málaga), and Francisco María Tubino y Rada (1876) on the La Pastora tholos (Seville), and later continued by outstanding research of L. Siret at Los Millares (Santa Fé de Mondújar, Almería) (Siret and Siret, 1890). In the mid-20th century, the inventory of megalithic sites and the number of archaeological excavations carried out in them increased (see Leisner and Leisner, 1943, 1959, for example), although because of the limitations of the archaeological methods used the scope of the data made available is of limited use. To date, the number of absolute dates for funerary structures in the 5th to 2nd millennia BC in southern Spain is small, and greater efforts are needed in this direction in the future. As shown in Figure 5 from the Neolithic period, there was a wide variety of structures according to their shape and construction features, and this range may have been intrinsically linked to both the availability of building materials and social, cultural and ideological aspects still poorly understood (García Sanjuán 2009: 18). The few radiocarbon dates obtained for megalithic sites in southern Spain have recently been compiled and assessed in a publication that has enabled a preliminary evaluation of the diachronic changes in their patterns of construction and use (García Sanjuán et al. 2011).

According to data currently available, at the end of the 5th and beginning of the 4th millennia (c. 4200-3900 cal BC) the megalithic phenomenon started in southern Spain. There are about 1500 documented megalithic structures only in the region of Andalusia (García Sanjuán, 2009: 17). Research in the field goes back as far as the mid-19th century with the work by Rafael Mitjana y Ardison (1847)

53

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Name

Province

Type of Sample Charcoal

REF. LAB.

Tremedal

Cáceres

Cueva de los Murciélagos Cueva de Nerja

Granada

Gra15938 Plant, esparto CSIC-247

Málaga

Human bone

Cueva de los Murciélagos Cerro Virtud

Granada

Plant, esparto

Almería

Human bone

Cerro Virtud

Almería

Charcoal

Cueva de los Murciélagos Cerro Virtud

Granada

Plant, esparto

Almería

Charcoal

Cueva de Nerja

Málaga

Human bone

Cueva de los Murciélagos Cerro Virtud

Granada

Textil

Almería

Charcoal

Cerro Virtud

Almería

Human bone

Cerro Virtud

Almería

Human bone

Cerro Virtud

Almería

Charcoal

Campo de Hockey (Tomb 11) Cueva de los Murciélagos Joaniña

Cádiz

Shell

CSIC1132 Beta101425 OxA6580 OxA6713 Beta90884 CNA-664

Granada

Plant, wood

CSIC-246

Cáceres

Charcoal

Sac-1380

Alberite

Cádiz

Charcoal

Abrigo del Milano

Murcia

Human bone

Beta80602 I-14655

Alberite

Cádiz

Charcoal

Alberite

Cádiz

Charcoal

Campo de Hockey (Tomb 10) Tremedal

Cádiz

Human bone

Cáceres

Charcoal

La Canaleja (Cave 1)

Cáceres

Human bone

Menga

Málaga

Charcoal

El Palomar

Sevilla

Human bone

Menga

Málaga

Charcoal

Tremedal

Cáceres

Charcoal

Viera

Málaga

Charcoal

Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 2) La Alberquilla (Structure 7) Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 2) Cuesta de los Almendrillos

Cádiz

Charcoal

Jaén

Canid

Cádiz

Charcoal

Málaga

Human bone

UBAR134 CSIC1133 OxA6714 Beta90885 CSIC1134 OxA6715 Ua-12467

Beta80600 Beta80598 CNA-360 Gra15903 Beta202343 Ua-24582 Beta75067 Ua-24583 Gra15941 GrN16067 Beta233951 CNA603 Beta233952 GrN25302

BP

BC (1 s)

BC (2 s)

Context

Reference

7960 ± 60 7440 ± 100 7360 ± 830 6086 ± 45 6030 ± 55 5920 ± 70 5900 ± 38 5895 ± 55 5875 ± 80 5861 ± 48 5860 ± 70 5840 ± 80 5765 ± 55 5660 ± 80 5650 ± 40 5400 ± 70 5400 ± 210 5320 ± 70 5220 ± 280 5110 ± 140 5020 ± 70 5020 ± 50 5000 ± 60 5000 ± 40 4935 ± 40 4930 ± 70 4865 ± 40 4860 ± 60 4550 ± 140 4480 ± 40 4465 ± 25 4450 ± 40 4450 ± 20

70306775 64156229 73345484 51924935 49924848 48964715 48234721 48334711 48444618 47944686 48274618 47944597 46854551 45834371 41654035 43404079 44483990 42364051 43353714 40433713 39393712 39373713 39333705 39053709 37603657 37773647 37003635 37073536 34993028 33323095 33263037 33243024 33093027

70496687 64596085 86124618 52074849 51974785 49874616 48784690 49314616 49414545 48424595 49024543 48994499 47624464 46854354 42213988 43564047 46913721 43273990 46783376 42453641 39603663 39513704 39483661 38433675 37573690 39433538 37603531 37793520 36312914 33483026 33343026 33382933 33273022

Megalith

Ruiz-Gálvez, 2000

Natural cave

Alonso et al., 1978

Natural cave

Jordá and Aura, 2008 Cacho et al., 1996

54

Natural cave Colective pit Colective pit Natural cave Colective pit Natural cave Natural cave

Montero et al., 1999 Montero et al., 1999 Cacho a et al., 1996 Montero et al., 1999 Jordá and Aura, 2008 Cacho et al., 1996

Megalith

Montero et al., 1999 Montero et al., 1999 Montero et al., 1999 Montero et al., 1999 Vijande, 2009

Natural cave

Alonso et al., 1978

Megalith

Forte, 1998

Megalith

Ramos z and Giles, 1996 San Nicolás, 1987

Colective pit Colective pit Colective pit Colective pit

Cist Megalith Megalith Pit Megalith

Ramos and Giles , 1996 Ramos and Giles, 1996 Vijande, 2009

Megalith

Ruiz-Gálvez Priego, 2000 Cerrillo and González, 2007 García, 2009

Megalith

Cabrero et al., 2005

Megalith

García, 2009

Megalith Megalith

Ruiz-Gálvez Priego, 2000 Ferrer, 1997

Artificial cave Pit

Lazarich et al., 2010 Camara et al., 2010

Artificial cave Megalith

Lazarich et al., 2010 Fernández and Márquez, 2001

Natural cave

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain Casullo

Huelva

Charcoal

CNA-346

Los Millares (Tomb 19) El Barranquete (Tomb 7) El Barranquete (Tomb 7) Camino del Molino

Almería

KM-72

Murcia

Not specified Plant. esparto Plant, esparto Human bone

Cueva de Nerja

Málaga

Human bone

La Paloma

Huelva

Human bone

Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 4) Huerta Montero

Cádiz

Charcoal

Badajoz

Human bone

Cádiz

Charcoal

Huelva

Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 4) La Venta

Almería Almería

La Pijotilla (Tomb 3) La Pijotilla (Tomb3)

Badajoz

Organic material Charcoal

Badajoz

Charcoal

La Paloma

Huelva

Charcoal

Puerto de los Huertos Tesorillo de la Llaná

Huelva

Charcoal

Málaga

Charcoal

Alcaide (Cave 19)

Málaga

?

Camino del Molino

Murcia

Human bone

La Alberquilla (Structure 7) Camino del Molino

Jaén

Human bone

Murcia

Human bone

Huelva

Charcoal

Huelva

Charcoal

Murcia

Puerto de los Huertos Los Gabrieles (Megalith 4) Cueva Sagrada I La Pijotilla (Tomb 1) Los Gabrieles (Megalith 4) Joaniña

Badajoz

Plant, esparto Charcoal

Huelva

Charcoal

Cáceres

Charcoal

Alcaide (Cave 20)

Málaga

?

La Venta

Huelva

Alcaide (Cave20)

Málaga

Organic material ?

Huerta Montero

Badajoz

Human bone

CSIC-82 CSIC-81 Beta244973 Ua-12466 Beta150153 Beta233956 GrN16955 Beta233955 Beta150157 CNA-034 Beta121143 Beta150154 CNA-342 GrA37339 GrN16062 Beta244975 Ua40060 Beta244974 CNA-344 Beta185649 I-15319 BM-1603 Beta185648 Sac-1381 GrN19198 Beta150158 GrN19197 GrN16954

4410 ± 50 4380 ± 120 4300 ± 130 4280 ± 130 4260 ± 60 4260 ± 80 4220 ± 40 4220 ± 40 4220 ± 100 4210 ± 40 4200 ± 70 4168 ± 55 4130 ± 40 4070 ± 70 4070 ± 50 4055 ± 35 4030 ± 110 3990 ± 60 3975 ± 35 3950 ± 60 3940 ± 50 3920 ± 50 3870 ± 100 3860 ± 70 3850 ± 40 3840 ± 170 3830 ± 180 3820 ± 50 3755 ± 210 3720 ± 100

32612925 33252893 32632676 30912669 29992701 30112696 28962707 28962706 29152633 28922703 28932678 28772676 28612625 28502491 28392493 28302493 28602458 26192369 25662467 25662347 25602346 24742310 24722201 24592212 24512209 25612036 25632027 23952150 24691903 22831975

33302909 34822677 33402579 33382502 30762636 30922620 29082675 29082675 30892493 29042641 29152579 28902584 28722581 28722471 28632474 28482475 28852235 28362297 25782349 26192212 25732290 25682212 26172031 25622066 24612205 28661785 28651776 24592140 28591635 24591887

Megalith Megalith (tholos) Megalith (tholos) Megalith (tholos) Artificial cave Natural cave Megalith Megalith

Linares and García, 2010 Almagro, 1959 Alonso et al., 1978 Alonso et al., 1978 Lomba i et al, 2009 Jordá and Aura, 2008 Nocete et al., 2004

Megalith

Lazarich et al., 2010 Blasco and Ortiz, 1992 Lazarich et al., 2010 Nocete et al., 2004

Megalith (tholos) Megalith (tholos) Megalith

Odriozola et al., 2008 Hurtado et al., 2002 Nocete et al., 2004

Megalith

Linares and García, 2010 Márquez et al., 2009 Marqués et al., 2004 Lomba et al, 2009

Megalith (tholos) Megalith

Megalith Artificial cave Artificial cave Pit Artificial cave Megalith Megalith Natural cave Megalith (tholos) Megalith

Cámara et al., 2010 Lomba et al, 2009 Linares and García, 2010 Linares, 2006 Eiroa and Lomba, 1998 Hurtado, 1981 Linares , 2006

Megalith

Forte, 1998

Artificial cave Megalith

Marqués et al., 2004 Nocete et al., 2004

Artificial cave Megalith (tholos)

Marqués et al., 2004 Blasco and Ortiz, 1992

Figure 5: Radiocarbon dates from southern Spanish Neolithic and Copper funerary contexts. The dates have been calibrated with the software Calib 501 using the Int. Cal 09 curve.

55

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic were used as funerary structures from the Neolithwhereas the earliest megalithic monuments can be dated to around 4200-4000 cal BC. All the tholoi have been dated to the 3rd millennium cal BC (Figure 6). An important aspect of prehistoric funerary practices in southern Spain, which have received special attention in the last few years, is the reuse of Neolithic funerary structures in the Copper Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (Lorrio and Montero 2004, García Sanjuán 2005, Mataloto 2007, García Sanjuán et al. 2011 Aranda 2012). This has been linked to long-term continuities of certain aspects of the ideology of the early megalith-building communities as well as the use of the past as a source of prestige and power (García Sanjuán 2005).

Figure 6. Cumulative calibration curves from the radiocarbon data from the table 1 according to their building characteristics (Excluding those data which have a standard deviation higher than 100 years).

3. Grave Goods The number of artefacts found inside funerary structures and its distribution by categories is very variable. The objects most frequently found are ceramic pots, microliths,

If the dates are accumulated by the architectural features of the structures from where they were obtained (Figure 2), it can be seen that pits, natural caves and artificial caves Name

Province

Structure

Nerja

Málaga

Pit

Alberite

Cádiz

Megalith

Grave goods

Reference

A piece of ochre and lithic flakes García, 1982 Ochre Level 4 lithic blades, 1073 beads (110 in variscite and 1487 in bone and shell), 4 limestone mortars, 1 limestone mortar for ochre, 1 prism of quartz and 1 Ramos and Giles, betilo 1996 Surface findings 523 beads (88 in variscite and 434 in shell and bone), 1 polished adze and 1 polished chisel Level of red clays 247 lithic artefacts (222 stone flakes, 25 artefact), 493 pottery fragments

Campo de Hockey (Tomb 10)

Cádiz

Pit

None

Vijande, 2009

Campo de Hockey (Tomb 11)

Cádiz

Megalith

1 polished axe, 1 amber bead, 1 pottery vessel

Vijande, 2009

Casullo

Huelva

Megalith

Cerro Virtud

Almería

Colective pit

Cuesta de los Almendrillos

Málaga

Megalith

El Palomar

Sevilla

Megalith

La Canaleja (Cueva 2)

Cáceres

Natural cave

Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 2)

Cádiz

Artificial cave Two sacrificed dogs, fragments of pottery, talc and variscite necklace beads and Lazarich et al., flaked artefacts. Number not specified 2010

Tremedal

Cáceres

Megalith

Microliths, stone beads (undetermined number, 1 variscite and the other of black stone), Ruiz-Gálvez, 2000

Abrigo del Milano

Murcia

Cist

26 necklace beads, lithic blades and flakes, lithic geometrics and a bone awl and a polished stone axe San Nicolás, 1987

Linares and García, Pottery recipients, 1 lithic blade, 4 polished stone axes, 1 idol 2010 7 bowls, 2 vessels, 3 pots, 1 globular recipient, 4 stone beads, 1 shell bead and Montero et al., 2 perforated shells 1999 23 lithic arrowheads, 10 rock glass blades, 2 geometrics, 1 scrapper and 1 denticulated, 2 polished stone adzes, 5 bone awls, 2 fragments of bone, 3 Fernández and pottery recipients and multitude of fragments, 1 copper base awl, 30 stone beads Márquez, 2001 (dolerita), near a hundred of shell beads and 2 necklace pendants of bone. Bones of animals and 1 anthopomorphic statue of mud. Cabrero et al., 7 Lithic flakes, 6 lithic artefacts, 1 polished artefact not identified 2005 Fragments of Neolithic pottery with decoration and microliths, lithic arrowheads, lithic blades, necklace beads of rounded and triangle shape, a Cerrillo and prism of quartz, a lithic halberd, bone artefacts (not specified), polished axes González, 2007 (Undetermined number)

Figure 7: Grave goods deposited in Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary structures. 56

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain Name

Province

Structure

Grave goods

Reference

El Barranquete (Tomb 7)

Almería

Megalith (Tholos)

18 cuencos, 1 guijarro, 2 hachas de cobre, 2 cuchillos de silex, 2 vasos de piedra pulimentada, 1 concha y 10 piedras de esquisto

Alonso et al., 1978, Almagro Gorbea, 1973

La Paloma

Huelva

Megalith

La Pijotilla (Tomb 1)

Badajoz

Megalith (Tholos)

La Pijotilla (Tomb 3)

Badajoz

Megalith (Tholos)

La Venta

Huelva

Megalith

Los Gabrieles (Megalith nº 4)

Huelva

Megalith

Almería

Megalith (Tholos)

Cádiz

Megalith

Los Millares (Tomb 19) Paraje de Monte Bajo (Tomb 4) Puerto de los Huertos

Huelva

Tesorillo de la Llaná

Málaga

Camino del Molino

Murcia

Cueva Sagrada I La Alberquilla (Structure 7)

Murcia Jaén

1 Quartz glass, 1 polished stone axe, 2 decorated plaques, 3 pottery Nocete et al., 2004 vessels and 1 casserole, 7 beads of green stone, 2 lithic blades and 27 lithic arrowheads Hurtado , 1981 About a houndred pottery recipients, 60 lithic blades, 22 lithic arrow heads, 6 slate spatual, 2 lithic chisels, 1 dagger of limestone, 3 recipients of Odriozola et al., marble, 1 broken recipient decorated with concentric lines, about 700 lithic 2008 beads, 8 awls of bone, 6 vessels of bone, 1 dagger of copper , 11 betils, 10 betils, 39 phalanx idols Nocete et 9 pottery vessels and axes of polished stone al., 2004, Nocete et al, 2002. 93 microliths, 24 lithic arrowheads, 18 lithic blades, 15 polished axes, 6 Linares, polished adzes, 1 polished chisel, 3 lithic cores, 15 lithic beads, pottery 2006 bowls, plates and pots (undetermined number of them) Almagro, Small vessels with red slip; 2 vessels at corridor 1959; Almagro and Arribas, 1963 1 Thickened dish, 1 beaker bell pot (associated to a M individual of 20 YO)

Pottery recipients, geometrical microliths, lithic blades and arrowheads, polished stone axes and adzes, 1 idol, necklace beads of green stone and quartz prisms Megalith 2 lithic arrowheads, 2 lithic blade, 1 plate, 4 pottery bowls, several (Tholos) pottery sherds and shell beads from a necklace Nearly to two hundred pottery recipients, 30 lithic arrowheads, 1 lithic Natural Cave dagger , lithic blades, 30 bone awls and flat dipsticks, 17 copper based awls, 5 polished axes, several necklace beads, 1 copper based arrowhead, 1 copper dagger, 1 Ocular idol, 1 wood dish, thousand necklace beads in bone, shell and Natural Cave stone, seeds, clothes in linen, 1 piece of leather, 3 dipsticks, 1 ster, 5 lithic arrowheads and 1 denticulated Megalith

Pit

Dog bones without cut marks

Lazarich et al., 2010 Linares and García, 2010 Márquez et al., 2009 San Nicolás, 1987 Eiroa, 1990 Cámara et al. 2010

Figure 8: Grave goods deposited in Copper Age funerary structures. flint blades and (in much fewer quantities) halberds, stone arrowheads in various shapes, polished tools, such as axes and adzes, as well as ornamental objects, especially beads and pendants made from bone, stone or shell (Figures 7 & 8). From the beginning of the Copper Age, it became more common to place into the graves metal artefacts, figurines or “idols” as well as ornamental objects made from exotic materials.

figurines or “idols”, which had already been compiled many years previously (Almagro Gorbea 1973), these have recently been thought of as representations of communal divinities which may also have acted as ethnic markers (Hurtado 2008). Another important aspect relating to the grave goods found is the use of rare or exotic materials, such as variscite, amber, quartz, ivory, etc. These materials were used from the Neolithic era, but much more so in the Copper Age, and then less in the Bronze Age (Costa et al. 2011).

Radiocarbon dated contexts put the start of depositing metal objects at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. They are, in general, few in number (Figure 8) In addition, from among the documented ranges of copper objects found in funerary contexts in the Copper Age, there is almost a complete lack of ornamental items, as opposed to tools and tool-weapons (awls, saws, axes, etc.). This has been interpreted to mean that, at this time, metal objects were not invested with a strong ideological value, as they would be later in the Bronze Age when they strengthened the position of the elites. In respect of the

4. Treatment of the Body It is difficult to study the criteria for treating the human body due to the scant amount of intact burials or, because of the dominant funerary practices, most of the bodies had been moved from their original positions. In addition, very many excavations have been carried out without adequate anthropological supervision, so that nowadays, essential data for understanding how human bodies were prepared 57

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic and handled in the context of funerary practices are not available.

also been documented as lying in left lateral decubitus position (not as common). Bodies lying in decubitus supinus position are even less frequent and rare, and no cases of bodies lying in decubitus prono position have been documented.

For the Mesolithic period, the case documented at Cueva de Nerja (Málaga) consists of an inhumation lying in a right lateral decubitus position (García Sánchez 1982). During the Neolithic, a double burial of a female adult and a male adult lying in right lateral decubitus position has been documented from the Cueva de Nerja (Málaga) (González 1990). This also seems to be the case at the site of Campo de Hockey (San Fernando, Cádiz), where some double burials have been documented (Vijande 2009), although the anthropological data from the site have not yet been published. At Cerro Virtud (Almería) (Montero et al. 1999), another site from the same period, a collective burial has been documented, although it has been impossible to reconstruct the positions of the bodies. The Copper Age holds many more case studies. The information from the very few excavations that were carried out using anthropological methods can be seen in Figure 9. In Copper Age megalithic chambers, many of the anthropological remains were moved from their original positions, and it was very likely that, in some cases, a significant number of bones were never placed inside the funerary structures (or were removed at a later date). When skeletons were placed there in later periods, cleaning and rearranging took place in order to make more room, with bones being moved toward the chamber sides, which made the skeletons fall apart and the bones become mixed. This is a fairly common finding and has been recorded in sites such as La Pijotilla (Badajoz) (Hurtado et al. 2000), Valencina PP4-Montelirio (Peinado 2008) and Tesorillo de la Llaná (Alozaina, Malaga) (Palomo 2009) among others. At the Palacio III tholos (Díaz-Zorita et al, 2009; Díaz-Zorita and Waterman in press), a case of very poorlypreserved human remains, due to soil acidity, it was also possible to see that the remains were located near the walls of the structure, at the end of the short corridor.

FEMALE 20- 3030 45

R

L

SU

D

?

TOTA L

Polideportivo Martos (Jaén)

4

0

0

1

?

5

C/Dinamarca (Valencina, Seville)

3

1

1

0

69

74

PP4-Montelirio (Valencina, Seville)

4

0

0

11

135

150

Norte Castilleja (Valencina, Seville)

1

0

0

0

?

1

Tesorillo de la Llaná (Alozaina, Málaga)

0

0

0

18

0

18

La Gallega (Valencina, Seville)

0

1

0

0

1

2

El Algarrobillo (Valencina, Seville)

0

0

0

19

0

19

La Alcazaba (Valencina, Seville)

0

0

0

6

0

6

La Orden-El Seminario (PEX 1336)

1

1

0

7

5

14

La Orden-Seminario (PEX 7016)

0

1

0

10

?

11

La Orden-El Seminario (PEX 7055)

0

1

0

18

?

19

La Cima

1

0

0

0

1

2

TOTAL 14 5 1 91 211 321 Key to table= R: Right; L: Left; SU: Supination ; D: Disarticulated; ?: No information

Nonetheless, when remains are found in primary positions, it seems that most individuals were placed lying in right lateral decubitus position, although some individuals have

SECTOR

Site

Figure 9. Position of the body.

MALE

>45 A YA

20- 3030 45

?

YA >45 A S A YA ? 2030

3045

>45

TOTAL

Cerro Virtud

1

1

0

0

0

1

2

1

1

0 0

4

0

0

0

0

0

11

Cueva de Nerja

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1 0 0

0

0

0

0

0

2

Polideportivo Martos

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 3 0

0

0

0

0

0

5

Paraje de Monte Bajo

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

2

2

0

1

0

2

2

1

1

1 3

0

0

0

0

0

19

TOTAL

0 0 4

Key to table= A: adult; YA: young adult; S: subadult; ?: undetermined.

Figure 10. Demographic data for Neolithic funerary contexts

58

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain SECTOR

FEMALE 20- 3030 45 >45

MALE

A

YA

?

20- 3030 45 YA >45

A

S

A

YA

?

2030

3045

>45

TOTAL

Matarrubilla

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

2

Los Cabezuelos

2

0

0

1

0

2

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

5

0

2

0

14

Cerro de la Cabeza

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

El Roquetito

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

46

0

0

0

48

Divina Pastora- Señorío de Guzmán

3

1

0

3

1

3

3

0

0

0

5

0

0

1

0

0

0

20

Norte Castilleja

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

Dolmen de Montelirio

13

1

0

5

0

0

1

0

0

1

0

4

0

0

0

1

0

26

El Algarrobillo

4

0

0

1

0

3

0

1

0

5

0

2

2

0

1

0

0

19

La Alcazaba

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

6

La Cima

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

La Gallega

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

La Perrera

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

P.P. Matarrubilla

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

6

0

0

0

6

El Cuervo

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

Mirador de Itálica

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

2

Mariana Pineda

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

La Candelera-Emisora

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

2

C/Dinamarca

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

74

0

0

0

74

C/Trabajadores

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

12

0

0

0

12

Mariana Pineda UA 3

2

0

3

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

4

2

0

0

2

2

1

18

Depósito de Agua

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

La Huera

0

0

0

4

0

0

0

0

0

5

7

4

0

0

0

0

0

20

La Pijotilla T 3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

21 137

9

0

8

3

0

178

La Pijotilla T 1

0

0

0

20

0

0

0

0

0

25 19

8

0

0

0

0

0

72

Huerta Montero

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

100

0

0

0

100

Tesorillo de la Llaná

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

10

5

0

0

0

0

3

18

PP4-MONTELIRIO

0

0

0

2

1

0

3

2

0

1

1

3

0

135

0

2

0

150

Cerro de la Cabeza

0

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

0

0

0

0

6

La Orden-Seminario (PEX 1336)

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

0

5

1

13

0

0

0

23

La Orden-Seminario (PEX 7016)

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

9

0

0

0

11

La Orden-Seminario (PEX 7055)

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

18

0

0

0

19

Tholos Palacio III

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

8

0

0

0

0

8

TOTAL

26

4

4

39

7

11

11

3

1

44 72 176 213 426

11

10

4

870

Key to table= F: Female; M: Male; A: Adult; S: subadult; ?: undetermined; YA: young adult.

Figure 11. Demographic data for Copper Age funerary contexts For the Copper Age, our compilation shows a published MNI of 870 individuals (Figure 11) This number represents all cases where a MNI has been presented.

5. Bioarchaeology 5.1 Demography

Nonetheless, only 444 of these 870 individuals have been analysed and identified for age and sex. Therefore, about 426 individuals (Figure 11) cannot be classified according to sex or age. The sex of the individuals that have been analysed is divided fairly equally, with 80 females and 70 males. A summary of distribution by sex is given in Figure 12 and of the 870 published individuals, at least 259 are thought to be adults and 72 are subadults. Individuals of unknown sex, but classified by age are as follows: 21 individuals are young adults (2.41%), 11 individuals are classified in the 20-30 year old category (1.26%), 10 individuals are classified in the 30-45 year old category

With regard to the Mesolithic, the excellent and thorough anthropological study on the sole funerary finding recorded describes an adult female, classed as a young adult of 1820 years old, estimated height 152.7 cm (García Sánchez 1982). Pre-megalithic funerary practices in the Neolithic era are represented in the funerary context of Cerro Virtud (MNI=11) and Cueva de Nerja (MNI=2), whose palaeodemographic data can be seen in Figure 10. In Mesolithic and pre-megalithic Neolithic sites included in this paper, the total MNI is 19 individuals, divided almost equally by sex, the most common age category being 45

31 (6.98%)

48 (10.81%)

25 (5.63%)

9 (2.02%)

A 259 (58.33%)

TOTAL (MNI)

S 72 (16.21%)

444

Key to table: YA: Young adult A: Adult S: Subadult

Figure 13. Copper Age summary distribution by age (1.14%), and 4 individuals are classified as over 45 years old (0.45%).

Site Tesorillo de la Llaná Polideportivo Martos La Cima (Valencina) El Algarrobillo (Valencina) PP4-Montelirio (Valencina) Paraje de Monte Bajo La Gallega (Valencina)

Figure 13 shows a summary of all individuals of known sex and age. A half of the individuals presented there are adults, but often they have been differentiated from the group of subadults solely on the basis of a macroscopic analysis, which may have caused some juveniles being reported as adults. For this reason, these data must be taken with caution. 5.2 Paleopathology In general, there is little pathological data. The Mesolithic individual from the Cueva de Nerja cave (Málaga) (García Sánchez 1982) had evidence of mastoiditis as seen through a sinus in the left temporal bone and bilateral agenesis of the third lower molars. The teeth were also worn, possibly due to a coarse diet, as the individual was young.

La Pijotilla Tholos Palacio III

Calculus Hipoplasia Caries Bibliography

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

Márquez et al, 2009 Lizcano, 1999 Díaz-Zorita, 2007 Díaz-Zorita, 2007 Robles, 2011 Lazarich et al, 2010 Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, 2007 Díaz-Zorita, unpublished Díaz-Zorita and Waterman, in press

Figure 14: Dental pathologies found in the osteological record from the Copper Age in Southern Spain

In the Cerro Virtud group, one individual showed a metabolic disorder (cribra orbitalia). Osteoarticular disease (osteoarthritis, OA) was found in the distal end of the radius, the apophyseal joints of the vertebrae, the foot bones, and the scapula and innominate bones. As for oral disorders, one case of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) has been documented, an exostosis in the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ), possibly caused by osteoarthritis (OA). Also documented is periostitis in a left tibia on the upper proximal medial and lateral surfaces of the diaphysis, possibly the result of infection but there are multiple causes such as trauma, especially if it is unilaterally located.

as well as a diet rich in proteins and carbohydrates. An accumulation of dental plaque can lead to periodontal disease. Caries develop in an acidic oral environment where bacteria in plaque ferment sugars in the diet and this leads to cavities in the teeth. This is the main disorder observed in the skeletons and is linked to other oral and also metabolic disorders, although both are directly related to diet. Caries has been recorded at Tesorillo de la Llaná (Alozaina, Málaga), Polideportivo de Martos (Jaén), La Cima (Valencina de la Concepción, Sevilla) and La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz).

Figure 14 provides a general synthesis of oral disorders in the population in the Copper Age in south-west Spain. Dental calculus has been documented at Valencina de la Concepción, in sectors such as El Algarrobillo, La Cima (Díaz-Zorita 2007), and PP4- Montelirio (Valencina de la Concepción, Sevilla) (Robles 2011), at Polideportivo Martos (Jaén) (Lizcano 1999) and at La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz)4. The presence of dental calculus, or calcified plaque, accumulates due to bacterial action (Hillson 2000) and is related to poor dental hygiene

Dental wear, which is the degree of attrition found in the teeth due to mastication of dietary components and also the use of the teeth as tools, has been documented at the sites of Valencina de la Concepción (Alcázar et al. 1992), PP4-Montelirio (Robles 2011) and La Gallega (Valencina de la Concepción, Seville) (Díaz- Zorita 2007), and at the sites of Monte Bajo (San Fernando, Cádiz) (Lazarich et al. 2010), La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz)4, Tesorillo de la Llaná (Alozaina, Málaga) (Márquez et al. 60

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain deposited, or even when taphonomic processes have been the cause of destruction, it is obvious that the diseases seen are diet related. Even so, there has been very little research into palaeodiet and very few samples have been analysed through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, which is currently the only direct method of determining the type of diet of a population. Conclusions that can be drawn on these populations are that they frequently suffered from caries, dental calculus, hypoplasia and worn teeth; however, isotopic data must be obtained and combined with macroscopic analysis of disease in order to be able to fully discuss the palaeodiet of prehistoric populations.

2009) and La Orden-El Seminario (Huelva) (Vera et al. 2010). Among indicators of metabolic diseases, linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) has been documented as the most common, and is found at the sites of the Polideportivo Martos (Jaén) (Lizcano 1999), Paraje de Monte Bajo (San Fernando, Cádiz) (Lazarich et al. 2010), PP4- Montelirio (Valencina de la Concepción, Seville) (Robles 2011), Tesorillo de la Llaná (Alozaina, Málaga) (Márquez et al. 2009) and La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz)1. Linear enamel hypoplasia appears as a series of horizontal lines, grooves or pits in the crowns of the teeth and represents episodes of interrupted dental development in childhood. It arises mainly from dietary deficiency (Hillson 2000), but can also be related to childhood diseases.

An aspect that is not strictly palaeopathological but of special interest within a chapter on bioarchaeological analysis is that of cases where human bones have been manipulated by trepanning, removing flesh, etc. (García Sánchez and Carrasco 1981, García Sánchez and Jiménez 1986, 1991, Ortega and Jiménez 1992, García Sánchez et al. 1994, Guijo et al. 1999, 2004, López and Souviron 2009). These examples suggest the importance of directly handling and treating the human body during the Neolithic era and Copper Age, within a religious ideology that placed great emphasis on ancestor cult.

Symptomatic of metabolic disorders, cribra orbitalia has been found at the sites of Polideportivo Martos (Jaén) (Lizcano 1999), Cerro de la Cabeza (Valencina de la Concepción, Seville)4 and La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz)4. This disease is also known as orbital porotic hyperostosis and has been directly related to metabolic stress such as hereditary anaemias, and dietary deficiencies can appear in response to several diseases, including infections (Ortner 2003).

6. Data Integration and Discussion There is a wide variety of architectural solutions which also changed over time and space. Neolithic burials often took place in caves. There are other open-air sites whose funerary architecture varies from circular structures, pits and several “negative structures”, such as those at the sites of Campo de Hockey, Polideportivo Martos and Cerro Virtud.

With regard to diseases affecting the appendicular and axial skeleton, osteoarthritis (OA) has been documented in affecting the vertebrae of one of the individuals from the PP4-Montelirio site, and another case of OA at the proximal ends of two ulnae (Valencina, Seville) (Robles 2011). OA has been widely documented from the site at La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz), mainly affecting the vertebrae, but also in the joints of long bones and the hands.1

During the Late Neolithic, the first megalithic monuments began to be built and continued in use throughout the Copper Age. During the Copper Age, a new type of monument appeared: tholoi. Due to the scarcity of radiocarbon dating, it is very difficult to assess the evolution of these monuments, the precise time of their building and the patterns of their reuse. In this respect, continuous reuse of the monuments makes it difficult to document the positions of individuals and their association with grave goods or diachronic changes.

In general, most of the diseases found are related to the dentition, which leads us to believe that there are two influential factors: poor preservation of bones and the type of diet eaten. Preservation of skeletal remains is directly related to taphonomy and depends on the type of soil where they were deposited, the type of ritual used in the deposition, and other physical and chemical factors linked to changes after deposit in graves, among others. Nonetheless, even if taphonomic factors are accounted for, attention must be paid to purposeful anatomical discrimination in funerary rites. It seems that at several sites, such as Valencina de la Concepción, there is an unusual high frequency of skulls over other anatomical parts and therefore dentitions are over-represented in comparison with postcranial skeletal remains (Díaz-Zorita 2007).

Between the Mesolithic and the end of the Neolithic, a gradual tendency is observed towards the monumentalisation of burial sites by using large stones and erecting tumuli. In the Copper Age, this tendency becomes somewhat stabilised, only to disappear during the Bronze Age, in what constitutes a process of de- monumentalising funerary architecture, so that, by the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, there is hardly any monumental funerary architecture (although some old megalithic monuments were still used) (García Sanjuán 2006).

It is also important to highlight that, due to their intrinsic characteristics, teeth provide much useful data and are much better preserved when soil acidity is high. In any case, when a selection of certain bones might have been

The grave goods used in funerary practice during the Neolithic and the Copper Age are many and varied. In the Neolithic era, there were mostly objects linked to

  Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, M. PhD current ongoing dissertation. Unpublished.

1

61

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic production and daily life (stone tools, pottery containers) and, occasionally, some personal items, such as, in particular, body ornaments. In this section, during the Neolithic era, there were ornaments made from shell, bone and rare stones (especially green ones, although also in amber, quartz and rock crystal). This pattern was maintained in the Copper Age, although it became more complex with the (occasional) appearance of metal objects and exotic items, such as ivory and ostrich eggs, imported from North Africa and the Middle East. Recent syntheses on this type of grave goods suggest how extensive exchange networks were, and the ideological, social and symbolic complexity associated with their use (Costa et al. 2011). In this respect, it is important to highlight that, up to the end of the Copper Age (from c. 2400-2200 BC), it seems to us that metal objects were not used systematically to emphasise the position of the elites within funerary practice.

social practices behind the funerary materiality recorded by archaeologists. Acknowledgements This paper has been written within the R&D project A Comparative Analysis of Socioeconomic Dynamics in Late Prehistory in the Central south of the Iberian Peninsula (4th-2nd millennia BC): The South-west” (HAR200914360-C03-03), financed by the Directorate General of Research at the Ministry of Science and Innovation. We would like to thank C.A. Roberts for her comments and suggestions on paleopathology. We would like also to thank D. González Batanero, J.C. Vera Rodríguez, I. López Flores and J. A. Linares Catela for sharing with use the anthropological data from the archaeological site of La Orden-El Seminario in order to write this paper. References

Another important issue is that representations of sacred objects in portable formats (“idols” and figurines), which were very frequent in the Neolithic and Copper Age, disappeared abruptly from Bronze Age burials.

Alcázar, J., Martín, A. and Ruiz, M.T. 1992. Enterramientos calcolíticos en zona de hábitat. Revista de Arqueología XII 137: 18-27. Almagro Basch, M. 1959. La primera fecha absoluta para la cultura de Los Millares a base del Carbono 14. Ampurias 21: 249-251. Almagro Gorbea, Mª J. 1973. Los ídolos del Bronce I Hispano, CSIC, Madrid. Alonso, J., Cabrera, V., Chapa, T. and Fernandez- Miranda, M. 1978. Índice de fechas arqueológicas de C-14 en España y Portugal. In M. Almagro Gorbea and M. Fernández Miranda (eds.): C14 y Prehistoria de la Península Ibérica, 155-183. Serie Universitaria, 77. Madrid. Fundación Juan March. Aranda, G. 2012. Against uniformity, cultural diversity: The “Others” in Argaric Societies” In M. Cruz Berrocal, L. García Sanjuán and A. Gilman (eds.), The Prehistory of Iberia: Debating Early Social Stratification and the State. New York. Routledge. Aura, J. E., González, J. and Jiménez, S. 1998. Los enterramientos solutrenses de la Cueva de Nerja. In J.L. Sanchidrián and M.D. Simón (eds), Las Culturas del Pleistoceno Superior en Andalucía, 237-249. Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja. Nerja Aura, J.E., Jordá, J.F. and Fortea, F.J. 2006. La Cueva de Nerja (Málaga, España) y los indicios del solutrense en Andalucía. Zephyrus 59, 67-88. Blasco, F. and Ortiz, M. 1992. Trabajos arqueológicos en Huerta Montero, Almendralejo (Badajoz). Actas de las I Jornadas de Prehistoria y Arqueología en Extremadura (1986-1990). Extremadura Arqueológica II, Mérida. Junta de Extremadura (Regional Government of Extremadura), 129-138. Cabrero, R., Ambrosiani, J. Guijo, J.M. and Gómez, E. 2005. Estudio de restos humanos procedentes del Dolmen de Cañada Real depositados en el Departamento de Anatomía y Embriología Humanas de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Sevilla. Spal. Revista de prehistoria y arqueología de la Universidad de Sevilla: 59-74.

Regarding eschatological gestures and body treatment, the first funerary displays, in the Mesolithic, seem to be individual inhumations, such as documented in Nerja cave (González 1990). During the Neolithic, cases of double inhumations have been documented, such as at Campo de Hockey (Vijande 2009) or at the Neolithic levels of Nerja cave (González 1990), or multiple inhumations, such as at Cerro Virtud. During the Copper Age, the predominant funerary practice was for collective graves, as has been widely documented. Due to the collective character of the ritual, in most cases it is impossible to separate individual skeletons and establish a link to the grave goods showing similarities, mainly pottery and stone tools, but also objects made from bone, stone, metal and exotic materials. In other cases, it is difficult to discern whether the skeletons were articulated or mixed, due to continuous use of the monuments over several years or centuries, and the remains and spaces having been cleared. Additional elements to funerary practices were the use of ochre, documented from the Mesolithic era and frequently used in later periods, also fire, documented as fire marks or partial cremations. The results from bioarchaeological analysis show that palaeodemographic distribution is divided equally between males and females, adults and subadults. There is still very little known about the state of health of the people in the periods studied here. Statistically representative documentation available shows metabolic disorders and osteoarticular disease (osteoarthritis, OA). Nonetheless, more data must be obtained on this, as there are only a few specific studies. For future research to make progress, it is crucially important to obtain more and better bioarchaeological and radiocarbon data in order to be able to understand the 62

Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain médicas sobre salud y enfermedad en el pasado. Actas del IX Congreso Nacional de Paleopatología. Morella (Castellón), 26-29 de Septiembre de 2007, 669-674. Eiroa, J. A. and Lomba, J. 1998. Dataciones absolutas para la Prehistoria de Murcia. Estado de la Cuestión. Anales de Prehistoria y Arqueología, vol. 13-14, 1997-1998, p. 81-118. Forte, J. 1998. Monumentos Megalíticos da Bacia Hidrográfica do Río Sever. Colibrí, Lisbon. García Sánchez, M. 1982. El esqueleto epipaleolítico de la Cueva de Nerja. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad de Granada 7, 37-71. García Sánchez, M. 1986. El enterramiento Epipaleolítico de la Cueva de Nerja (Nerja, Málaga). Antropología y Paleoecología Humana 4, 3-23. García Sánchez, M. and Carrasco, J. 1981. Cráneo-copa eneolítico de la Cueva de Carigüela de Piñar (Granada). Zephyrus 32-33, 121-131. García Sánchez, M. and Jiménez, S. A. 1986. Cráneo trepanado de la Cueva de la Carigüela (Piñar, Granada), Antropología y Paleoecología Humana 4, 25-37. García Sánchez, M. and Jiménez, S. A. 1991. El cráneo trepanado de Alhama de Granada. Antropología y Paleoecología Humana 6, 3-16. García Sánchez, M. and Jiménez, S. A. and Ortega, J. A. 1994. Trepined skull from the Cueva de los Marmoles (Priego de Córdoba, Spain) displaying evidence of ritual defleshing. Journal of Paleopathology 6, 161168. García Sanjuán, L. 2005. Las piedras de la memoria. La permanencia del megalitismo en el Suroeste de la Península Ibérica durante el II y I milenios ANE. Trabajos de Prehistoria 62 (1), 85-109. García Sanjuán, L. 2006. Funerary ideology and social inequality in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian South- West (c. 3300-850 cal BC). In P. Díaz del Río and L. García Sanjuán (eds), Social Inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory. British Archaeological Reports International Series S1525, 149-170. Oxford. BAR Publishing García Sanjuán, L. 2009. Introduction to the megalithic sites and landscapes of Andalusia. In L. García Sanjuán and B. Ruiz (eds), The Large Stones of Prehistory: Megalithic Sites and Landscapes of Andalusia, 1231. Seville, Spain. Andalusian Government (Junta de Andalucía). García Sanjuán, L., Wheatley, D. W. and Costa, M. E. 2011. The numerical chronology of the megalithic phenomenon in southern Spain: progress and problems. In L. García Sanjuán, C. Scarre and D.W. Wheatley (eds.), Exploring Time and Matter in Prehistoric Monuments: Absolute Chronology and Rare Rocks in European Megaliths. Proceedings of the 2nd European Megalithic Studies Group Meeting (Seville, Spain. November 2008). Menga: Revista de Prehistoria de Andalucía, Monograph 1, 121-157. Góngora, M. 1868. Antigüedades Prehistóricas de Andalucía. Madrid

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MORTUARY ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MUGE SHELL MIDDENS Mary JACKESa and David LUBELLa a. Department of Anthropology. University of Waterloo. Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada ([email protected]). Abstract: We discuss here the radiometric chronology, stable isotopes, site characteristics and burial practices for three of the Mesolithic Muge concheiros, Moita do Sebastião, Cabeço da Arruda and Cabeço da Amoreira. We conclude that the sites were initially used as cemeteries in which bodies were normally buried in flexed positions and covered by mounds with little indication of elaboration or differentiation. Keywords: Mesolithic, Muge, Portugal, burial practices, cemeteries.

1. Introduction

152956). It is a canid excavated in 1880 from the main area of human burials (not the area designated in Detry and Cardoso 2010). The next oldest dated bone, at close to 7900 calBP, is human, from a burial in the basal layer of Amoreira (TO-11819R). Nine samples of human bone, seven from Moita and two from Arruda, appear to define the spread of dates for the major period of burials in the lower levels of the sites, ranging from ~7850 calBP to ~7600 calBP (Moita 22, TO-131, to Arruda 42, TO-359). A further five human bone samples from all three sites date from ~7500 calBP to ~7300 calBP and represent burials in upper levels. These are followed by an outlier at ~6900 calBP, Arruda N, an individual with severe osteoporosis and matrix characteristic of upper levels (TO-356). Bicho et al. (2011, in press) have dated material (WK-26796) close to the modern surface at Amoreira, from within a scatter of bone containing several fragmentary individuals as well as non-human bone, that has a wide range of dates

Moita do Sebastião, Cabeço da Arruda and Cabeço da Amoreira (hereafter Moita, Arruda and Amoreira), three concheiros (shell middens) on the Muge tributary of the Tagus River in central Portugal (Figure 1), comprise a Mesolithic burial grouping which is among the largest known in Europe—so far much larger than the sites along the Sado, a similar setting further to the south. Around 300 skeletons may have been excavated from the Muge sites since the 1860s, a long period of research that is important to the history of archaeology.1 Furthermore, a relatively narrow time frame and the circumscribed setting means that the sites provide an excellent sample for bioarchaeological research. We can rightly term the sites a group of cemeteries. 2. Chronology, palaeoenvironment and stable isotopes The Muge must have been settled because people were drawn to the special characteristics of a sheltered tributary with several higher areas of remnant terrace sands, close to the Tagus valley. By around 8300 calBP (GrA-32654) (see Figure 2 for all dates discussed) brackish marshes and tidal flats appeared just upstream of the Muge mouth, so all the resources of an estuarine environment would have been well established in the region by 8100 calBP (AA-48978) and were maintained until the end of the sea level rise. This is well dated from a core at Vale de Atela, upstream from the Muge, where fluviatile influences overtook the remnant brackish marshes soon after 6900 calBP (UtC1983). The oldest bone sample unquestionably2 excavated from a Muge site, is from Arruda and dated to ~7900 calBP (Beta-

Figure 1. Map showing location of the Muge sites (white triangle).

  A paper on such a large and relatively unexplored aspect of Muge archaeology cannot provide detail within the limits on space here. A much longer and more detailed paper, with fuller discussion has been written (Jackes and Lubell in prep.) 2   Cunha et al. 2003, 185 published a very early date for Arruda 6 (7550±100, Beta-127451). Arruda 6 was excavated by Mendes Corrêa (Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000, 178) with other skeletons at the top of the deepest archaeological layer. The material itself, and its placement, 1

are standard: it would be expected to date to 7600-7700 calBP. The date is at least 500 years too old. The mandible was mistakenly published as Amoreira 6 as an example of typical attrition (Cunha and Cardoso 2001, Figure 2).

67

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the C CORRECT FIGURE 2halcolithic Sample

Years bp

Years cal BPa midpoint of 1 σ range

Years cal BP 1 σ range

Years cal BP 2 σ range

GrA-32654 Borehole 0501.025 (plant remains)

7440±40

8262

8203–8322

8181–8350

Vis and Kasse (2009)

AA-48978 MUG-5 (plant & wood fragments)

7318±44

8114

8050–8177

8014–8277

Van der Schreik et al. (2008)

UtC-1983 Alpiarça III peat

6040±50

6874

6798–6949

6600–6320

Vis et al. (2008)

Beta-152956 Cabeço da Arruda canid

7070±40

7904

7858–7951

7798–7971

Detry and Cardoso (2010)

TO-11819R Cabeço da Amoreira CAM-00-01

7300±80

7886 Δ δ

7803–7968

7695–8029

Meiklejohn et al. (2009)

7240±70

7841

Δδ

7759–7923

7679–7955

Lubell et al. (1994)

Δδ

7573–7682

7507–7781

Lubell et al. (1994)

TO-131 Moita do Sebastião Ossada 22 TO-359 Cabeço da Arruda Ossada 42

6960±70

7628

TO-356 Cabeço da Arruda N

6360±80

6931 Δ δ

6801–7061

6740–7161

Lubell et al. (1994)

6329±40

7016

Δδ

6896–7136

6865–7153

Bicho et al. (2011a,b)

Δδ

7336–7487

7287–7559

Lubell et al. (1994)

WK-26796 Cabeço da Amoreira human TO-135 Moita do Sebastião CT

6810±70

7412

TO-355 Cabeço da Arruda D

6780±80

7524 Δ δ

7462–7586

7424–7660

Lubell et al. (1994)

6550±70

Δδ

7304–7425

7183–7486

Roksandic (2006)

TO-10225 Cabeço da Amoreira CAM-01-01 a

Source

7364

Calibrations use Calib Rev 6.0.2 (Reimer et al. 2009; http://calib.qub.ac.uk/calib/) with IntCal09 and Marine09.

Δ

Correction for ΔR = 140±40 used

δ

δ13C range -21.7 to -10.1

Table 1. Radiocarbon dates discussed in text in order of mention

Figure 2. Radiocarbon dates discussed in text in order of mention. 3

and stable isotope values. We estimate the marine component for the diet of WK-26796 as 43% (based on Martins et al. 2008, Table 2 and our broader δ13C range -21.7 to -10.1), giving a date of ~7000 calBP.

the most extreme of all Muge diets in term of the marine component. Amoreira samples range up to the highest marine component diet, close to 60%, but they form a tight cluster, except for one (TO-10225 for CAM-01-01, 7365 calBP). This is an extreme outlier and comes from within the disturbed scatter of faunal and human material, close to the surface, mentioned above. The stable isotope values are virtually identical to two faunal samples from within the same scatter, one at least 500 years younger and the other about 500 years older than TO-10225 (TO-11861 and TO-11862, respectively, calculated without reservoir offset, unpublished, Roksandic pers. comm.). We assume that WK-26796 (Bicho et al. 2011) is from the same scatter and we would suggest that it dates to ~7000 calBP but has a dietary marine component double that of TO-10225. While there is no reason to doubt the provenance of the sample provided for the stable isotope analysis of TO-10225 (Amoreira 2001 #139, Roksandic pers. com.), reanalysis of material from that fragmentary skeleton would confirm that there was no laboratory confusion.

Thus we have something close to the complete range of time for a Muge estuarine environment. While the material to be discussed for the most part dates from the earlier period, beginning about ~7900 calBP, it is important to understand whether the Muge materials discussed here can be called Mesolithic. Amoreira may provide us with the best sample of human material from the later period. Unfortunately, a great deal of it has been lost (Jackes et al. in press a, Roksandic and Jackes in press). Nevertheless, what remains indicates that diets were within the Mesolithic regime, based on degree and type of dental attrition: e.g., there is no cupped wear of “milled” posterior teeth as seen in the Neolithic (Lubell et al. 1994). Stable isotopes indicate considerable diversity in the Muge diet (Figure 3), Moita being relatively homogeneous, but Arruda having a wider range. Moita CT is an outlier, heavily marine and the youngest of all Moita dated burials (TO-135, ~7412 calBP). Three Arruda samples fall within the Moita range, but all others are markedly shifted from a marine towards, but not within, a terrestrial diet. The most terrestrial, Arruda D (TO-355, ~7524 calBP), is however firmly within the Mesolithic time range, while the youngest, Arruda N (TO-356, ~6900 calBP) has one of

To summarize, the Muge Mesolithic chronology can be tied to the period of estuarine resource availability, ~8100 to ~6800 calBP. Arruda bone dates range from 7900 to 6931 calBP; Moita bone dates cluster around 7800 calBP with an outlier at 7412 calBP; Amoreira dates appear to cover two periods, one starting around 7900 calBP and then another at perhaps 7500 calBP extending to ~6800 calBP. 68

Mortuary CORRECT FIGURE 3 archaeology of the Muge shell middens Site Cabeço da Amoreira Cabeço da Amoreira Cabeço da Amoreira Cabeço da Amoreira Cabeço da Amoreira Cabeço da Amoreira

Specimen Esq. 6 Esq. 8 Esq. 4 CAM-00-01 Esq. 7 CAM-01-01

Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda Cabeço da Arruda

Ossada N Esq. 1 Ossada 42 Esq. 10 Ossada III CA-00-02 CA-00-01 Ossada D Ossada A

TO-356

Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião Moita do Sebastião

Ossada CT Ossada 22 Esq. 15 Esq. 10 Esq. 31 Ossada 41 Ossada 24 Esq. 16 (Porto) Ossada 29

a

Lab. ref.

Years bp

TO-111819R 7300 ± 80 Beta-127450 6850 ± 40 TO-10225 6550 ± 70

δ13C -21.7 to -10.1a % marine -14.8 6.9 59.5 -15.6 6.1 52.6 -15.7 6.0 51.7 -16.3 5.4 46.6 -16.5 5.2 44.8 -19.3 2.4 20.7

Source Umbelino et al. (2007) Umbelino et al. (2007) Umbelino et al. (2007) Roksandic (2006) Umbelino et al. (2007) Roksandic (2006)

TO-360 TO-10216 TO-10217 TO-355 TO-354

-15.3 -15.7 6960 ± 70 -17.2 -17.2 6990 ± 110 -17.7 7040 ± 60 -17.9 6620 ± 60 -18.1 6780 ± 80 -18.9 6970 ± 60 -19.0

6.4 6.0 4.5 4.5 4.0 3.8 3.6 2.8 2.7

55.2 51.7 38.8 38.8 34.5 32.8 31.0 24.1 23.3

Lubell et al. (1994) Umbelino et al. (2007) Lubell et al. (1994) Umbelino et al. (2007) Lubell et al. (1994) Roksandic (2006) Roksandic (2006) Lubell et al. (1994) Lubell et al. (1994)

TO-135 TO-131

6810 ± 70 7240 ± 70

TO-134 TO-132 Beta-127449 TO-133

7160 ± 80 7180 ± 70 7120 ± 40 7200 ± 70

6.4 5.6 5.5 5.2 5.0 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.8

55.2 48.3 47.4 44.4 43.3 43.1 42.2 42.2 41.4

Lubell et al. (1994) Lubell et al. (1994) Umbelino et al. (2007) Umbelino et al. (2007) Umbelino et al. (2007) Lubell et al. (1994) Lubell et al. (1994) Cunha et al. (2003) Lubell et al. (1994)

TO-359

6360 ± 80

-15.3 -16.1 -16.2 -16.6 -16.7 -16.7 -16.8 -16.8 -16.9

Estimated end points for δ13C (Arneborg et al. 1999) used to establish % marine because range includes Portuguese Neolithic values.

Figure 3. Radiocarbon chronology stable isotope valuesMesolithic for Mugeburials Mesolithic burials discussed in text. Table 2. Radiocarbon chronology and stableand isotope values for Muge discussed in text 3. Site characteristics

away in 1966, during a flood that was not among the 19 medium to very high hazard floods between 1855 and 1997 (Azevêdo et al. 2004). Reconstruction of the excavations at Arruda in the 1860s, 1880s, 1930s and 1960s (Jackes et al. nd.b) suggests that midden deposit loss is greater than can be accounted for by archaeological work. Flooding was noted at Amoreira in the 1930s (Gonçalves 1986, 222) and the Roche profiles (Roche 1964-65; 1967) show erosional, as well as other disturbances to the complex stratigraphy at Amoreira. Roche, consistently mentioned disturbances at all sites. While flooding is unlikely to have affected Moita, the surface had clearly been heavily worked; for example, a quarry was recorded there in 1880. Many archaeological prospections, some unrecorded, with poor evidence on the location of back dirt piles, add to the agricultural and aboricultural disruptions.

Amoreira has more evidence of burials spread throughout the depth of the deposits, but the poorer evidence for upper level burials at Moita and Arruda has to be considered in terms of excavation history and site disruption. Arruda was excavated a number of times from 1863 to 2001, while Moita was excavated from 1880 to the 1950s, when much of the midden was removed by bulldozing. Amoreira was not extensively dug in the 19th century because no burials were found. While all three high middens (cabeços) lie above what was a marsh with Holocene alluvium, each is unique in terms of its position along the Muge: Moita and Amoreira lie to the south of the original marsh and Arruda to the north; Amoreira overlooks an embayment, so that floods will act differently upon it than upon Moita; Arruda, on the north bank, is within a deeper and narrower embayment than Amoreira. Figure 4 summarizes some of the differences among the sites (Jackes in press, discusses biological heterogeneity). A major difference among the sites relates to the depth of anthropogenic deposits above the sterile terrace sands: while Moita and Amoreira had/ have a maximum thickness of not much over 3m, Arruda has at least 2m more depth of deposit.

Disturbances may in part explain the existence of stray bone. Stray material was discovered at Arruda from the time of the very first excavations, and it is recorded that stray bones and those in poor condition were discarded (Oliveira 1889, 71) and reburied (Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000, 169, 172). These were most likely upper level materials since Roche (1974, 31) stated those were always in poorer shape than skeletons from the lower level. While we can assume that museum collections are incomplete with regard to upper level burials, we have records of some burials very close to the modern surface. At Arruda, CA00-01 lay at 30cm, Roche’s material from level 5 lay just below 45cm from the surface and 19th century archival material records that local men had seen skeletons close to the modern surface at Arruda. At Amoreira, CAM-

Various types of evidence provide a clear indication that the sites have been disturbed in a number of ways, but flooding has obviously been of importance, especially at Arruda. Roche (1974, 25) described how the excavated profile collapsed as the underlying sand was washed 69

5

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

a

Site

Elevations of Quaternary terracesa

Muge beda m asl

Deep burials m asl

Distance of closest deep burials when first excavated from Paul do Duque (marsh) m

Height of deep burials above Paul do Duque (marsh) m

Highest point of cabeço m aslb

Moita

T4 (20-30 m )

~4.2

21

80

16

now 21.5, was 24.5

Amoreira

T4 (20-30 m )

~4.2

16-17

93

14

22.22

Arruda

T5 (12-15 m)

~4.5

~9-10 (1880)

~21 (1880)

~3.25 (1880)

~15.0

Van der Schriek et al. (2008) b A discussion of sources will be published in Jackes and Lubell (in prep.).

Figure 4. Site situation and characteristics. 01-01 mentioned above, was one of several fragmentary individuals encountered together mixed with faunal bone within 20-60cm depth, and Amoreira 2, 3 and 4 excavated in the 1930s, were also exposed at 20-40cm below the surface.

Roche (1951, 1963, 1964-65, 1972b) discussed pebbles in several contexts, there is no mention of rocks specifically associated with graves. However, from Roche’s profile (1967) it is probable that pebbles lay within the mound covering his Skeleton 6 at Amoreira. More impressively, unpublished photographs3 that we have identified as being Amoreira Skeletons 6 and 8 from the 1930s, confirm that up to ten quite large pebbles could be associated with a burial. Amoreira 6 had a pebble lying directly on the left scapular blade, which had collapsed outwards during decomposition. There may be another stone in the neck region.

It seems unlikely that Mesolithic burials would be so shallow but the explanation may be found partly in cabeço shape. Deep within a cabeço, the burials at the lowest level on the terrace sands will be metres below the modern surface, but at cabeço edges, the same sands are exposed, so that some Arruda burials from 1880, although at the same deep level as the majority, close to the terrace surface, were not at great depths.

4. Disposition of cadavers 4.1. Upper body

Erosion will also have removed earlier surface deposits and Roche (1964-65, 199) considered that disconformities showed that cabeços were restructured in Mesolithic times. However, there were clearly burials into deposits well above the terrace sands.

We have no evidence of grave architecture beyond shallow pits at Moita. At Arruda, natural hollows, sometimes at an angle, were occasionally used. In a few cases, we can see what is called a ‘wall effect’, meaning that bones are held in position despite the effects of decompositional disarticulation and movement. For example, an ilium may be maintained in an in vivo orientation (Jackes et al. in press b). Here the evidence is that sediments, heavily charged with shell, ash and charcoal, perhaps very humid because of the season of burial, were packed against a bone, preventing it from falling outwards. We also note cases in which the upper part of the body was kept within a constrained space, the humeri still pressed against the ribs, the ribs themselves slumped down somewhat, rather than outwards, and the clavicles ‘verticalized’ as seen at Amoreira (Roksandic and Jackes in press). Instead of lying across the shoulders, the clavicles may move, to varying degrees, into a cranio-caudal orientation. The frequency of this at Amoreira suggests that the shallow grave pit was narrower around the shoulders and upper body than around the lower body.

Our reconstruction of burials is that they lay in very shallow graves, at best no more than hollows, close to features—hearths, pits and post holes found by Roche at Moita (Roche 1972a) and at Amoreira both by 1930s excavators (e.g. Gonçalves 1986, Document II-b) and Bicho et al. (2011). For closely adjacent decomposing cadavers to be tolerable for the living, mounds must have been constructed over graves. There is no indication of disturbance by scavengers: any disturbance must be a consequence of later burials, erosion or digging within historical periods. We can support the hypothesis of grave mounds further by referring to heavy fill packed around some skeletons maintaining bones in place, and sediment weight pushing down on other skeletal elements. In some cases, there may have been terrace pebbles included in the burial mound and ‘grave’ fill. Quartz and quartzite pebbles up to 12cm in size were exposed in Facies 1B and 8 in the Tagus lag channels (Vis and Kasse 2009) and they were the raw materials used for some tool making. Pereira da Costa (1865) mentioned a layer containing fire-cracked rocks above the low burial level and Ribeiro (1884, 288) noted that the larger pebbles must have been brought to the Muge sites. While

Of the Amoreira skeletons from the 1960s excavations for which the burial disposition can be ascertained, Skeletons 6, 7, 8 (right side), probably 12 and certainly 13 have such 3   In October 2010, while at the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto, we were able to scan and identify a series of negatives and a few positives from 1930s excavations, mostly at Muge.

70

Mortuary archaeology of the Muge shell middens beside the body. In one case (Arruda 1930s Skeleton 5) both hands are folded across the body. In 17 cases, the two hands are placed in different positions, most often on the body rather than beside it. In roughly equal numbers 1. the upper hand is on the chest, opposite shoulder or upper arm, while the lower is on the abdomen, iliac blade or beside the body; 2. both hands are placed somewhere on the upper body, from the waist up; 3. both hands are placed low, on or beside the body. There is no consistency with regard to which hand is placed higher or lower – in all cases, when both hands can be observed and in the overall sample, the likelihood of left or right hand being placed higher is equal. 4.2. Lower body Posture differences for the lower limbs were suggested in our original 1984-5 study of Muge skeletons (which did not focus on burial disposition): ‘...—based on our reconstructions—many of the Arruda skeletons were in extreme flexion of thigh on hip. However, for the Moita materials, we have found flexion only at the knees, suggesting that the bodies were buried fully extended, sometimes with raised knees’ (Lubell and Jackes 1988, 245). While limited in scope, because many skeletons had been mixed and in most cases articulations maintained by breccia had been separated, our conclusion with regard to Moita may have been correct based on the later finding of archival material (Jackes and Alvim 2006) which showed that a number of Moita skeletons had been laid one against another, with crania leaning against the flexed-up knees of the individual behind. In comparison, a photograph of Arruda in 1880 (Ribeiro 1884, Plates 1 and 2, parts of the same image) shows burials illustrating why 19th century researchers spoke of the skeletons as being in ‘the most bizarre positions imaginable’ (Costa 1865, 15—our translation). In this photograph of one of three groupings of burials discovered in 1880, and the only photograph for which we have a clear image, there is no evidence of lateral constriction: ribs have slumped outwards, humeri have rolled out, ilia have fallen flat and clavicles have not shifted vertically. Yet the legs, both at hips and knees, are in extreme flexion indicating cranio-caudal, not lateral, constriction. In some cases, the legs might have fallen to the sides from an original position on the trunk, in others a leg seems to have been initially placed firmly beside the body, keeping the ilium upright. In one burial, the sediment curved up under the pelvis and kept the legs on the trunk. Even in this one photographed Arruda 1880 group we see another burial disposition—lateral decubitus: this individual must have been laid with the legs folded to the left side.

Figure 5. Amoreira Skeleton 6, excavated and photographed August 1933. Cropped from the scan of a photographic print incorrectly labelled Muge 1930/16, at the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto. An unnumbered negative exists but has deteriorated. The skeleton lies in dark anthropogenic sediments just above the basal sands. The field notes record that the flexed skeleton was 90cm long. upper constriction. The photographs from the 1930s of those few Amoreira skeletons which were undisturbed give us certain information only for Skeleton 6: this individual was apparently buried without upper body constriction (Figure 5). Moita skeletons from the 1950s (Jackes et al. in press b) provide rather contradictory evidence. There is partial constriction in Skeletons 30, 32, 5 and 12 but apparently none for Skeletons 31, and 15. On the other hand, full upper constriction is suggested for Skeletons 33, 3, 9, 17 and 19. Skulls at Moita often lay on slight mounds of sediment, but less often at Arruda (Roche 1974, 32). It is unfortunate that Arruda provides us with less evidence overall and lacks detailed analysis of burial disposition. However, we can say that upper body constriction is not obvious from photographs of the 1930s Arruda excavations and did not occur in the one group of skeletons excavated in 1880 for which we have a reasonable photograph. Published photographs of the 1960s Arruda excavations (Roche 1974, Plate 2; Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000, 235, Figure 61) are not very clear, but certainly show some verticalized clavicles (Arruda 4) and evidence of bilateral constriction (Skeleton 7). Roche (1974, 33) stated that there were no hollows dug to receive Arruda cadavers, a marked difference from Moita: thus we must assume that there was tightly packed anthropogenic sediment around some bodies.

Unpublished 1930s photographs allow us to examine ten Arruda burials: some individuals were buried extended with knees semi-flexed, one was buried with feet set on the ground by the pelvis so that the knees must have been tightly flexed up at the time of burial. Two subadults had the femora hyperflexed onto the trunk. Arruda 9, from deep in the 1930s excavation, seems to be a bundle of long

Evidence on the position of hands, in those few cases where we can specify—34 right and 36 left hands across all three sites—provides us with no pattern of age, sex or site. There are five cases in which both hands are placed on the hips and five cases in which both hands extend 71

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic bones with a fragment of mandible, while for Arruda 5, a juvenile, the bundle of hyperflexed lower limb bones was maintained in place by folded forearms. Since the left talus is retained attached to the left posterior femoral neck and the ischial ramus, we know that the ankle was held above the hip. Extreme cranio-caudal constriction and tight hyperflexion of the thighs on the trunk is the only explanation here, and indeed the 1884-85 Arruda excavator noted that the knees were held close to the face (Oliviera 1889, 73). All hips retaining an articulation in the Arruda collection at the Museu Geológico in Lisbon when we studied them in 1985 had strong flexion of femora at the hip. Some feet were also flexed up towards the tibiae. It is not possible to know whether the feet were set on the ground under flexed knees and pushed up by cranio-caudal curvature of the underlying sediments, or whether the thighs lay on the trunk, with the feet pushed against mounded sediment. In this position, the feet could not have been placed on the ground at burial (Roksandic and Jackes in press).

one other skeleton had the knees very slightly raised. Most skeletons had the knees flexed upright and only one is likely to have had hyperflexion onto the trunk, a case where the knees apparently collapsed to the right. So at Moita, in most cases, the feet were placed flat on the ground close to the pelvis. We postulate that this is the modal burial posture for Moita. What can be gleaned of the Amoreira mortuary practices found in the 1960s has been summarized (Roksandic and Jackes in press). Only five burials can be discussed with any certainty, and of these, four suggest constricted but shallow burial pits. Three adult females were buried with knees flexed, and a fourth was an extended burial. The flexed burials were not homogeneous since only two involved hyperflexion: Skeleton 6 had the knees side by side and the feet apparently raised and side by side, and Skeleton 12 must have had the feet raised and crossed, with the knees perhaps parted prior to decomposition. An Amoreira child, CAM-00-01, for which the suggestion is no wrapping and immediate covering with sediment (Roksandic 2006, 44 and Figure 1a), is a good example of asymmetry of the lower limbs. The feet are now in different positions, the left having fallen straight down, while the right lies on the sacrum. The right side of the body makes it extremely unlikely that there was wrapping, even though the right leg lay folded in such a way as to maintain the ilium in the in vivo position, generally the same asymmetrical posture as in a subadult in Ribeiro’s Arruda photograph (1884, Plate 2). Our most interesting image (Figure 5) is of Amoreira 6 from the 1930s, a male skeleton, which gives a faulty impression of symmetry in the lower limbs. The right iliac blade, but not the left, is flat; the right femur has moved, but not the left, perhaps because the left elbow stabilized the leg (as with CAM00-01). In this rare case of observable feet, we can see that ankles fell onto the sacrum, with each foot pointing away from the sacrum: it appears that the left foot lies with the plantar surface up, on the left proximal femur. The posture of the feet suggests that the earth must have been firmly packed against them in order to keep them from falling caudally, as they moved from their initial flexed position above the body. The feet must have fallen laterally into empty space provided by decomposition of the lower body tissues.

Were cadavers buried with feet above the pelves, but knees parted, rather than on the trunk? An argument against this is that there are cases where knees actually lay on the thorax when excavated, but these are often subadults whose lesser muscle mass would have been a factor in maintaining the position. While it is possible that a ligature, or wrapping with hides, could have kept the body in this hyperflexed position, Roche, summarizing his Arruda burial findings, dismissed the idea of a ligature keeping the femora flexed against the trunk (1974, 32, 34). There is no clear evidence of bundles requiring a hide wrapping, although the limb bones, especially of juveniles, may appear bundled. In the most likely case, from the 1880s Arruda excavations, a child with the mandible attached to the posterior left femoral shaft, in fact lies on the bones of a small female with her femur flexed on her hip and her right hand under her crossed feet. This cannot be a multiple secondary burial bundle; it must be an earlier burial disturbed by a later one. While one group of 1880 Arruda skeletons suggests alignment of separate individuals, so that each must have been well-marked for a sufficient length of time that later burials did not disturb earlier interments, this cannot have been true for other groupings, and certainly not for some of the 1930s skeletons. Furthermore, Arruda skeletal elements have most often fallen laterally, outwards, arguing against wrapping.

Three more Amoreira skeletons from the 1930s can be discussed from information in the field note books (Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000) and on the basis of unpublished photographs. Two (Skeleton 7, an adult female and 8, an older male)4 lie on their sides, their tightly flexed legs beside the thorax, to the right and left, respectively. The final skeleton that can be discussed is Amoreira 1930s Skeleton 9 (illustrated by Cunha and

Jackes et al. (in press b) considered the evidence on wrapping for the 1950s Moita burials and concluded that ‘The best, and most parsimonious, argument…. seems to be that no coverings were placed over the bodies, and that the grave fill and subsiding mounds filled the voids slowly and at intervals, depending on particular circumstances, the season of the year, drainage and slight variations in the fill and mound construction’. In fact, the Moita burial disposition, as evidenced by the 1950s excavations, is that all but one of the dorsal decubitus burials had the knees flexed. The exception was an extended burial, although

  This information comes from Roksandic (pers. comm. January 2010) who examined the skeletons at the Department of Anthropology, Universidad de Coimbra. The material as it is now, in Porto, is too fragmentary and mixed to discuss in detail.

4

72

Mortuary archaeology of the Muge shell middens Cardoso 2001 as 9/A). This is an interesting child burial, dorsal decubitus, with the left and right hyperflexed legs both fallen to the right side of the thorax. The phalanges of the child are resting upon its left parietal, i.e., the body lay with the right arm wrapped behind the head, the only such case seen.

and the W, with the majority (9/14) directly to the NW. However, even within the main grouping, orientations differed, so we cannot say that each group had a specific orientation. At Arruda, the deep burials (Roche 1974, 26) had their heads generally to the N, while the three upper level skeletons were NW, W and SW. Only four of the 1930s Arruda skeletons can be listed here with full certainty, and the directions were N, W, E and NE. It is possible to determine that the four upper level 1960s Amoreira skeletons were mostly laid with their skulls to the SE, just one of them heading NW. The twelve lower level 1960s skeletons for which we have information were highly variable, none to the NW and only five to the N or NE. The recorded orientation of upper level skeletons from Amoreira, five 1930s and four from the 1960s, is also variable, with four to the N or NW, and the rest of this sample of nine with the skulls to the E, S or, in three cases, SE.

4.3. Summary on body posture All these details indicate that the slender bodies were placed in very compacted postures, after rigor mortis but before the development of gas in the trunk. The position of the corpse was maintained by the immediate construction of a mound rather than placement in anything more than a very shallow pit or natural hollow. Sometimes the sediment could be built up under the skull or under the pelvis, at other times it was not shaped. We have no firm evidence of wrapping of the body, rather the opposite, with sediment mounded up to support the feet, although the weight of the limbs would no doubt have helped to keep the inert limbs, now very flaccid, in place until the heavy sediment was layered up around the body.

5. Grave goods Just as we see no evidence for any complexity to the grave structure at any of the three sites, there is little evidence of grave goods, but a mediating factor is how ‘grave goods’ were identified or recognized. Paula e Oliveira (1889, 73) noted that stone tools were to be found in greater numbers close to skeletons, but a lack of grave goods at Moita and Arruda was emphasized in the 19th century (Cartailhac 1886, Ribeiro 1884, 286), and Corrêa (1933, 367) mentions only a few stone tools as examples of grave goods discovered at Amoreira in the first campaign. On the other hand, Roche (1956, 160) noted that Moita burials were accompanied by ochre and occasionally by the addition of shell fish beside the body. The situation at Moita was described in much greater detail in Roche’s 1972 monograph: for example, Skeleton 14 has a great quantity of Scrobicularia associated with it. Most notably, small pierced Neritina fluviatilis were also found beside or over the bodies in six cases at Moita (Roche 1972a, 132). Roche (1974, 33) stated that Arruda was different from Moita in that no ochre and no food provisions were found in Arruda graves, and noted only that a scraper was found with 1960s Arruda Skeleton 2 and a bone point under the left hand of Skeleton 7 (Roche 1972a, 28, 29). However, Mendes Corrêa’s team had found perforated shells close to the skull of an unnumbered Arruda child (Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000, 178). The most impressive collection of pierced shells is with the Moita 25 child from the 1950s, still retained in the collections at the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto but wrongly labelled 27 and listed by Ferembach (1974) as Moita 27. The legs were hyperflexed on the trunk and it was laid on what seems to have been a string of Neritina which extends from the left lower ribs around the left hip and under the sacrum.

In summary, the disposition of the bodies suggested is: 1. extended, more often with knees slightly flexed (very rare); 2. knees tightly flexed with feet placed next to the pelvis (more common, especially at Moita); 3. legs hyperflexed at the hip (quite common at Arruda and Amoreira); 4. lateral rather than dorsal decubitus, with legs flexed (rare); 5. apparent bundle burials in rare cases, interpreted as a reorganization of bones disturbed by a later inhumation (very rare). Differences among sites can only be that of an impression, although the 1880 photographs tend to support Roche’s opinion (1974, 33) that at Arruda there were no hollows to receive the bodies such as he had seen at Moita, and there is very limited evidence for hyperflexion at Moita. It is not possible to specify differences between the basal and upper level burials at either Amoreira or Arruda. 4.4. Orientation Most authors have noted orientation of bodies, starting with Pereira da Costa (1865, 13) who maintained that Arruda skulls were in general to the NW of the postcrania. A group of nine skeletons excavated in 1880 also apparently had skulls oriented to the NW, but the two other groups of skeletons found that year were not clearly aligned or oriented, one group being of tightly packed skeletons seemingly oriented at random (Jackes et al. nd.b). In the skeleton group found at Moita in 1880, bodies generally lay with heads to the S (Jackes and Alvim 2006, Figure 1). The 20th century excavations often provided exact information, so that we know that at Moita (Roche 1972a, 130) 14 of the skeletons had their heads between the N

Since Roche did not publish a monograph on Amoreira, all we have is his list of grave goods at Moita and Arruda, mentioning small fires lit around three bodies at Moita, but making no reference at all to Amoreira (Roche 1972b, 73

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic 100). Apart from Amoreira 1930s Skeleton 6, apparently underlain by much shell and charcoal, the Mendes Corrêa field notes do not mention materials associated with the graves except for intrusive later artifacts. Nevertheless, Amoreira Skeleton 7 from the 1930s had a quite large burnt log lying close beside the left shoulder, but no other skeleton has a record of associated materials. In 2011, a skeleton was excavated by Bicho at Amoreira with lithics, shell fish and bones, interpreted as grave goods (Anonymous 2011). A deep burial excavated by Rolão at Amoreira in 2000 was not accompanied by such items (Roksandic pers. comm. 7/10/2011).

were placed in the sterile terrace sands, but Arruda burials seem more often to have lain slightly above the sands. Are the supposed differences between the purposeful hollows at Moita and the apparent lack of any at Arruda related to the sediments in which people were buried? Our evidence on Moita comes from Roche’s 1950s excavations, in which the burials were all in the basal sands, many underlying a very hard breccia which only occurred in isolated nodules at other sites. Roche (1974, 27) attributed the breccias to the higher clay content of the Moita terrace sands. Arruda burials were initially found only in a narrow band lying just above the basal sands (Costa 1865). This is confirmed by archival material from the extensive 1880 excavation showing that skeletons in one group were found within a level about a metre thick, just above the sands. The 1930s excavations found nine skeletons lying from 30cm to 1.4m above the basal sands (Cardoso and Rolão 1999/2000). Our limited understanding of the Muge sites might lead us to over-emphasize this difference between Moita and Arruda, especially since Roche (1974, 27) states that his Arruda burials were on terrace sands, with anthropogenic sediments piled over the dead. However, there are comparisons we can make. At Moita, where bodies were more extended, they were buried in hollows in the sand and covered by more elongate burial mounds which included more sand. At Arruda and Amoreira, where lower level cadavers were tightly folded, the mounds were more compact and constructed from anthropogenic sediments that were firmly packed over the bodies. Such factors would help to explain differences in preservation and colouration, as well as the nature of adherent breccias, between Moita and the other sites.

6. Discussion and Conclusion We have looked briefly at the available evidence from three Muge Mesolithic sites. The sites survived because they were established on remnant terraces above the Muge River. Their choice as burial places must relate to the fact that they stood proud of the Muge valley, in Mesolithic times as today. Two other lower sites were identified and destroyed long ago, and two further sites have recently been recognized (Gonçalves 2009), but it is the cabeços that stand out as burial places, arguing against mere preservation bias as an explanation. We imagine that the sites discussed here were, at the very least, the most important burial sites for the small Mesolithic groups that inhabited the Muge valley on a near-permanent basis.5 We have argued for the Muge as a base camp location because of the identity of the dead, males and females, neonates to the very elderly, the unhealthy as well as the healthy (Jackes and Lubell 1999). We add here the argument that we see no sign of secondary burials. While we could suggest, based on demographic parameters, that some adults were buried where they died at a distance, those buried on the cabeços were buried in-flesh, very soon after death. Burials were marked by mounds, built over cadavers that were generally folded to various degrees, to ensure that a mound was roughly circular or oval in shape. In some cases, the locations of prior burials were known, in other cases burials disturbed previous inhumations. Burials may be grouped, but there is no evidence that the grouping was by age or sex, except in one case of childrens’ burials at Moita (Roche 1972a, 131, but other children lay elsewhere) found to one side of what was evidently an arrangement of postholes, perhaps a windbreak, opening onto what seemed to be a U- shaped arrangement of burials (Jackes and Alvim 2006). It is not yet possible to have a similar understanding of the horizontal layout of burials at Amoreira or Arruda. The mounds over the dead were constructed of the materials that lay around – ash, charcoal, shell, sometimes fire-cracked rocks. It is this material that has built the cabeço middens up over what seems, for Moita and Arruda at least, to have been initially sites devoted to burials with, quite clearly, a great deal of debris from fires and meals. Many Moita burials

It seems unlikely that people would have actually have been living at the focal points of the cabeços, surrounded by multiple shallow graves, each marked by an eroding mound. It is possible that after the initial use of the cabeços as burial places there were periods during which they became places to which pebbles were brought to construct hearths and there was a rapid deposition of ash, charcoal, bone and shell, layers which could be shaped by erosion and were later disturbed by further burials, perhaps especially at Amoreira, where the upper layer contains many pebbles, as noticed by Roche, by Rolão’s team, and now by Bicho’s team in their new controlled excavations. Acknowledgements We are grateful to Dr. Miguel Magalhães Ramalho, Coordenador, Museu Geológico, Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, Lisbon for permission to examine Muge materials. At the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto A. H. Bacelar Gonçalves provided essential help to us in 1984 and his successor, Maria José Cunha has become an indispensable colleague. The archival photographs and negatives are used or referred to with the permission of Prof. Doutor José Luís Santos, vice- director of the Faculdade de Ciências do Porto and funding for the scanning came from a bequest

5   Year-round availability of food resources has been noted by Lentacker (1986) and Detry (pers. comm. 26/10/2011).

74

Mortuary archaeology of the Muge shell middens Detry, C. and Cardoso, J. L. 2010. On some remains of dog (Canis familiaris) from the Mesolithic shell middens of Muge, Portugal. Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 2762–2774. Ferembach, D. 1974. Le Gisement Mésolithique de Moita do Sebastião, Muge, Portugal. II Anthropologie. Lisboa, Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Culturais. Gonçalves, A.A.H.B. 1986. Inéditos de Rui Serpa Pinto sobre as escavações archeológicas de Muge. Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 26, 211–229. Gonçalves, C. A. 2009. Modelos preditivos em sig na localização de sítios arqueológicos de cronologia Mesolítica no Vale do Tejo. Unpublished Master thesis, Universidade do Algarve. Jackes, M. In press. Muge Mesolithic heterogeneity: comparing Moita do Sebastião and Cabeço da Arruda. In P. Arias, M. Cueto and M. Á. Fano (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Jackes, M. and Alvím P. 2006. Reconstructing Moita do Sebastião, the first step. In Do Epipalaeolítico ao Calcolítico na Península Iberica. Actas do IV Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, 13–26. Faro, Universidade do Algarve. Jackes, M., Alvim, P. and Cunha, M. J. In press a. Reconstructing Cabeço da Amoreira, 1930-1933. In P. Arias, M. Cueto and M.Á. Fano (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Jackes, M., Alvim, P., Roksandic, M. and Anacleto, J. A. In press b. New photographic evidence on the 1954 excavations at Moita do Sebastião. In M. Roksandic, S. Mendonça, S. Eggers, M. Burchell and D. Klokler (eds.) The cultural dynamics of shell middens and shell mounds: a worldwide perspective. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press. Jackes, M., Lubell, D., Cardoso, H. and Anacleto, J.A. nd.a. Cabeço da Arruda in the 1860s. Manuscript on file. Jackes, M., Alvim, P. and Lubell, D. nd.b. Cabeço da Arruda in the 1880s. Manuscript on file. Jackes, M. and Lubell, D. 1999. Human biological variability in the Portuguese Mesolithic. Arqueologia 24, 25–42. Jackes, M. and Lubell, D. in prep. An overview of Muge burial practices. Manuscript on file. Lentacker, A. 1986. Preliminary results of the fauna of Cabeço da Amoreira and Cabeço de Arruda (Muge, Portugal). Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 26(1-4), 9–26. Lubell, D. and M. Jackes. 1988. Portuguese MesolithicNeolithic subsistence and settlement. Rivista di Antropologia 66, 231–248. Lubell, D., Jackes, M., Schwarcz, H., Knyf, M. and Meiklejohn, C. 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 21(2), 201– 216.

from Esther Palmer. Mirjana Roksandic and Cleia Detry have provided invaluable information. Funding for our research in 1984-9 was by Grants 410-84-0030 and 410-862017 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to Lubell, Jackes and Christopher Meiklejohn. References Anonymous 2011. http://www.publico.pt/Cultura/ ha- uma-nova-interpretacao-sobre-os-concheiros-demuge_1508169. Arneborg, J., Heinemeier, J., Lynnerup, N., Nielsen, H. L., Rud, N. and Sveinbjörnsdóttir, A. E. 1999. Change of diet of the Greenland Vikings determined from stable carbon isotope analysis and 14C dating of their bones. Radiocarbon 41(2), 157–168. Azevêdo, T.M., Nunes E. and Ramos, C. 2004. Some morphological aspects and hydrological characterization of the Tagus floods in the Santarém region, Portugal. Natural Hazards 31, 587-601. Bicho, N., Cascalheira, J., Marreiros, J. and Pereira, T. 2011. The 2008-2010 excavations of Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge, Portugal. Mesolithic Miscellany 21(2), 3–13. Bicho, N., Pereira, T., Umbelino, C., Jesus, L., Marreiros, J., Cascalheira, J., Gonçalves, C. and Detry, C. In press. The construction of a shellmidden: the case of Cabeço da Amoreira, Muge (Portugal). In P. Arias Cabal, M. Cueto, M.Á. Fano (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Cardoso, J.L.and Rolão, J. M. 1999/2000. Prospecções e escavações no concheiros mesolíticos de Muge e de Magos (Salvaterra de Magos): contribuição para a história dos trabalhos arqueológicos efectuados. Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras 8, 83–240. Cartailhac, E. 1886. Les Âges Préhistoriques de lEspagne et du Portugal. Paris, Reinwald. Corrêa, A. M. 1933. Les nouvelles fouilles à Muge (Portugal). In XV Congrès International d’Anthropologie et d’Archéologie Préhistorique 1931, 357–372. Costa, F.A.P. 1865. Da existencia do Homem em epochas remotas no Valle do Tejo. Primeiro Opusculo. Noticia sobre os esqueletos humanos descobertos no Cabeço da Arruda. Lisboa, Commissão Geológica de Portugal. Cunha, E. and Cardoso, F. 2001. The osteological series from Cabeco da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal). Bulletins et Mémoires la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris 13, 323–333. Cunha, E., Cardoso, F. and Umbelino, C. 2003. Inferences about Mesolithic lifestyle on the basis of anthropological data. The case of the Portuguese shell middens. In L. Larsson, H. Kindgren, J. Knutsson, D. Loeffler and A. Åkerlund (eds.), Mesolithic on the Move. Papers Presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Stockholm 2000, 184–188. Oxford, Oxbow Books.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic and Cabeço da Arruda (Muge, Portugal). In Do Epipaleolítico ao Calcolítico na Península Ibérica: Actas do IV Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, 43–54. Faro, Universidade do Algarve. Roksandic, M. and Jackes M. In press. The skeletal assemblage and burial ritual at the site of Cabeço da Amoreira: the 1960s excavations by Veiga Fereira and Roche. In M. Roksandic, S. Mendonça, S. Eggers, M. Burchell and D. Klokler (eds.) The cultural dynamics of shell middens and shell mounds: a worldwide perspective. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press. Umbelino, C., Pérez-Pérez, A., Cunha, E., Hipólito, C., Freitas, M. do C. and Cabral, J.P. 2007. Outros sabores do passado: um novo olhar sobre as comunidades humanas mesolíticas de Muge e do Sado através de análises químicas dos ossos. Promontoria 5, 45–90. Van der Schriek, T., Passmore, D.G., Mugica, F.F., Stevenson, A.C., Boomer, I. and Rolão, J. 2008. Holocene palaeoecology and floodplain evolution of the Muge tributary, Lower Tagus Basin, Portugal. Quaternary International 189,135–151. Vis, G-J., Kasse, C. and Vandenberghe, J. 2008. Late Pleistocene and Holocene palaeogeography of the Lower Tagus Valley (Portugal); Effects of relative sea level, valley morphology and sediment supply. Quaterary Science Reviews 27, 1682–1709. Vis, G-J. and Kasse, C. 2009. Late Quaternary valleyfill succession of the Lower Tagus Valley, Portugal. Sedimentary Geology 221, 19–39.

Martins, J. M. M., Carvalho, A. F. and Soares, A.M.M. 2008. A calibração das datas de radiocarbono dos esqueletos humanos de Muge. Promontoria 6, 73–93. Meiklejohn, C., Roksandic, M., Jackes, M. and Lubell, D. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic human remains in Portugal. Mesolithic Miscellany 20(1), 4–16. Oliveira, F. de P. 1889. Nouvelles fouilles faites dans les kioekkenmoeddings de la Vallée du Tage. Communicações da Commissão dos Trabalhos Geologicos 2, 57–81. Reimer, P. J., Baillie, M. G. L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Bronk-Ramsey, C., Buck, C. E., Burr, G. S., Edwards, R. L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P. M., Guilderson, T. P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T. J., Hogg, A. G., Hughen, K. A., Kaiser, K. F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F. G., Manning, S. W., Reimer, R. W., Richards, D. A., Southon, J. R., Talamo, S., Turney, C. S. M., van der Plicht, J. and Weyhenmeyer, C. E. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocabon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, 1111– 1150. Ribeiro, C. 1884. Les kjoekkenmoeddings de la vallée du Tage. In Congrès International d’Anthropologie et d’Archéologie Préhistoriques, Lisbonne. C.R. IXème session 1880, 279–290. Lisbon, Académie Royale des Sciences. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1951. L’industrie préhistorique du Cabeço d’Amoreira (Muge). Porto, Centro de Estudos de Etnologia Peninsular. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1956. Récentes découvertes au gisement de Moita do Sebastião – Muge (Portugal). In Congresos Internacionales de Ciencias Prehistoricas y Protohistoricas, Actas de la IV Sesion, Madrid 1954, 155–161. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1964-65. Note sur la stratigraphie de l’amas coquillier mésolithique de Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge). Comunicações dos Serviços Geológicos de Portugal 48,191–200. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1963. Le gisement mésolithique de Moita do Sebastião à Muge (Portugal). Les traces d’habitat et d’organisation sociale. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française. 60, 68–73. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1967. Seconde note sur la stratigraphie de l’amas coquillier mésolithique de Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge). Communicações dos Serviços Geológicos de Portugal 51, 243–252. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1972a. Le Gisement Mésolithique de Moita do Sebastião, Muge, Portugal. I Archéologie. Lisboa, Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Culturais. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1972b. Les amas coquilliers (concheiros) Mésolithiques de Muge (Portugal). In J. Lüning (ed.), Die Anfänge des Neolithikums vom Orient bis Nordeuropa, Teil VII, 72–107. Köln, Böhlau Verlag. Roche, L’Abbé J. 1974. Sépultures de l’amas coquillier mésolithique de Cabeço da Arruda (Muge). In Actas do Congresso Nacional de Arqueologia, 25–36. Porto. Roksandic, M. 2006. Analysis of burials from the new excavations of the sites Cabeço da Amoreira

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ALGAR DO BOM SANTO: A MIDDLE NEOLITHIC NECROPOLIS IN PORTUGUESE ESTREMADURA António Faustino CARVALHO,a David GONÇALVES,b Raquel GRANJAc and Fiona PETCHEYd a. Universidade do Algarve, FCHS, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-117 Faro, Portugal ([email protected]). b. Research Centre for Anthropology and Health, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua do Arco da Traição, 3000-056 Coimbra, Portugal ([email protected]). c. Instituto de Arqueologia e Paleociências das Universidades Nova de Lisboa e do Algarve, FCHS, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-117 Faro, Portugal ([email protected]). d. Radiocarbon Dating laboratory, University of Waikato, Gate 9, Hillcrest Road, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand ([email protected]). Abstract: A research project on the Algar do Bom Santo necropolis started in 2010. This paper presents a preliminary synthesis on the exhumed human population and a first insight into the funerary practices recorded during the site excavations in the 1990s, as well as palaeodiet reconstitutions. Keywords: Neolithic, Bom Santo cave, mortuary practices, palaeodiets.

1. Introduction: the site and the research project

Given the cave’s scientific potential, a research project was submitted to the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia entitled ‘Bom Santo cave and the Neolithic societies of Portuguese Estremadura, 6th–4th millennia BC.’ Its main effort focuses on the abundant material already excavated and stored at the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (Lisbon). The research thus relies mostly on laboratorial analyses, ranging from bioanthropology and archaeology, to chemistry and genetics. Human osteological material from other Neolithic sites is also being sampled and analyzed in order to obtain a sound framework for comparisons. Considering the current state of preservation of the site, the philosophy underlying the project has a conservationist perspective and aims for the site’s classification as an archaeological reserve for future research.

Algar do Bom Santo is a cave site located in the eastern slope of the Montejunto Mountain, facing the Tagus valley at 350m asl, c. 50km north of Lisbon (Figure 1). Discovered intact in 1993 by a team of spelunkers, this is a karstic complex with several galleries connected by irregular corridors, which form three distinct main levels. The two upper levels revealed a vast necropolis, subdivided into 11 distinct sectors totalling 285 m2 (Figure 1). Systematic survey and excavations took place in 1994, 1995, and 1997, in rooms A and B (Figure 1), under the direction of Cidália Duarte. A fourth field campaign had to be done in 2001 after the violation of the cave by treasure hunters. Its topographic survey was conducted in 1995 and 2001, and the whole area was subjected to a detailed photo and video recording of the surface. From this, a provisional minimum number of 121 individuals were estimated to be lying on the surface (Duarte 1997).

Observations made during the field work carried out at the site under the direction of C. Duarte remain almost unpublished. Duarte and Arnaud (1996) provided a first presentation of the site, describing its main funerary features and artefacts; Duarte (1998a) focused specifically on the radiocarbon dating of some human remains; and Carvalho (2007, 2009) wrote a preliminary presentation of the research project, followed by a technological and typological analysis of flint blades. The main topics of the project (outlined below) serve not only the study of the cave itself, but also to test current hypothesis and interpretative models concerning the Neolithic of Estremadura and neighbouring regions.

The good state of preservation at the time of discovery is due in part to the collapse of the entrance (or its deliberate closure). A few footprints of barefoot Neolithic individuals, found preserved in 2m2 of sediments, is an eloquent testimony of this (Figure 1). Generally speaking, more or less complete skeletons were found throughout the cave—as well as numerous secondary depositions— allowing the reconstruction of funerary practices. This observation was immediately made by the archaeologists who first visited the cave (Zilhão and Araújo 1993). A very homogeneous material culture and the absence of thick, multi-stratified archaeological deposits points to a relatively short period of occupation: according to available radiocarbon dates it can presently be estimated at approximately 400 years (c. 3800–3400 calBC). In sum, the Bom Santo cave site constitutes one of the best preserved Middle Neolithic necropolises in Portugal.

§ Reconstruction of funerary practices. Survey and excavation of Bom Santo permitted to observe the diversified practices of formal disposal of the dead. Given the fact that the depositions are spatially distinct from each other, these compartmented places may be understood as mortuary spaces for individuals tied by kinship (households?) or,

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic alternatively, for distinct Neolithic agro-pastoral communities settled in the surrounding territories (lineages?), if one considers the extension of the cave and the great number of individuals it contains. Clearly, both hypotheses need further research—for example, through aDNA tests— and have important consequences concerning our understanding of the social organization at the time. Some preliminary insights on the question will be presented below (see section 2.2). § Absolute chronology. The phasing of the Neolithic in Estremadura is still blurred and the chronologies of some items of material culture or of specific mortuary practices are open questions. Systematic AMS dating of human bones from well-defined contexts in Bom Santo and from comparison sites

is being carried out in order to overcome these difficulties. § Subsistence economy. Neolithic subsistence strategies are not well known in Portugal, and give rise to disparate interpretations. This is due to the lack of contexts with organic preservation and/or adequate recovery methods. At Bom Santo, stable isotope analyses (d13C and d15N) of human remains provide some insights on the question. § Detection of migration events. This is an important question presently under discussion, either during the neolithization process or at the transition to the Chalcolithic. For example, Gonçalves (1995) defends a model of coexistence of highly mobile Neolithic groups exploiting vast territories of Estremadura and Alentejo, a pattern

Figure 1. Location and general plan of the Bom Santo cave (map on upper left corner and topography on bottom), and photo of the area with Neolithic barefoot imprints (on the upper right corner; photo C. Duarte).

78

Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura Room B

Skull

Trunk

Upper Limbs

Lower Limbs

Undetermined

Total

A4

4.00 (n = 2)

3.20 (n = 5)

1.60 (n = 10)

1.80 (n = 10)

4.00 (n = 3)

2.33 (n = 30)

B2

1.83 (n = 18)

3.65 (n = 26)

1.56 (n = 23)

1.58 (n = 26)

3.40 (n = 15)

2.36 (n = 108)

B3

2.02 (n = 160)

3.39 (n = 97)

1.69 (n = 117)

2.18 (n = 57)

3.90 (n = 60)

2.45 (n = 491)

B4

1.87 (n = 193)

2.68 (n = 123)

1.54 (n = 170)

1.78 (n = 146)

3.95 (n = 63)

2.10 (n = 695)

B5

2.67 (n = 193)

2.71 (n = 126)

1.68 (n = 132)

1.83 (n = 116)

3.94 (n = 66)

2.45 (n = 633)

C2

2.54 (n = 28)

3.92 (n = 74)

1.83 (n = 30)

1.53 (n = 55)

3.62 (n = 42)

2.81 (n = 229)

C3

1.88 (n = 197)

3.38 (n = 181)

1.73 (n = 281)

1.80 (n = 315)

3.80 (n = 116)

2.27 (n = 1090)

C4

2.35 (n = 52)

3.05 (n = 62)

2.00 (n = 53)

2.29 (n = 76)

4.00 (n = 22)

2.56 (n = 265)

D3

3.25 (n = 4)

1.00 (n = 1)

1.00 (n = 3)

2.00 (n = 3)

4.00 (n = 3)

2.50 (n = 14)

Total

2.15 (n = 847)

3.17 (n = 695)

2.00 (n = 820)

1.85 (n = 804)

3.84 (n = 390)

2.36 (n = 3557)

Figure 2. Mean preservation of each anatomical region according to the grid of Room B.

Figure 3. Preservation of each bone category according to room (*p < .01; **p < .05)

79

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Bone Preservation

A4

B2

B3

B4

B5

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

D3

Total

Skull > 50%

0

1

4

7

16

0

6

8

0

0

0

42

Skull < 50%

2

3

38

35

97

0

9

31

14

0

3

232

Mandible > 50%

0

1

1

3

3

0

0

1

1

0

0

10

Mandible < 50%

0

1

6

13

5

0

4

9

5

0

0

43

Teeth > 50%

0

11

106

134

72

0

9

145

32

0

1

510

Teeth < 50%

0

1

5

2

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

11

Vert. Column > 50%

1

3

12

46

42

0

1

31

11

0

1

148

Vert. Column < 50%

0

10

34

39

33

0

40

98

27

0

0

281

Ribs > 50%

0

0

7

11

13

0

1

8

9

0

0

49

Ribs < 50%

3

13

40

24

34

0

29

42

12

0

0

197

Sternum > 50%

0

0

2

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

5

Sternum < 50%

1

0

2

1

2

0

3

2

3

0

0

14

Scapula > 50%

0

0

2

1

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

6

Scapula < 50%

0

0

7

7

12

0

3

14

2

0

0

45

Clavicle > 50%

0

0

2

4

2

0

0

1

1

0

0

10

Clavicle < 50%

0

0

2

5

3

0

1

8

2

0

0

21

Humerus > 50%

0

2

3

2

0

0

1

3

2

0

0

13

Humerus < 50%

0

0

2

4

5

0

0

4

4

0

0

19

Radius > 50%

0

1

8

9

6

0

3

8

4

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2012

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37

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175

230

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104

320

111

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4

1156

Figure 4. Bone preservation according to the grid of Room B.

80

Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura of mobility that would later coexist with the emergence of communities settled in fortified sites and dealing with copper metallurgy and the ‘secondary products revolution’. However, the question of the scale of mobility—or even its very existence—is still an open debate and needs further research. The distinction between ‘locals’ and ‘immigrants’ will be carried out through the detection of strontium and oxygen isotope signatures from archaeological human skeletons, and their comparison with regional geochemical features. § Ancient DNA analysis. This approach is being applied to the Neolithic human population of Bom Santo,1 and is expected to reveal its particular genetic composition. Therefore, clues about possible population affinities between the Bom Santo people and other Neolithic and preNeolithic populations of Iberia (Fernández et al. in print) can be expected. Sex determination and possibly the establishment of kinship relationships are foreseen, both being particularly important for the reconstitution of past social organization.

included the better preserved remains while the reverse scenario was found for squares C2 and C4. Interestingly, these two squares are adjacent to the C3 square which, as demonstrated further ahead, received the largest amount of body depositions. Therefore, it makes some sense that the laying down of the bodies promoted the fragmentation of the bones located in the contiguous areas due to stepping of the remains that were already in place. In contrast, the C3 square presented some of the better preserved skeletal elements, possibly because this area was somewhat spared from considerable stepping. As for specific bones, some were clearly more prone to destruction than others (Figure 3). That was the case for the hip bone and for most bones of the cranium and the trunk (including the vertebral column). At the other end of the scope, bones from the hands and from the feet along with teeth presented very good preservation. This was probably related to the size of the bones given that the smallest of them were found more frequently intact than the larger ones. In addition, long bones were better preserved than flat bones possibly due to the better resilience of compact bone. Noticeably, the preservation of some of the bone categories presented statistically significant differences according to the room of provenance. From these, only the clavicles were significantly better preserved in Room A than in Room B. In contrast, the reverse result was found for the teeth, the humeri, the hands and the tibias.

2. Neolithic population and funerary practices 2.1. Taphonomic analysis The human remains from the Bom Santo are reasonably preserved apart for some post-mortem fractures.2 Although some of these are recent and related to the archaeological intervention itself, many others are clearly ancient and were certainly the result of other events such as handling, trampling and crushing of the bones during the numerous visits to the cave for the deposition of new bodies. However, these were not the only post-depositional events leading to the alteration of the osteological remains. Some materials display calcified concretion strongly adhering to the bone itself which in a few cases prevented the analysis of their full surface. In addition, manganese oxide is present in the bones and some similar other stains were probably the result of fungi activity. Bone erosion was also found. Another bone change very common on the Bom Santo material was the result of the action of rodents and carnivores. This kind of feature was mostly observed on long bones. Beside fragmentation, this also caused probable displacement of the bones.

2.2. Bone dispersion and funerary practices: first insights One main question that comes to mind whenever necropolises are under scope regards the organization of the funerary space according to specific depositional strategies. The original location of the primary depositions is difficult to assess in Bom Santo due to the intense re-use of the cave and the post-depositional disturbance— intentional or not—of the remains since Neolithic times. It is particularly so because this necropolis primarily contains surface depositions which, although a few anatomical connections are still present (Figure 4), are mainly composed of isolated bones. In the case of collective assemblages like this one, intentional assemblages of specific bones may have taken place after skeletal disarticulation (Duday 2006) so a dispersion analysis may help to detect such practices.

Room B was completely excavated and thus allowed for the assessment of differential bone preservation according to each unit (Figure 2). The results indicated that square B4

Figure 5 gives the dispersion of each bone category according to the grid of Room B. Bones, bone fragments, teeth and teeth fragments with more than 50% of preservation were included in this figure. Those with less than 50% of preservation are also given in Figure 5. Clearly, most of the better preserved elements were found in squares B3, B4, B5, C3 and C4 while the southern and eastern parts of the room presented less human remains. In those westerner squares, the sedimentation was much more substantial and funerary structures composed of

  Chandler et al. (2005, table 1) analysed human ancient mtDNA from 10 Portuguese Mesolithic and Neolithic sites, including 49 samples from Bom Santo with a success recovery of 8%, but no other important data is provided (such as provenance and type of bone, detected haplogroups, etc.). 2   Preservation was coded for each bone or bone fragment according to four distinct categories (1 = 76 to 100%; 2 = 51 to 75%; 3 = 26 to 50%; 4 = 0-25%) and thus investigated according to the provenance of the remains. The total collection of human remains from rooms A and B presented a mean preservation of 2.38 (sd = 1.34; n = 6030). 1

81

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 5. Upper limb in anatomical connection (Room B, unit B4) (photo C. Duarte). stone-made platforms have been previously described (Duarte 1998b). Therefore, the north-western part of the room was mainly used for the deposition of the remains while the eastern part— including squares A3 and A4— may have been primarily used as a pathway allowing for movements within the room as previously suggested by Duarte (1994).

selected locations. Of course, this inference disregards the potential dispersion caused by animal activity that we are presently unable to assess. Nonetheless, although body deposition occurred throughout the room, a large density of distal phalanges was present in B4 and C3 squares demonstrating that these locations—which also had some of the largest amounts of skeletal remains—were intensively used.

Most bone categories were present in all squares that displayed significant amount of human remains. The minor exceptions were the B2 square—in which several bones from the limbs were missing along with the sternum—and the C2 square—in which the ulna, the patella and the tibia were absent. Nonetheless, the deposition of the bodies within Room B was apparently carried out throughout its full surface apart from the already mentioned A3 and A4 squares. In fact, an examination of the dispersion of the distal phalanges of the hands and the feet demonstrates that these were found in all squares that presented considerable amount of human remains (Figure 6). Because these are labile articulations and are of small size, these elements tend to be excluded from secondary handling of mortuary remains (Duday 2006). Therefore, distal phalanges are quite reliable markers of primary depositions. We do not know how thorough was the post-depositional rearrangement of the disarticulated remains—regardless of being intentional or not—but the distal phalanges would probably not be so widely dispersed throughout the room if the bodies had been deposited in a few

The deposition of the remains may not have been carried out randomly. Body deposition according to kinship or other social organization may hypothetically have taken place both during the primary surface deposition and the secondary practice involving the re- arrangement of bones after skeletal disarticulation (Duday 2006). In fact, assemblages of skulls have been found in rooms A and B. In the first case, six skulls were stacked together next to the southern wall, in squares E0, E1, D0 and D1. As for Room B, four skulls were also stacked together near the southern wall where two individualized skeletons— designated as individuals #01 and #02—were also found. The eventual assemblage of other skeletal elements was not detected. Some handmade structures were detected within the cave thus supporting the idea that the remains were not deposited in a random fashion. For instance, two different bone assemblages were somewhat separated from each other by stones in Room C (Figure 7). Beside the already 82

Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura are also taken into account because it may find age and size incompatibilities. These criteria contributed for the detection of 52 individuals, although it is possible that an over-estimation may have happened because the developmental maturation of each bone occurs at somewhat different ages (Figure 8-B). As a result, an adult-sized diaphysis with fragmented ends and its unfused epiphyses may be wrongly counted as two different individuals using such a method. However, we used a conservative approach and tried to discard any dubious cases from the estimation. Most of the skeletal categories allowed for similar estimations regarding the mature bones (min.: 26; max.: 34). The homogeneity of the remaining results suggests that none of the bones analysed in this study was the subject of systematic removal in this room with the aim of placing it elsewhere as a secondary practice. It is important to notice that, although only the better result from the left and right sides are presented in Figure 8-B, the estimation of the minimum number of individuals was quite similar regardless of the side of the bones that were being considered. However, one must bear in mind that the room was not completely excavated and that the unaccounted bones still present today in the cave may well change this current view. Assemblages for specific bones have been reported previously (Araújo and Lejeune 1995) and Jorge (2000) as well as Duday (2006) propose that some bones may have been recovered from the tombs and used as relics. Only the full recovery of the remains from the Algar do Bom Santo and especially the analysis of the representativeness of all bones and teeth may eventually bring more light into that issue.

Figure 6. Frequency of distal hand and feet phalanges according to the grid of Room B. mentioned stone-made platforms, semi-circular structures composed of stones were reported also for Room B which was used to delimitate some of the mortuary assemblages (Duarte 1998b). Apparently, some level of differentiation between skeletal remains was thus present in Room B. However, the explanation for such intentional behaviour is unknown for the time being.

As for the immature bones, more heterogeneous results were obtained from each bone category. The tibia (n = 14) was the only bone to provide for a somewhat similar estimation to the one obtained by using the femur (n = 18). As for the remaining bones, an unusually low number of individuals was pinpointed while using the skull, namely through the petrous pyramid which is a very sturdy bone and usually is well preserved. Again, the interpretation of this result stumbles on the incomplete recovery of the remains from the cave but at the light of the current data— and assuming that no differential preservation occurred between the skull and the post-cranial bones—one possible explanation may be that the immature skulls could have been deliberately removed from their original depositional location following skeletal disarticulation. Evidently, this is mere speculation for now.

2.3. The population profile As mentioned above, the analysis of the human remains is currently in progress and therefore not all bones have been examined yet. As a result, the minimum number of individuals was not calculated from all bone categories and our present estimation is just a preliminary one. Nonetheless, most bones that usually allow for the highest estimations are here presented, with the noticeable exception of the dentition. Figure 8- A gives the minimum number of individuals for each bone. A minimum of 42 individuals were detected with certainty, but the method that was used3 leads to an under-estimation of the actual amount because its accuracy depends heavily on the fragmentation of the bones and therefore on the number of available diagnostic features. A more accurate estimation is possible if the level of maturation of each bone, the adult-like appearance and the antimere analysis4

The proportion of immature individuals on Bom Santo would be of about 35% of the 52 individuals. This is well inside the variation found for this kind of necropolises in Portuguese territory which ranges between 18% and 50% (Silva 2003).

  Minimum number of individuals was estimated by looking for the repetition of bones or bone regions. 4   E.g.: when a left humerus had no possible right counterpart, it was added as an additional individual to the minimum number of individuals obtained through the bones from the right side. 3

The results obtained for the age profile of the individuals present in Bom Santo are still preliminary and only refer to two age groups: 11 adults and 16 juveniles, following

83

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 7. Two distinct assemblages of bone separated by a stone boundary in Room C (photo C. Duarte).

the definition by Scheuer and Black (2004). This profile is somewhat different from the one presented in figure 4 for the investigation regarding the minimum number of individuals because, rather than using the relative bone size as a criterion, only the developmental stage of epiphyseal union and the age-related changes of the pelvis were taken into consideration. This was done in order to reliably detect adults, although these methods are not straightforward because osteological age is not always consistent with chronological age and this is especially troublesome when dealing with anatomically disarticulated bones because we are not able to look at the skeleton as a whole. In addition, all epiphyses of the human skeleton are usually fused by the end of the third decade of life and the other indicators used beyond that age—such as those from the pelvis—are more difficult to use because increasing age potentially leads to greater differences within the diverse age indicators from a same skeleton. As mentioned above, the dentition has not yet been examined so the age profile will become more thorough by the end of the bioanthropological analysis.

the calcaneus provided for the greater amount of matured bones (n = 21). Here again, the documented age of fusion is as low as 15 years-old (Schaefer et al. 2009) and therefore does not provide for an estimation of the minimum number of adult individuals because some of these may still be less than 18 or 21 years-old—depending on the definition of adult. For this assessment, the clavicle allowed for the confident detection of 11 fully adult individuals because its sternal end is completely fused at ages higher than 21 years-old (Schaefer et al. 2009). One of them was the previously mentioned individual #01 from Room B. The pelvic indicators were even less informative (6 adults older than 25 years). One assumption that can be made from the age profile is that the cave was apparently the funeral chamber of all members of the population regardless of age cohort. The bones of juveniles and adults were found in rooms A and B. However, immature bones presented lower frequencies than mature ones. Although this may well be related with differential resilience to the preservation environment, it may also be indicative of the burial of juveniles in dwellings as seen in Costa do Pereiro (unpublished).

The analysis of the distal end of the femur allowed for the broader detection of mature versus immature bones or bone fragments displaying that specific age diagnostic region (Figure 9). In this case, 15 elements were fully matured while this stage had not been attained on 16 elements. Of course, this is not the same to say that 15 adults were detected because the age of fusion for this epiphysis has been documented to start at the age of 16 years-old (Schaefer et al. 2009). The examination of the epiphysis of

The re-construction of the sex profile of the Bom Santo population is a tricky matter due to the almost complete absence of undisturbed skeletons. One adult — individual #01— was a probable male and another adult —individual #02— was also classified as a male. The remaining skeletons could not be individualized so sexual determination had 84

Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura

Figure 8. A: estimation of the minimum number of individuals using bone repetition; B: estimation of the minimum number of individuals according to each bone category using bone repetition, antimere analysis, developmental stage and bone size to be carried out based on isolated bones rather than on systemic skeletal analyses. The mandible was the only cranial bone analysed until now and it allowed for the detection of 6 males and 3 females while the pelvis allowed for the detection of 5 females and 2 males. Very few sex determinations were carried out because both bones were often too fragmented and thus did not allow for the multivariate scoring of their sexually dimorphic traits. This led to a small number of sex determinations. We therefore resorted to univariate analysis based on standard measurements which allowed for a substantial larger

amount of sex determinations although this procedure is not as reliable as the morpho-gnostic approach. Figure 10 gives the results regarding the sex determination based on several standard measurements. For all of these, a correct sex classification above 80% has been previously documented on collections of identified skeletons from which sex discriminating cut- off points have been calculated (Silva 1995, Wasterlain 2000). Because these are most probably unadjusted to the Neolithic population present in Bom Santo, all bone measurements within 1 mm of each standard cut-off point were classified 85

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic This could either be the result of actual over- representation of females on the collection—assuming that the osteometric standards are indeed adequate—or be the result of the flawed application of the standardized cut-off points on a somewhat smaller population. The largest amounts of males and females estimated through the osteometric data were of 11 and 18 respectively. For the reason above mentioned, the amount of males may have been under-estimated— assuming that the Bom Santo population is indeed physically smaller than the one from which our osteometric standards were developed from—and the female estimation is probably inflated. A more reliable sex profile will certainly be attained after the collection of supplementary data during this ongoing research. 3. Radiocarbon dating and stable isotopic analysis 3.1 Sample preparation All samples were prepared at the Waikato AMS radiocarbon facility following bone ultrafiltration methodologies outlined in Bronk-Ramsey et al. (2004) and Petchey et al. (2011). All ultrafiltered gelatin was assessed for purity prior to analysis using standard % gelatin yield, %N, %C and C:N quality assurance parameters.

Figure 9. Summary of the frequency of observed bones according to each age marker.

Most well preserved archaeological bone protein ranges between 11 and 16% N, with an average 35% C and a C:N ratio range of 3.1-3.5 (Ambrose and Norr 1993, Van Klinken 1999). Values that fall outside this C:N range should be evaluated further. The amount of extractable

as undetermined although its tendency was nevertheless recorded (M?; F?) . In general, this approach detected more females than males. This difference was especially obvious for the talus thus suggesting that its standard cutoff point may in fact be particularly unsuitable for the sex determination of the Bom Santo population.

Left Right Standard Measurement

C.C.%

M

F

M?

F?

M

F

M?

F?

1. Humerus head vertical diameter 2. Humerus head transverse diameter 3. Humerus min. circumference 4. Humerus epicondylar breadth 5. Radius maximum length 6. Radius physiological length 7. Radius min. Circumference 8. Radius discriminant function 1 (5+6+7) 9. Femur head vertical diameter 10. Femur head transverse diameter 11. Tibia natural length 12. Tibia sagital diameter (nutr. foramen) 13. Tibia min. Circumference 17. Tibia discriminant function 4 (12+13) 18. Calcaneus maximum length 19. Talus maximum length

90.00 90.20 84.45 90.50 84.95 83.40 83.90 90.50 86.00 85.00 80.00 85.00 81.00 87.50 81.00 84.00

1 0 3 5 2 3 4 2 0 1 2 11 11 8 5 2

3 1 2 9 3 3 13 3 6 3 1 8 5 6 9 18

0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 5 0 1 2

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 3

2 2 1 3 2 4 8 0 0 0 2 7 3 4 5 2

3 2 2 6 1 1 7 2 3 3 3 2 7 4 7 17

1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 2

1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 2

Figure 10. Sex profile based on the osteometric dimensions of the Bom Santo population. C.C.% refers to the published correct sex classification (Silva 1995; Wasterlain 2000) 86

Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura generally considered to be the most reliable for 14C work (though see Van Klinken and Hedges 1995). Differences in well-preserved bone d13C values between pre-treatment methodologies are often small (Jørkov et al. 2007, recorded differences of less than 0.3‰). For poorly preserved bones these differences may be exaggerated and are typically thought to be indicative of remaining contamination in the sample or loss of collagen amino acids (Toross et al. 1988). Attempts to reassess the ion exchange gelatin results by Oxford were unsuccessful (pers. comm. F. Brock, Oct. 2011) and confirm the degraded nature of the mentioned sample.

protein (% gelatin yield) was also used as a guide to the reliability of the results. The radiocarbon dates have been calibrated with the terrestrial calibration curve Intcal09 (Reimer et al. 2009) by the programme OxCal v4.1.7 with curve resolution set at 5 (Bronk-Ramsey 2010). 3.2. Results Radiocarbon, d13C and d15N values are given in Figure 11. The d13C and d15N values for the Bom Santo burials are typical of humans that consume terrestrial (C3) protein, that is, d13C = -20±2‰; d15N = 5 to 12‰ (Richards and Hedges 1999; Richards and Trinkaus 2009). Variation within the Bom Santo population is small (Waikato data range: d13C = 19.2±1‰ /d15N = 10.2±1.7‰). This is in keeping with the presumed agro-pastoral economy that may characterize the Middle Neolithic in Portuguese Estremadura, but the sampled population is not large enough for any statistically meaningful assessment of variation based on sex, age or status.

4. Conclusions Although the current data provided some insights regarding the Algar do Bom Santo necropolis, the research is still ongoing and the information presented here is still preliminary. This is particularly the case of the reconstruction of funerary practices (see section 2.2). Observations such as the finding of partially connected skeletons, arrangement of skulls, or the presence of human made stone structures, all points to a non randomly deposition of the human remains. However, these and other possible manifestations of ritual or funerary practices—use of red ochre, burnt bones (cremations?), associated grave goods—have not been comprehensively analysed yet.

The results for the six previously analyzed samples are also given in Figure 11 (Duarte 1998). These were pre- treated and measured by Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (UK), Beta-Analytic (US) and the Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear (Portugal). The OxA samples were gelatinised and then underwent ion exchange purification (pers. comm. F. Brock, Sept. 2011). The samples from Beta were dated on the gelatinous fraction following multiple alkali extractions to remove humic acids (pers. comm. R. Hatfield, Sept. 2011). Similarly, ICEN-1181 was pretreated to crude gelatin (Soares and Dias 2006).

The artefactual assemblage has not yet been fully analysed, and its possible association to specific individuals will be tentatively approached in the near future. Grave goods include polished stone axes and adzes, bone perforators, bracelets made of shell of Glycymeris glycymeris, beads made of schist and shell, and flint blades and trapezes. Interestingly, pottery is very scarce; only a few fragments and two intact pots were exhumed. Considering the general homogeneity and simplicity of the material culture, significant differences of status among individuals are not explicit, a fact that seems a priori to reflect an essentially egalitarian community. However, the hypothesis—to be tested in the future—of Bom Santo being a common burial ground of distinct communities seems interesting given this absence of differences in the material culture, which in turn may reflect some higher level of general political integration.

The success of any bone isotope value is largely dependent on the preservation state (degree of contamination and degradation) and the pre-treatment used to purify and isolate the bone protein. Although gelatinisation can be adequate, ultrafiltration, and ion exchange purification techniques are considered to be more reliable (Van Klinken et al. 1994). In all cases, however, the reliability of the bone date must be assessed on the basis of the quality of the fraction dated. The Waikato ultrafiltered gelatin procedure was successful at obtaining isotope data within quality assurance ranges specified above (Figure 11), though three samples (Wk-27983 [#02], Wk-27989 [#08] and Wk27990 [#09]) fell below the 1% gelatin yield considered to be indicative of well-preserved bones (Brock et al. 2007). Unfortunately, similar information is lacking for the Beta, OxA and ICEN results. Observations made when ICEN1181 was pretreated suggested that the bone protein was highly degraded (pers comm. A.M. Soares, Sept. 2011), and the results should therefore be evaluated with this in mind (similarly, Beta-120047 and Beta-120048) given the likelihood of high level of contamination relative to in situ bone protein.

Available radiocarbon dates point to c. 3800-3400 calBC as the time period during which the cave was in use; that is, the Middle Neolithic. Evidence on subsistence strategies during this period in southern Portugal is almost nonexistent, and doubts have therefore been raised on the importance of domestic resources in the overall economic structure of these Neolithic communities. Following a traditional view inherited from the Leisners’ work on the megalithism of the Alentejo region (Leisner and Leisner 1951), many Portuguese scholars still claim that their economic basis would have been the husbandry of sheep and goat, along with the harvesting of wild resources (both vegetal and aquatic). Isotopic analysis on the Bom Santo population points to a terrestrial- based subsistence,

Small differences in d13C for burial #02 between duplicates run at Oxford and Waikato (Figure 11) are possibly symptomatic of the poor preservation state of these bones. The ion exchange and ultrafiltration techniques are 87

Figure 11. Bom Santo: radiocarbon and palaeodietary values.

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

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Algar do Bom Santo: a Middle Neolithic necropolis in Portuguese Estremadura confirming previous results on the subject (Lubell et al. 1994). However, more work is needed in order to define whether these terrestrial resources were mostly wild or domestic, a crucial aspect with consequences at higher levels of inference.

Estremadura (6th-4th millennia BC). Promontoria 5, 185–198. Carvalho, A.F. 2009. O final do Neolítico e as origens da produção laminar calcolítica na Estremadura Portuguesa: os dados da gruta-necrópole do Algar do Bom Santo (Alenquer, Lisboa), in J.F. Gibaja, X. Terradas, A. Palomo and X. Clop (eds), Les grans fulles de sílex. Europa al final de la Prehistòria, 75– 82. Barcelona, Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya. Chandler, H., Sykes, B. and Zilhão, J. 2005. Using ancient DNA to examine genetic continuity at the MesolithicNeolithic transition in Portugal. In III Congreso del Neolítico en la Península Ibérica, 781–786. Santander, Universidad de Cantabria. Duarte, C. 1997. Algar do Bom Santo. Montejunto, Alenquer. Unpublished report [on the 1995 field campaign], IPPAR. Duarte, C. 1998a. Necrópole neolítica do Algar do Bom Santo: contexto cronológico e espaço funerário. Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia 1:2, 107–118. Duarte, C. 1998b. Algar do Bom Santo. Relatório da campanha arqueológica de 1997. Unpublished report, IPA. Duarte, C. and Arnaud, J.M. 1996. Algar do Bom Santo: une nécropole néolithique dans l’Estremadura portugaise. In I Congrès del Neolític a la Península Ibèrica, vol. 2, 505–508. Gavà, Museo de Gavà. Duday, H. 2006. L’archaéothanatalogie ou l’archaeologie de la mort, in R. Gowland and C. Knüsel (eds), Social archaeology of funerary remains. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Jorge, S.O. 2000. Domesticating the land: the first agricultural communities in Portugal. Journal of Iberian Archaeology 2, 43–98. Jørkov, M.L.S., Heinemeier, J. and Lynnerup, N. 2007. Evaluating bone collagen extraction methods for stable isotope analysis in dietary studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 1824-1829. Leisner, G. and Leisner, V. 1951. Antas do concelho de Reguengos de Monsaraz. Materiais para o estudo da cultura megalítica em Portugal. Lisboa, Instituto para a Alta Cultura. Lubell, D., Jackes, M., Schwarcz, H., Knyk, M. and Meiklejohn, C. 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 21, 201–216. Petchey, F., Spriggs, M., Leach, F., Seed, M., Sand, C., Pietrusewsky, M. and Anderson, K. 2011. Testing the human factor: Radiocarbon dating the first peoples of the South Pacific. Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 29-44. Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk-Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg. A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., Van Der Plicht, J. and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. IntCal09 and

Concerning bioanthropology, future work will focus on the osteological and odontological materials that have not yet been analysed. This will provide for new and more complete data regarding the topics discussed here, also allowing us to tackle other issues such as the morphology and paleopathology of the Bom Santo population. This is especially important because there are few Middle Neolithic sites with sound stratigraphic and contextual records enclosing such a large amount of relatively well preserved individuals. In addition, the complete analysis of the materials from Bom Santo will allow for the better understanding of the funerary behaviour and practices of this community. However, one must bear in mind that these human remains are only a fraction of the complete assemblage present in the cave. Therefore, its representativeness is not guaranteed. Final remark and acknowledgements This work is supported by FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) and by Portuguese funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the research project PTDC/HIS- ARQ/098633/2008. Acknowledgments are due to Cidália Duarte for information on details of the excavations, and to Vanessa Campanacho for helping on the data base. References Ambrose, S.H. and Norr, L. 1993. Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate, in J.B. Malbert and G. Grupe G. (eds), Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level, 1-38. Berlin, Springer-Verlag. Arnaud, J.M. and Duarte, C. 1994. Algar do Bom Santo, campanha de 1994. Unpublished report, IPPAR. Araújo, A.C. and Lejeune, M. 1995. Gruta do Escoural: a necrópole neolítica e a arte rupestre paleolítica. Lisbon, IPPAR Brock, F., Bronk-Ramsey, C. and Higham, T.F.G. 2007. Quality assurance of ultrafiltered bone dating. Radiocarbon 49 (2), 187-192. Bronk-Ramsey, C. 2010. OxCal Program V4.1.7, Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. University of Oxford. Bronk-Ramsey, C., Higham, T.F.G., Bowles, A. and Hedges, R.E.M. 2004. Improvements to the pretreatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 46 (1), 155-163. Carvalho, A.F. 2007. Algar do Bom Santo: a research project on the Neolithic populations of Portuguese

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0e50 000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4), 1111-1150. Richards, M.P. and Hedges, R.E.M. 1999. A Neolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic. Antiquity 73, 891-897. Richards, M.P. and Trinkaus, E. 2009. Isotopic evidence for the diets of European Neanderthals and early modern humans. PNAS 106, 16034-16039. Schaefer, M., Black, S. and Scheuer, L. 2009 Juvenile osteology: a laboratory and field manual. London, Academic Press. Scheuer, L. and Black, S. 2004. The Juvenile Skeleton. London, Academic Press. Silva, A.M. 1995. Sex assesment using the calcaneus and talus. Antropologia Portuguesa 13, 107–119. Silva, A.M. 2003. Portuguese populations of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods exhumed from collective burials: an overview. Anthropologie 41, 55–64. Soares, A.M. and Dias, J.M.A. 2006. Coastal upwelling and radiocarbon. Evidence for temporal fluctuations in ocean reservoir effect off Portugal during the Holocene. Radiocarbon 48(1), 45-60. Tuross, N., Fogel, M.L. and Hare, P.E. 1988. Variability in the preservation of the isotopic composition of collagen from fossil bone. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52, 929-935. Ubelaker, D. 2008. Forensic anthropology: methodology and diversity of applications. In M. A. Katzenberg and S. R. Saunders (eds), Biological anthropology of the human skeleton. New Jersey, Wiley-Liss. Van Klinken, G.J. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for paleodietary and radiocarbon measurement. Journal of Archaeological Science 26, 687–695. Van Klinken, G.J. and Hedges, R.E.M. 1995. Experiments on collagen-humic interactions: speed of humic uptake, and effects of diverse chemical treatments. Journal of Archaeological Science 22, 263–270. Van Klinken, G.J., Van Der Plicht, H. and Hedges, R.E.M. 1994. Bone 13C/12C ratios reflect (paleo-)climatic variations. Geophysical Research Letters 21(6), 445–448. Wasterlain, S. 2000: Morphé. Análise das proporções entre os membros, dimorfismo sexual e estatura de uma amostra da colecção de esqueletos identificados do Museu Antropológico da Universidade de Coimbra. Coimbra, Universidade de Coimbra. Zilhão, J. and Araújo, A.C. 1993. Algar do Bom Santo. Relatório do reconhecimento arqueológico efectuado em 21/11/93. Unpublished report, IPPAR.

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THE SADO SHELL MIDDENS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND PALEODIETARY DEPICTION Cláudia UMBELINOa and Eugénia CUNHAb a. Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde. Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Apartado3046, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal ([email protected]). b. Centro de Ciências Forenses. Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Apartado 3046, 3001-401Coimbra, Portugal. Abstract: Portugal is particularly fortunate in what concerns sites from the Late Mesolithic with human skeletal remains. Besides the renowned Muge shell middens, first recognized by Carlos Ribeiro in 1863, from which an impressive assemblage of human skeletons was retrieved making more than 300 individuals, there are the Sado ones, subject of this paper with more than one hundred human skeletons recovered. The Sado shell middens comprise 11 sites, from which six revealed human skeletal remains in a total of 112 individuals, preferentially inhumed in a foetal position or in a lateral position with the inferior members contracted. Non-adults and adults from both sexes are represented. The results of trace elements and stable isotope analyses points to communities with diverse diets characterized by the consumption of terrestrial food, vegetables and food of animal origin, and marine resources. This last one would make up around 30% of the diet. This data is substantiating by the large array of food resources offered by the Sado estuary. Keywords: Late Mesolithic, human skeletons, trace elements, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, Portugal.

1. History of the discovery The Sado shell middens were first mentioned in 1936 by Lereno Barradas, who identified the sites of Portancho, also known as Barrada das Vieiras, and Quinta de Baixo (Barradas 1936) lately named Cabeço do Pez, but it took almost twenty years until this area undergone a systematic archaeological prospection. Between 1955 and 1966, Manuel Heleno recognized seven more shell middens: Arapouco, Cabeço do Rebolador, Amoreiras, Vale das Romeiras, Várzea da Mó, Barrada do Grilo and Poças do São Bento, whose excavations provided more than one hundred human skeletons and 200.000 artefacts and faunal remains (Arnaud 1989). In the next two years, two more shell middens were documented by Manuel Farinha dos Santos, Barranco da Moura (Santos 1967) and Fonte da Mina (Santos 1968), making up 11 sites that embody the Sado shell middens.

Figure 1. Location of the Sado River. Vieiras are located in the left shore of the Sado river, while Vale de Romeiras in the right one. Also in the right shore, in the opposite side of a ravine there is Cabeço do Pez (Arnaud 1989).

2. Geographical setting The Sado shell middens are located on the estuary of the Sado river, approximately 40 km south of Lisbon (Figure 1).

The second group comprises Várzea da Mó, Barrada do Grilo and Fonte da Mina (also known as Cabeço da Mina) that are placed close to the shores of small tributaries of the Sado River. Várzea da Mó is located at heights of 15 to 20m, in the left shore of Algalé river, at about 2km far from its confluence with the Sado River (Araújo 19951997).

According to Araújo (1995-1997) the sites from the Sado shell middens can be divided in three groups attending to their geographic and topographic setting (Figure 2). The first one includes Arapouco, Cabeço do Rebolador, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Vale de Romeiras, Cabeço do Pez and Barrada das Vieiras (Portancho) which are located near the Sado shore, at the edges of a Miocenic plateau, between 40 to 50m of altitude, with the exception of Barrada das Vieiras founded at 20m height above the sea level (Arnaud 1987, Araújo 1995-1997). Arapouco, Cabeço do Rebolador, Cabeço das Amoreiras and Barrada das

Barrada do Grilo is the shell midden placed more upstream, almost 3km far from the Sado River, at the top of a plateau, at 80m height, between the Algalé River, in its left shore (Santos et al. 1972) and the Xarrama River (Arnaud 1987, Araújo 1995-1997). Fonte da Mina is situated 5km north of the village Água Derramada, 91

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Figure 2. Mesolithic shell midden sites from the Sado valley mentioned in text. 4. Burial practises

in the Grândola municipality, at 50m height, in the right shore of the Açudes valley, a tributary of the left shore of the Sado, at about 2,5km south of Sado River (Arnaud 1987, Araújo 1995-1997).

From the 11 sites that represent the Sado shell middens only six revealed human skeletal remains, in a total of 112 individuals. These are Arapouco, Cabeço das Amoreiras, Cabeço do Pez, Poças de S. Bento, Vale de Romeiras and Várzea da Mó.

Finally there are Barranco da Moura and Poças do S. Bento, the two sites more distant from the Sado River (Araújo 1995-1997). The first one is located at the top of a mound with 55m height, in the right shore of the Arcão river, a left shore tributary of the Sado, at approximately 9km south of the Guiso valley (Arnaud 1987, 1989) and 6km Northeast of Grândola small town (Santos 1967). Poças de S. Bento is in the middle of a plateau, at 80m above the sea level, in the left shore of a small water course that flows into the Açudes valley, at about 3 km south of the Sado River (Araújo 1995-1997).

The information pertaining to burial practices is usually attained from the archaeological record made during the excavations, namely field notes, drawings and photographs. Regrettably, for Sado shell middens these data are not as plentiful as one would like, since Manuel Heleno passed away in 1966 without leaving any publication about all his the work (Arnaud 1989). But for Cabeço das Amoreiras and Poças do S. Bento there are excellent drawings of the excavation plant made by Mr Dario de Sousa that enables the observation of the inhumation position, as well as the burials disposition and orientation. At Cabeço das Amoreiras although it seems that the skeletons were inhumed at random, it is possible to recognize two main orientations, east-west (skeletons IV, VI, VII, and VIII) and west-east (skeletons III and V) (Arnaud 1989, Cunha and Umbelino 1995-1997, 2001) and concerning the inhumation position there are individuals clearly in a foetal position (skeleton III), while others apparently were inhumed in a lateral position with the inferior members contracted (skeletons VIII and VIII). At Poças de S. Bento the skeletons present an orientation and disposition at random (Arnaud 1989, Cunha and Umbelino 19951997, 2001). At Vale de Romeiras it seems that skeletons

3. Funerary structures The Sado shell middens are very shallow with a depth between 0.2 and 0.7m, since they were mainly developed in area, and a somewhat irregular shape (Arnaud 1986). The stratigraphic sequence in the different sites is quite comparable being discernible a top layer of brownish soil, with 0.1 to 0.2m deep, followed by a layer of black soil with 0.2 to 0.8m deep, that covers the main shell midden layer formed by gray soil with shell. Underneath there is a layer of chestnut brown sand, over the soft bedrock made up by limestone of the Miocene (Arnaud 1989). Most of the human burials were found in lower layer with the chestnut brown sand one (Arnaud 1989). Their area is, however, rather diverse. 92

The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction and the maximum 36 (Cunha et al. 2002, Umbelino 2006). This figure cannot be more precise due to the state of preservation of the human skeletal remains and some confusion during the process of packing of the osteological material.

were inhumed radially in a semi- circle with its opening facing the river which, according to Arnaud (1989), suggests a strong contemporaneity of the burials. At Arapouco although the absence of field records, the preservation in paraffin allowed the observation that most of the individuals were inhumed in a foetal position, with the head laterally laid with the legs strongly contracted, often wrapped by the arms. The skull frequently exhibits a lateral flattening due to the weight of the soil (Cunha and Umbelino 1995-1997, 2001). All the burials are single with the exception of two double burials (skeletons 9 and 10, and 11 and 12), always from a woman and a child (with 1.5 to 2.5 years old and 3 years + 12 months) (Cunha and Umbelino 1995-1997, 2001).

Considering 32 as the minimal number of individuals, 26 are adults and six are non-adults. Regarding adults, sex was determined in 13 individuals, with seven females and six men. In what concerns age at death it is only possible to say that 23% (6/26) are young adult, with an age at death between 20 and 30 years old (Cunha et al. 2002). Vale de Romeiras is the smallest shell midden (54m2) and is the only one completely excavated (Arnaud 1989). Attending to its size is the one which has a higher burial density with 26 individuals, 20 adults and six nonadults. The sex was determined in ten individuals, five males and 5 females. The state of preservation did not allow sex diagnosis of the remaining ten. About 30% were young adults, with less than 30 years old. All the nonadults are children, making up 23% of the sample (Cunha et al. 2002). Only one individual was recovered at Várzea Mó was. His state of preservation, very fragmented and paraffined, just consent the identification of an adult individual probably middle aged.

5. Anthropological data 5.1. Sex and age at death The paleobiological analysis was strongly affected by the state of preservation of the osteological material. Besides the paraffin used to exhume the skeletons, some bones were as well covered by calcium carbonate, which prevented the observation of the bone surface. Moreover, bones are also quite fragmented. Sex diagnosis for adult individuals was mainly achieved on the basis of the pelvic bone according to Bruzek (2002), Ferembach et al. (1980) and Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). Age at death estimation for non- adults was based on the sequence of formation and eruption of teeth according to Ubelaker (1989), on the length of long bone shaft by Scheuer and Black (2000) and on union of epiphysis and diaphysis following Ferembach et al. (1980). For adults the methods were the evaluation of the pubic symphysis (Brooks and Suchey 1990) and of the auricular surface (Lovejoy et al. 1985).

5.2. Morphology At Arapouco stature was determine in 62% (16/26) of adult sample (Cunha and Umbelino 2001). For 12 of them this parameter was estimated by means of regression equations developed by Olivier et al. (1978) for long bones, while Byers et al. (1989) formulae based on the length of the metatarsal were also applied in 12 individuals. The average obtained on the basis of the first metatarsal length belonging to male individuals was of 164.17+65.4cm (n=6) while for females was 162.5+65.4cm (n=2). The humerus was measured in three females, with an average of 152.67±3.62cm (n=3). The rest of the measures were performed in single bones not allowing the determination of the average.

At Arapouco from the 32 individuals analysed, six are nonadult making up 18.75% (6/32) of the sample. Their age distribution can be seen in Figure 3. For 18 individuals age at death could not be precise due to their poor state of preservation, it can only be said that they were adults. Regarding sex there is a slight male predominance with men representing 53.8% (14/26) of the sample. Besides ten are females and two individuals for which sex was unattainable.

For Cabeço das Amoreiras four individuals, all males, were considered in order to determine their stature. Only one with a height of 166+4.04cm was based on the Olivier et al. (1978) equation that uses the length of the right radius, the remaining applied the length of the metatarsal bones (Byers et al. 1989). The average of the stature based on the length of the third metatarsal was of 163.4+67.6cm (n=2). At Vale de Romeiras the stature was determined in five adult individuals, three of them using Byers et al. (1989) formulae and in two the Olivier et al. (1978) method. Based on the second metatarsal length we have the stature of an individual with unknown sex with 164+65.4cm, of a female with 160+65.4cm and a male with 164+65.4cm. For the remaining two individuals stature was calculated on the basis of the humerus

Cabeço das Amoreiras has six individuals, five adults and one non adult (Figure 3). Concerning the adults, four are middle age males and one undetermined. For Poças de S. Bento the state of preservation of the human skeletal remains was very poor, the 15 skeletons were very fragmented and incomplete permitting only to say that they were adults (11) and non adults (4) (Figure 3). Cabeço do Pez is the shell midden with more burials since the minimal number of individuals observed is 32

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Figure 3. Age at death distribution in Sado shell middens. 152+71.2cm (n=2). At this site the lowest value observed was of 152+71.2cm from the fifth metatarsal length and the highest 173+67.6cm from the length of the third metatarsal.

length on a female with 141+3.62 and on a male individual with 169+4.03. Finally at Cabeço do Pez this morphological parameter was evaluated in 13 adult individuals. The Olivier et al. (1978) regression equations were applied only in four cases, all different bones. Regarding metatarsal length, the average of stature obtained using the first metatarsal length of females was 164+65.4cm (n=2), for the third metatarsal length of males was 165+67.6cm (n=3) and for the fifth metatarsal length of individuals of unknown sex of

5.3. Pathology Pathology mainly oral one was strongly conditioned once again by the state of preservation of the human skeletal remains. Teeth covered by paraffin or calcium carbonate, some of them in occlusion, prevented a correct evaluation 94

The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction

Figure 4. Pathologies in the Sado shell middens.

of caries rates. The values presented in Figure 4, should therefore be faced with cautious, as they probably are underestimated. Additionally, the pronounced dental wear observed surely has contributed to the dissimulation of caries. Nevertheless, it seems plausible to infer from the percentage of individuals with caries in the different sites of the Sado shell middens (Figure 4) the inclusion in diet of sweet foods, like fruits. Considering all individuals from the different sites altogether, the caries rate by individual is 37.5% (18/48) and by the total number of observable teeth is 3.9% (41/1049). It should be mentioned that

caries could not be evaluated in 10.95% (129/1178) of the total sample (Cunha et al. 2003). Dental wear, appraised using the Smith (1984) scale, is very pronounced, particularly in Arapouco with an average of 5.5. Moreover this wear presents a certain angulation, more evident in the lingual surface, which may be related to the fact of the mouth being used for other purposes besides food processing (Cunha and Umbelino 1995-1997, 2001).

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Figure 5. Radiocarbon dates for the Sado shell middens. Dental enamel hypolasias, a non specific stress indicator was also searched. In all, for the Sado shell middens was found a frequency of 2.07% (21/1010) being these dental enamel defects almost absent on the deciduous dentition and moderate on the permanent one, which may be interpreted as an absence of severe growth periods during the Mesolithic. The other pathologies detected are not relevant: only two cases of slight infectious diseases and four traumatic lesions in Arapouco and a probable case of a metabolic disease at Cabeço do Pez (Figure 4). Osteoarthritis was detected in few individuals, with minor lesions, what can be related with the demographic profile of the skeletal series.

Figure 6. Number of human (H) and faunal (F) samples and species identification, by site.

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The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction 6. Chronology of contexts

The δ15N represented as [(15N/14Nsample/15N/14NAIR)-1] × 1000, per mil (‰) and gives us an idea of the trophic level of the individual, since the δ15N values are usually 2-4‰ higher in consumer than in the food consumed (Schoeninger and DeNiro 1984).

Arapouco seems to be the oldest site followed by Cabeço das Amoreiras, Vale de Romeiras, Poças do S. Bento and finally Cabeço do Pez (Figure 5). 7. Additional relevant studies: trace element and stable isotope analyses

The data obtained from the chemical analyses will be discussed in the light of the provisional model of settlement pattern and subsistence strategy proposed by Arnaud (1987, 1989) that assumes the contemporaneity of the different shell middens. According to this author Cabeço do Pez, the largest shell midden, with an area of 4000 m2, that can even double, would have functioned has a base camp mainly dedicated to hunting, since it represents the site from which more mammals bones were retrieved, around 30%. The zooarcheological studies show (RowleyConwy 1983 in Arnaud 1987, 1989; Cunha 2002-2003) that red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild pig (Sus scrofa) and aurochs (Bos primigenius) were very important species from the dietary point of view, while hare (Lepus capensis) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were just occasional resources, attending to their small quantity of biomass.

In order to characterize the diet of the communities of the Sado valley, chemical analyses were performed on human and animal bones from the different sites. Trace element was carried out at Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear (ITN), in Sacavém, Portugal, on a total of 56 human and animal samples (Figure 5), while stable isotope analysis took place at McMaster University, under the supervision of Prof. Henry Schwarcz, with the assessment of 5 human samples (Figure 6). Regarding trace elements the concentration of the elements Ca, Sr, Zn, Ba, Mg, Mn and V was determined by means of neutron activation analysis (INAA), and beside those expressed in μg/g for all the elements with the exception of Ca in mg/g, the Sr/Ca, Zn/Ca, Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca indexes, and the observed ratio of Sr (ORSr) and Ba (ORBa) were also considered (Umbelino 2006, 2007). The observed ratio (ORSr), or site corrected index (Sr/Ca(c)), is calculated as the ratio of the human Sr/Ca index to the herbivorous from the same archaeological site (Fornaciari and Mallegni 1987; Pérez-Pérez 1990; Pérez-Pérez et al. 1991; will not be discussed here (Umbelino 2006, 2007).

The amount of bone fragments of red deer and wild pig was interpreted as indicative of the site occupation during autumn and winter, a better period for the capture of these species without compromising reproduction (Arnaud 1987, 1989). Nevertheless, Zn/Ca ratio observed at Cabeço do Pez (X=0.35±0.18, n=11) is compatible with a medium intake of foods of animal origin, not very different from the values attained for the other sites. So it seems that although hunting had some importance in the subsistence pattern of this group, their diet would have been much more diverse. The high coefficient of variation of Zn/Ca at Cabeço do Pez, of 51%, seems to result from the presence of an individual with a much higher Zn level (332.36 μg/g), reflecting a Zn/Ca ratio of 0.87. When this individual is excluded from analysis the average observed for Cabeço do Pez (X=0.30+0.06, n=10) is even lower, with a coefficient of variation of 21.09%, which contradicts the thesis advanced by Arnaud (1987, 1989) of being a camp dedicated primarily to hunting activities.

The results of stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen (Figure 6) should be faced with caution, as mere indicators, due to small sample size analysed: only one sample per site, further, for Arapouco, the quantity of collagen was insufficient to allow the determination of δ13C and δ15N values. Moreover the percentage of collagen yield is less than 5%, not granting the preservation of bone collagen (Schoeninger et al. 1989). We could never use this figures alone but since we also have trace elements results we can be more secure on their interpretation. The δ13C defined as [(13C/12Csample/13C/12C VPDB)-1] × 1000, reported per mil (‰), is commonly used to differentiate foods of marine and terrestrial sources (Chisholm 1989, Chisholm et al. 1982, Tauber 1981, Walker and DeNiro 1986). An individual that has an exclusively terrestrial diet based on C3 plants will have a δ13C value near -20.5 to 21.5‰, depending if they eat the animal that feed the C3 plants or directly the plant, since C3 plants have a have δ13C values of -26.5. If the protein comes entirely from marine resources the δ13C value expected will be close to -12.5 as phytoplankton have values near -19.5 and we will most probably eat the meat from marine carnivores or herbivores that implies fractionation of about 1‰ with the trophic level. The presence of C4 plants could obscure this distinction between diets of terrestrial and marine origin, nevertheless their absence from the Portuguese territory by the Late Mesolithic make things easier.

The rather high value of Mg/Ca index (X=3.33+1.15, n=11) apparently indicates that the vegetables resources would have been a significant component in the diet of these individuals. The chance of this level be the outcome of marine food is more frail taking in consideration the data of ORSr (X=0.88+0.19, n=11) and log(Ba/Sr) (X= -0.44+0.14, n=11), whose values point to a lesser proportion of food of marine origin, which is supported by the δ13C value that reveals a percentage of marine food of 25,55%, the lowest observed for the Sado shell middens. The δ15N value of 9,83 seems to reflect a mixed diet. This suggestion is apparently confirmed by the positive correlation observed at Cabeço do Pez, between the elements Sr and Ba, that could be interpreted as if vegetables were the main food resource of those

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Figure 7. Stable isotope results, values of δ13C and δ15N (‰) and percentage of marine food on diet. and gilthead (Sparus aurata) that usually go through into the estuary to spawn between April and August and between June and September, respectively, suggest the occupation of this site during spring and summer (Arnaud 1987, 1989). The Zn/Ca index observed for Arapouco could be explained fish intake and not mammals consumption. Fish and other marine foods, are considered by several authors as an important source of zinc (Blakely and Beck 1981; Fornaciari and Mallegni 1987; Aufderheide 1989; Fornaciari 1990; Thunus and Lejeune 1994; Orban and Polet 1995). This assumption seems to be supported by the ORSR (X=2.06+0.78, n=8), extremely high, as well as by the log(Ba/Sr)=-0.79+0.19 (n=6), with more negative values than for the other shell middens. The values of ORSr higher than 1 may be justified by the presence of molluscs in diet, since all zooarcheological studies reveal a predominance of malacological remains, namely the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and peppery furrow-shell (Scrobicularia plana) in all sites, in a 2:1 proportion (Arnaud, 1989).

elements, namely tubers, legumes and fruits, as acorn, olives and carobs, available on their environment. From the palynological data we know that the landscape, between 7650+50 BP and 6560+70 BP was characterized by the presence of pines (Pinus pinaster), oak (Quercus faginea), oleaster (Olea europea sylvestris) and carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua) that would form thick woodlands, and by 6560+70 BP there is the decline of the pine and oak forest that were gradually replaced by the expansion of a shrubby vegetation (Mateus 1985; Mateus 1989 in Araújo 1995-1997; Mateus and Queiroz 1993). Nevertheless, the ORBa obtained at Cabeço do Pez (X=0.48+0.22, n=11) is not the highest, albeit without pronounced differences regarding the shell middens with higher values, which are Cabeço das Amoreiras (X=0.57+0.27, n=2) and Arapouco (X=0.81+0.54, n=6). The same happens with the concentration of V at Cabeço do Pez (X=5.29+1.95, n=11), whose average is very similar to one observed at Cabeço das Amoreiras (X=5.87+0.85, n=4) and Vale de Romeiras (X=5.75+2.67, n=10), in between the averages obtained for Poças de S. Bento and Arapouco of 7.97+4.78 (n=6) and 3.80+2.66 (n=20), respectively. Vanadium has different food sources, such as vegetables, molluscs, and viscera, yet, like for the interpretation presented for Mg, the mollusc intake seems less probable attending to the values of ORSr, log(Ba/ Sr) and δ13C. The viscera are a plausible resource but not important, attending to Zn/Ca ratio. The levels of V at Cabeço do Pez may result mainly from vegetable resources, what seems to be sustained by the positive correlation observed between Ba and V. Arapouco, the shell midden placed closest to the river mouth, with an area of around 1174m2, was considered by Arnaud (1987, 1989) as a temporary settlement mainly dedicated to fishing due to the high quantity of fish remains recovered, being the only site where these remains were abundantly recorded, as well as crustaceans and the scarcity of mammals bones. The identification of meagre (Argyrosomus regius)

The Mg/Ca ratio (X=2.74+1.27, n=8) is relatively high and may result from a greater proportion of food of marine origin in diet, namely fish and molluscs, or vegetables. The high ORBa observed (X=0.81+0.54, n=6) apparently confirms the importance of vegetables resources on diet of the individuals of Arapouco. It should be noted that this value corresponds to a coefficient of variation of 66.67%, that results from the presence of an individual with a very high ORBa of 1.87, but even after the exclusion from analysis of this individual Arapouco is still the site with the highest observed ratio of Ba (X=0.60+0.16, n=5) among the Sado shell middens. The average value of V (X=3.80+2.66, n=20) is, however, the lowest, what goes against the above mentioned. This element has a high coefficient of variation, of 70%, but a careful analysis shows that this value results from the presence of three individuals with higher values from the remaining. In their absence the average obtained Arapouco would decrease to 2.80+1.08 (n=17)

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The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction with coefficient of variation of 38.57%. This lower concentration of V at Arapouco apparently can only be explained by a lesser inclusion of viscera in diet.

imputed to a greater consumption of fish and crustaceans, since these remains were recovered from the site, albeit in lesser quantities than in Arapouco. The value of δ13C seems to validate this inference by pointing to a significant contribution of protein of marine origin, of around 38%. The δ15N of 11.7 points to the consumption of molluscs that belongs to a low trophic level. Nonetheless, it should be expected a higher ORSr. The strontium observed ratio was of 0.80, the lowest registered in all the shell middens. It should be, nevertheless mentioned that ORSr was attained from skeleton number 2, and the isotopic analysis was performed on a bone sample from skeleton number 3, that due to problems during the irradiation process did not allow the determination of the concentration of the different elements.

Poças de S. Bento, the second largest site (3570m2), like Cabeço do Pez, due to its size, is considered as a base camp. According to Arnaud (1989) if on one hand, the shortage of mammal bones seems to indicate that hunting wouldn’t have been an important activity which could reflect the site occupation during spring and summer, on the other, the site location, near 3km far from the river Sado or any of its tributaries, and at about 80m above the sea level, would imply carrying the molluscs for at least1.5 km, an activity with energetic costs not compensated by the caloric value of these resources. So the function of this site is not yet well established. It should be, nevertheless, noted that Poças de S. Bento is the site with more lithics.

The high average of V (X=7.97±4.78, n=6) may, as well, be interpreted as the result of molluscs consumption.

Regrettably the concentrations of Sr, Zn, Ba, and Ca were determined only for one individual at Poças do S. Bento, and consequently the same happened for Sr/Ca, Zn/Ca, Ba/ Ca, Mg/Ca ratios and ORSr and ORBa, that do not allow any credible deduction.

Another possible explanation is that the Zn/Ca ratio effectively represents a medium intake of mammals, whose remains were not preserved or were captured far away from the camp, what would explain the scarcity of their remains, and the high levels of V as the result of the consumption of viscera. Only the enlargement of the sample for the Poças de S. Bento site, as well as a detailed zooarchaeological study with the evaluation of

If we suppose, only in an hypothetical plan, that the obtained data can be extrapolated to the community that occupy this site, the highest value of Zn/Ca of 0.46, could be

Figure 8. Ca, Sr, Zn, Ba, Mg and V concentrations on human and animal bones at Sado shell middens.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 9. Sr/Ca, Zn/Ca, Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca, ORSr and ORBa indexes on human and animal bones at Sado shell middens.

the distribution patterns of the frequencies of the different bones from the skeleton, will clarify this question. The possibility of V, as well as ORSr be a reflection of a greater proportion of vegetable resources in diet does not seem to be validated by the Mg/Ca ratio of 1.11. This low value seems to indicate that vegetables were not an important component. Regrettably, the barium concentration was below the detection limit and cannot be used to elucidate this issue. Considering marine food, fish and molluscs, as the principal source of Mg, the ratio obtained goes against the value of δ13C, reflecting a low intake of these resources. Cabeço das Amoreiras and Vale de Romeiras show, according to Arnaud (1987, 1989), a great similarity in what concerns the type of artefacts and fauna recovered, indicating therefore, similar activities and occupations. Attending to the mammal remains recovered from each site, respectively 7.13% and 9.28%, and to the rarity of fish and crustaceans remains from Cabeço das Amoreiras and their absence from Vale de Romeiras, associated to proximity to Cabeço do Pez, Arnaud consider these sites as temporary camps, occupied during autumn-winter or between winter and spring, when game decreases. The decline of hunting would be counterbalanced with vegetables, namely berries, roots, tubers and fungi (Arnaud 1989).

Since fish does not seem to have been an important component of the dietary regime of these human communities, the Zn/Ca ratio should reflect the intake of food of animal origin. Cabeço das Amoreiras has an average of 0.42+0.11 (n=2) compatible with a medium intake of food of animal origin, according to the interpretation proposed by Fornaciari e Mallegni (1987), while at Vale de Romeiras this would be poor (X=0.30+0.11, n=8), what disagrees with de faunal data, with slightly higher percentage at Vale de Romeiras. It should be, nevertheless, noted that Cabeço das Amoreiras is represented only by two individuals, with values of Zn/Ca rather different, of 0.50 and 0.35, not allowing a credible inference of the real consumption of food of animal origin by the community that occupied this site. Cabeço das Amoreiras has an higher ORSr (X=1.51+0.22, n=2) than the one observed for Vale de Romeiras (X=1.02+0.26, n=9) that could be interpreted as the result of a diet with a greater proportion of molluscs or vegetables regarding Vale de Romeiras. The values of log(Ba/Sr) of -0.75+0.14 (n=2) at Cabeço das Amoreiras and of –0.42+0.16 (n=9) at Vale de Romeiras seem to confirm the inference of more resources of marine origin in the diet of the individuals of Cabeço das Amoreiras, once they have more negative values. The δ13C reveal a percentage of marine protein slighter higher at Vale 100

The Sado shell middens: anthropological and paleodietary depiction de Romeiras, namely of 28.44%, while for Cabeço das Amoreiras the value is 27.67%. It is, however, a very small difference, and we are dealing with only one individual per site. Yet the ORBa is higher at Cabeço das Amoreiras (X=0.57+0.26, n=2), when lower values are expected resulting from the marine food intake. This higher level seem to reflect a greater ingestion of vegetables at Amoreiras than at Vale de Romeiras (X=0.37+0.16, n=9), what is apparently validated by the Mg/Ca ratios somewhat higher at Cabeço das Amoreiras (X=2.520+0.005, n=2) and by the concentration of V (X=5.87+0.85, n=4) than at Vale de Romeiras (Mg/ Ca=2.39+0.80, n=9; V=5.75+2.67, n=10), although these could come also from marine food intake. Albeit the caution ensuing from small sample size, it looks like the human communities from these two sites seem to have a very similar diet, what supports the similar activities proposed by Arnaud (1987, 1989). Apparently the diet of the individuals from Cabeço das Amoreiras would have been a little bit richer, with a slight predominance of vegetable and marine resources. 8. Conclusion The trace element and stable isotope analysis revealed that the human communities that occupied the Sado valley had a very diverse diet based on the exploration of a large spectrum of available food resources that characterizes the Sado estuary. There was a predominance of terrestrial food, vegetables and of animal origin, with a proportion of marine food close to 30%. These last resources, particularly cockles and the peppery furrow-shells were available all year round. When we attend to the provisional model of subsistence strategy and settlement pattern proposed to Arnaud (1987, 1989) our data shows inconsistency only with the settlement system, that according to the author assumed the sites contemporaneity and was established in two base camps: Cabeço do Pez and Poças do S. Bento, the largest from the assemblage, associated to temporary camps, with smaller dimensions. This inference is not compatible with the statistically significant differences observed for some elements, such as Sr and V. Assuming that the elemental bone content reflect the individuals diet over the last seven to ten years of life, being the same community that occupy seasonally the different shell middens, no differences should be noted. Apparently the wide distribution of the sites would have provided different ecological settings that would have led to take advantage of the particular resources available. These communities seem to be well adapted to their environment consuming what the Sado estuary has to offer. Although not all diseases leave traces on bones, it is evident a low prevalence of infectious diseases and traumatic events among the Sado communities. Besides it looks like their growth was not affected by harsh conditions.

References Araújo, A. C. 1995-1997. A indústria lítica do concheiro de Poças de S. Bento (vale do Sado) no seu contexto regional. O Arqueólogo Português 13-15, 87-159. Araújo, A. C. 2003. Long term change in Portuguese early Holocene settlement and subsistence, in L. Larsson, H. Kindgren, K. Knutsson, D. Leoffler and A. Åkerlund (eds.), Mesolithic on the move, 569–580. Stockholm, Oxbow Books. Arnaud, J. M. 1986. Cabeço das Amoreiras - S. Romão do Sado. Informação Arqueológica 7, 80–82. Arnaud, J. M. 1987. Os Concheiros Mesolíticos dos Vales do Tejo e Sado: semelhanças e diferenças. Arqueologia 15, 53–64. Arnaud, J. M. 1989. The Mesolithic communities of the Sado Valley, Portugal, in their ecological setting. In C. Bonsall (ed.), The Mesolithic in Europe, 614–631. Edinburgh. Aufderheide, A. C. 1989. Chemical analysis of skeletal remains, in M. Y. Iscan and K. A. R. Kennedy (eds.), Reconstruction of Life From the Skeleton, 237–260. New York, Alan R. Liss. Aufderheide, A. C. and Rodríguez-Martín, C. 1998. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Barradas, L. A. 1936. Concheiros do Vale do Sado. Anais da Faculdade de Ciências do Porto XXI, 175- 179. Blakely, R. L. and Beck, L. A. 1981. Trace elements, nutritional status, and social stratification at Etowah, Georgia, in A-M. Cantwell, J. B. Griffin and N. A. Rothschild (eds.), The Research Potential of Antropological Museum Collections, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 376, 417-331. Brooks, S. and Suchey, J. M. 1990. Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: a comparison of the Acsádi-Neméskeri and Suchey-Brooks methods. Human Evolution 5, 227-238. Bruzek, J. 2002. A method for visual determination of sex, using the human hip bone. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117, 157–168. Buikstra, J. and Ubelaker, D. 1994. Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Fayetteville, Arkansas Archaeological Survey. Byers, S., Akoshima, K. and Curran, B. 1989. Determination of adult stature from metatarsal length. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79, 275–279. Chisholm, B. S. 1989. Variation in diet reconstructions based on stable carbon isotopic evidence. In T. D. Price (ed.), The chemistry of prehistoric human bones, 10–37. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Chisholm, B. S., Nelson, D. E. and Schwarcz, H. P. 1982. Stable-carbon isotope ratios as a measure of marine versus terrestrial protein in ancient diets. Science 216, 1131-1132. Cunha, C. D. C. 2002-2003. Estudo arqueozoológico de um concheiro Mesolítico do Sado - Cabeço do Pez (Alcácer do Sal, Portugal). Unpublished manuscript, 101

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and Universidade de Salamanca. Cunha, E. and Umbelino, C. 1995-1997. Abordagem antropológica das comunidades mesolíticas dos Concheiros do Sado. O Arqueólogo Português 1315, 161–179. Cunha, E. and Umbelino, C. 2001. Mesolithic people from Portugal: an approach to Sado osteological series. Anthropologie XXXIX, 125–132. Cunha, E., Umbelino, C. and Cardoso, F. 2002. New anthropological data on the Mesolithic communities from Portugal: the shell middens from Sado. Human Evolution 17(3), 187–197. Cunha, E., Cardoso, F. and Umbelino, C. 2003. Inferences about Mesolithic life style on the basis of anthropological data. The case of the Portuguese shell middens, in L. Larsson, H. Kindgren, K. Knutsson, D. Loeffler and A. Åkerlund (eds.), Mesolithic on the Move, 184–188. Stockholm, Oxbow Books. Ferembach, D., Schwidetzky, I. and Stloukal, M. 1980. Recommendation for age and sex diagnoses of skeletons. Journal of Human Evolution 9(7), 517–550. Fornaciari, G. and Mallegni, F. 1987. Paleonutritional studies on skeletal remains of ancient populations from the Mediterranean area: an attempt to interpretation. Anthropologischer Anzeiger 45, 361–370. Fornaciari, G. 1990. Indagini paleonutrizionali mediante spettroscopia ad assorbimento atomico siu resti scheletrici protoeneolitici di Piano Vento (palma di Montechiaro, Agrigento). Rivista di Antropologia LXVIII, 129–140. Lovejoy, C. O., Meindl, R., Pryzbeck, T. and Mensforth, R. 1985. Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium: a new method for the determination of adult skeletal age at death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68, 15–28. Mateus, J. E. 1985. The coastal lagoon region near Carvalhal during the Holocene; some geomorphological aspects derived from a palaeoecological study at Lagoa Travessa. I Reunião do Quaternário Ibérico, 237–249. Lisboa. Mateus, J. E. and Queiroz, P. F. 1993. Os estudos de vegetação quaternária em Portugal; contextos, balanço de resultados e perspectivas. In G. S. Carvalho, A. B. Ferreira and J. C. Senna-Martinez (eds.), O Quaternário em Portugal: balanço e perspectivas, 105–131. Lisboa, Colibri. Olivier, G., Aaron, G., Fully, G. and Tissier, G. 1978. New estimations of stature and cranial capacity in modern man. Journal of Human Evolution 7, 513–518. Orban, R. and Polet, C. 1995. Régimes alimentaires et analyses chimiques d’ossements. Dossiers d’Archeologie 208, 78–85. Pérez-Pérez, A. 1990. Evolución de la dieta en Cataluña y Baleares desde el Paleolítico hasta la Edad Media a partir de restos esqueléticos. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Barcelona. Pérez-Pérez, A., Jimenez, S. and Trancho, G. (1991). Analisis de oligoelementos: estudio de la dieta en

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DITCHES, PITS AND HYPOGEA: NEW DATA AND NEW PROBLEMS IN SOUTH PORTUGAL LATE NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC PRACTICES António Carlos VALERAa a. Head of Archaeological Research Department of ERA Arqueologia, S.A. ([email protected]). Abstract: This paper addresses part of the new empirical data that has been acquired in the last few years in Alentejo’s hinterland (South Portugal) concerning funerary practices of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (2nd half of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC). This data provides a significant change in the previous knowledge on the issue and stresses the need for establishing a new agenda of research. That agenda implies, not only a renew of the conception of ‘megalithism’ as the main funerary expression of those communities, but also some theoretical deflections to the traditional approaches to death management in the concerned period. Keywords: Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Alentejo, ditches, pits, hypogea.

1. Introduction Until recently, the research on funerary practices of Middle/Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities of South Portugal was mainly restricted to megalithic dolmens, tholoi or megalithic cists, with the punctual exceptions of some pit and hypogeum structures in the littoral coast of Algarve (see Morán and Parreira 2009) and the isolated examples of Late Neolithic burials in the Escoural cave, Montemor-o-Novo (Araújo and Lejeune 1995) and the possible Chalcolithic pit burial of Vidais, Marvão (Gonçalves 1979). If the Évora district is known by its concentrations of megalithic necropolis, in the low Alentejo region, corresponding to the Beja district, the presence of known funerary contexts was less intense, scattered and mainly dominated by Chalcolithic tholoi. Only a few megalithic monuments were known in the left bank of Guadiana basin, mainly near the Spanish border. In this context, the archaeological discourse on funerary spaces, architectures and practices was entirely supported on data from megalithic monuments, that were considered to be the main funerary expression of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities of the region. In the last 15 years, though, the development of several infrastructures building projects promoted a significant increase of rescue Archaeology in the region. This intense activity, still in course, associated to some local projects of programmed research (with particular reference to the Archaeological Research Program of Perdigões enclosure—Valera et al. 2008), generated what I have been designating by an ‘empirical revolution’ that considerably changes the previous disciplinary knowledge in the Alentejo region (the target area of this paper). 2. The area The analysed area corresponds to part of Alentejo’s hinterland. It involves the Évora and Beja districts and

roughly corresponds to the Portuguese middle Guadiana basin and the eastern side of Sado basin. In terms of Geomorphology, it presents two plane units (the peneplain of Évora at north and the peneplain of Beja at south), separated by the Portel mountain with a west–east orientation (Figure 1). 3. The new contexts of funerary practices Leaving traditional megalithic and tholoi monuments apart, I will consider the following new contexts in Alentejo’s hinterland: hypogea, pit graves, depositions inside ditches and cremations secondary depositions (Figure 2). 3.1. The hypogea The first necropolis of hypogea discovered in Alentejo’s hinterland was Sobreira de Cima (Vidigueira), located in a small hill of the south slope Portel Mountain (Valera 2009a, Valera et al. 2008), near to some megalithic tombs. Five hypogea were excavated. Absolute dating situated the necropolis in the Late Neolithic (2nd half of the 4th millennium BC), with a possible reuse of tomb five in the first half of the 3rd millennium. Tombs one and two have underground circular chambers with an access through a lateral vertical pit. In both cases, de pit was sealed with clay deposits where several levels of depositions of amphibolite ingots were recorded and in tomb one the passage from the pit to the chamber was closed by an amphibolites slab. Tomb 5, on the contrary, had a short corridor of access made of amphibolite stelae and a slab, also in amphibolite, for closing the chamber’s entrance. The small corridor was sealed with clay deposits with amphibolite ingots. The symbolic use of amphibolites in architectonic components and ritual depositions of raw material roughly shaped, possibly with an emblematic meaning to the community (Valera 2009a), is quite striking. All tombs were use for collective depositions, 103

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 1. 1: location of the studied area; 2: traditional megalithic dolmen: Anta Grande da Comenda de Igreja; 3: traditional tholos construction: Cardim 6 (Paulo Marques photo).

but only tombs one and five allowed a perception of the depositions and space organization in the chambers. Tomb one had eight individuals (most of them in bended positions with the heads turned to the entrance) and a partial reduction of another in the centre of the chamber, with the exception of the entrance area, left empty. At the side walls, groups of bones and other partial skeleton reductions were accumulated, possibly from previous depositions. With the exception of three geometric microliths associated to hands of three individuals, the votive materials were not individualized, but organized

in two clusters in both sides of the entrance: flint blades, flint bladelets, flint and quartz microliths and polished axes and adzes were deposit in two groups, establishing a ‘mirror effect’ in terms of composition and red ocher was used over some artifacts. Between the groups of bones accumulated against the side wall of the chamber there was a set of ivory fragments. Pottery was totally absent. The same ritual process of deposition next to the entrance and the same general kind of votive material, the use of red (and some yellow) ocher and of amphibolite ingots in the sealing deposits of the accesses pit were observed in tomb two and five.

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Ditches, pits and hypogea: new data and new problems in south Portugal Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic practices

Figure 2. 1: pit grave 11 of Perdigões ditched enclosure; 2: pit grave of Ribeira de São Domingos; 3: hypogeum 1 of Sobreira de Cima; 4: hypogea of Outeiro Alto 2, Monte de Cortes, and hypogeum 1 of Carrascal.

Tomb five presented a last articulated burial in the centre of the chamber in fetal position and head turned to the entrance and several hundred of unarticulated bones in the back, where beneath them was another primary deposition. It was possible to observe some particular organization of human bones in the ossuary: if long bones and skulls didn’t present any particular distribution pattern, a specific concentration of human phalanges was detected on the left

side. Mixed with the human ones, 57 ovicaprid phalanges were recovered. The ritual intentionality of the association is reinforce by the fact that only other five small fragments of unidentifiable animal bones were recovered and by the circumstance that also in tomb one seven ovicaprid phalanges were collected, without the presence of other animal bones (Valera and Costa in press).

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic At Outeiro Alto 2, just 20kms South of Sobreira de Cima and in the left bank of Guadiana river, three similar hypogea, possibly associated to a wood henge, were excavated in a hill that later would have a Chalcolithic ditched enclosure and, later on, a necropolis of pits and hypogea from Bronze Age (Valera and Filipe 2010). Architectonically, they present underground funerary chambers with access lateral pits, with the internal passages sealed by clay, stones and slabs. Those pits were filled with clay deposits (in one case, H4/5, after that initial access became difficult by the accumulations inside, a circular hole was opened on the roof to access chamber and after closed with stones). In the H4/5, in the back of the chamber, there were parts of human remains in anatomical connection (arms and ribs), covered by an ossuary. Between those remains and the entrance it was the last deposition: an adult in anatomical connection, fetal position, with the head zone orientated to the entrance, but without the skull (no taphonomic reasons were detected to explain the absent, that must be understood as a result of human intentional action). In the ossuary, six flint microliths, a fragment of a bracelet of Glycymeris glycymeris and some fragments of quartz, quartzite and flint were recorder. Half of a long flint blade was in the closing stones of the roof access and one flint bladelet near the closing structure of the original entrance. In the small chamber of H14 was recorded an ossuary (corresponding to minimum of three individuals), reductions of two individuals and a complete one, in foetal position, with the head facing East and the back to the entrance. The ossuary provided two microliths, an adze with ochre and an axe beside the entrance and one flint bladelet once again behind the closing structure. H16/17 hypogeum had also an ossuary and some depositions in anatomical connection: two in foetal position, a pair of limbs and an incomplete upper part of another skeleton. The votive material was composed by ten microliths, one blade, two bladelets (one also behind the closing structure), one bracelet of Glycymeris glycymeris, two axes and one adze, one green bead and a gridding stone. In all three cases no pottery took part in the votive assemblages. So, the architecture, the votive assemblages and the use of the funerary space are quite homogeneous and analogous to those of Sobreira de Cima, suggesting the same general chronology of Late Neolithic. In terms of space management, the constitution of ossuary from previous depositions, the presence of complete and partial skeletons, the particularity of special depositions of votive material next to the entrances and the rare association of votive material to specific individuals are quite similar in both sites. Even the microliths involved by fixing material, significant equivalence of axes and adzes, the presence ovicaprid phalanges and the absence of pottery are specificities of the ritual that characterize both necropolises.

In the right bank of the Guadiana, another hypogeum was excavated in an emergency context. Pedreira de Trigaches 2 (Baptista 2010) had an ossuary in the chamber, corresponding to a minimum of two individuals, associated with ochre and flint microliths and that can be associated to the same general period. We are, though, in presence of funerary practices that, in terms of architecture and ritual procedures, present particularities that are significantly different from the contemporaneous orthostatic megalithism. But the built and use of hypogeum in the region was not restricted to Late Neolithic and continued during the Chalcolithic (and even during the Bronze Age, a chronology that will not be addressed in this paper), while dolmens kept to be in use and tholoi started to be built. Not far from Outeiro Alto 2, in Monte de Cortes 2 (also near to a ditched enclosure and several pits) a hypogeum, affected by other prehistoric negative structures and animal tunnels, was excavated (Valera et al. in press a). It revealed two phases of depositions: the first with an individual in foetal position with two vessels associated; another phase with an isolated skull and bones of another possible primary burial, but affected by post depositional factors. Radiocarbon dating of both individuals indicates a Chalcolithic chronology (2nd and 3rd quarters of the 3rd millennium BC). Most interesting is the situation detected at the large complex of enclosures of Porto Torrão. Here, quite a few peripheral necropolises were detected and several tholoi were excavated (Valera et al. in press b). At Carrascal area, located in eastern side of Porto Torrão, a large necropolis was detected through geophysics and some tombs were excavated. One of the most interesting set of structures is a ditch with 2m deep and about 4m wide. From the north wall of the ditch several hypogea were built. The ditch itself functioned as an atrium of access, where several overlapped floor layers of circulation were detected. In the excavated area at least three hypogea were detected, but only two chambers were excavated. The western one was empty of human bones and had only a large flint blade (we can question its funerary use, but in the context of the all set of structures it seems defendable). The next was full of human depositions (with ossuary and primary depositions) with some faunal remains, lithic materials and pottery pointing to a Chalcolithic chronology. The entrance of this hypogeum was through a small passage excavated from the ditch and closed by an agglomeration of stones with a final votive deposition of a conch shell. Probably when that entrance was no longer functional, a hole was opened on the roof of chamber and funerary depositions were done from the top of the chamber. The most eastern chamber was not excavated, but it was possible to define its entrance in the ditch wall, close by a schist slab and with the deposition of another conch shell. It the last layer of circulation inside the access ditch, two agglomerations of human bones were detected. One of them, more at the 106

Ditches, pits and hypogea: new data and new problems in south Portugal Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic practices centre and almost in front of the hypogeum closed by the slab, was composed by an ossuary of human burned bones and some votive pottery. At Monte das Covas 3 (Miguel and Godinho 2009), Beja, one hypogeum and a pit were excavated. The first presented a pit atrium with a small lateral funerary chamber. Inside the chamber there was a reduce number of human bones, scattered vertically and horizontally through the deposit. They correspond to a minimum of two individual (adult and sub-adult). The contextual situation of the bones was interpreted as a possible secondary deposition. No associated archaeological material was detected and absolute dating is not yet available. At the surface, though, a fragment of bell beaker pottery was collected. At Bela Vista 4 (Beringel, Beja), a big circular Chalcolithic pit has just been identified and may have served as an atrium to a small lateral crypt, where a single human inhumation was recorded only with some uncharacteristic pottery shards. Inside the atrium pit there was a first layer with a stone alignment and faunal mandibles. This layer was separated, by a level with no material, from another with two paws of a juvenile carnivore and some other scattered faunal bones. The access to the crypt was through a small hole at middle height of the pit, located above the described deposits with faunal remains, so, the association of both realities must be in reserve. The structure was later affected by the construction of three small hypogea dating from Bronze Age (Tiago do Pereiro, pers. comm.). But several others hypogea necropolis have been identified and excavated in the region. Information, though, is not yet accessible, and if some of the tombs correspond to the Bronze Age, others are earlier or present an inaccurate chronology inside Recent Prehistory. Globally, all this contexts are drawing a totally new image of a strong tradition of hypogea architectures in the area, with particular funerary rituals. 3.2. The pit graves Another ‘innovation’ in archaeological record of the region is the increasing number of pit graves. Once again they start at the Late Neolithic and go up to the Bronze Age. In general they are circular pits and can present different depths and sizes. Bodies can be at different levels inside the pit, single or in groups, deposited with care and organization or just accumulated or even thrown inside. They can also present post deposition manipulations and be intentionally sectioned. At Perdigões enclosure (Évora), in sector I, two pits graves were excavated (Valera and Godinho 2009). Pit 11 was 0.32m deep and was partially cut by other later pits. In the preserved part two primary depositions and a skull and a hand of a third one were present. The bodies were deposited over a layer of clay with no archaeological materials. The

only associated offerings were a paw of a pig in anatomical connexion (Moreno- Garcia and Cabaço 2009) and a Cerastoderma edule shell. One of the individuals had its legs turned over the chest, which implies post depositional manipulation (but still with some organic tissues conserved, since anatomical connexions were preserved) and that the pit functioned for some time as a hollow crypt and with some kind of closing. At Pit 7, that was 0.66m deep, there were fragments of a skull, parts of two legs, bones from hands (conserving partially anatomical connexions) and a foot (also in anatomical connexion). The present bones can correspond to a single individual. No artefacts were found associated to the bones, but another pig paw was present (idem). Note that no signs of ribs, vertebrae, pelvis or arms were found, suggesting that they were later removed or didn’t were present at the initial deposition. Radiocarbon dating (Valera and Silva 2011) put the individual of pit 7 in the last quarter of the 4th millennium BC and one of the individuals of pit 11 in the transition from 4th to 3rd millennium. Those dates clearly put this funerary practice in parallel with the local and well known megalithism of Reguengos de Monsaraz, in the Late Neolithic and transition to an early Chalcolithic. At Outeiro Alto 2 pit graves were also excavated. If some were from of Bronze Age, one (pit 32) was associated to the three Late Neolithic hypogea and the possible wood henge. With a circular plan, 1 meter diameter and 0.78m deep, it presented a juvenile individual deposited in the base, over sediment of clay and with no direct associated materials. It was covered by a deposit and group of structured stones that incorporate two broken grinding stones with the used surface facing down, just like the closing of one of the nearby hypogea (H14). Not far, another negative structure in the site of Ribeira de Pias 2 provided a burial of an individual in foetal position covered by a huge grinding stone decorated with carved cups in the borders (Moro 2010). Also in the same general area of Serpa, at Ribeira de São Domigos 1 site (Miguel 2009), a pit with 1,6m diameter and 1,55m deep revealed de deposition of three complete individuals and parts in anatomic connexion of other three. The depositions were covered in about 50% of the area by a small layer of geological material as a result of a partial destruction of the top of the pit, over which and a deposition of a fragment of a large grinding stone and fragments of to hemi spherical vessels (one ‘almagrado’) was made. The rest of the pit was then sealed by two other deposits with some pottery fragments and quartzite lithics. Although no dates are available for the burials, the materials suggest a Late Neolithic or Chalcolithic chronology. De depositions were not done all at once showing, just like in Perdigões, that the pit functioned as a funerary hollow crypt for some time and that it should have had some sort of closing. The presence of a carnivore, in partial anatomical connexion and with some disconnected bones, associated to the last skeletons also suggests this circumstance.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Another similar situation must have occurred at the pit of the already referred Monte das Covas 3 (Beja). The pit had a funerary use over several different phases as a collective human burial. A minimum of at least 16 human individuals were buried in this pit. Due to reutilization the context was constantly disturbed, so it is difficult to understand if it was used as a place of primary depositions, without a complete anthropological study. However, the last deposition was a complete human skeleton, associated to remains of a dog partial skeleton (Miguel and Godinho 2009). A particularly interesting context was excavated at Alto de Brinches 3 (Serpa), where two pits attributed to the Chalcolithic presented funerary uses (Rodrigues et al. 2010). One pit revealed a skeleton of a woman in foetal position against the pit wall. The other presented more complex contexts. At the bottom of the pit, in a small hollow excavated in he first filling deposits, there was a primary inhumation in foetal position, with a polished bone tool associated. In the above layer there was a partial deposition of a woman with no arms and legs, but compatible partial reductions of those members were dispersed by the pit. Again, above those depositions, another primary deposition of a male against the pit wall, with the skull, the chest and arms, but with no legs. One layer upper an agglomeration of unarticulated not repeated leg bones compatible with the same individual was recorded. No evidence of animal disturbance was recorded and the clear intentional piling of bones or the scattering of members reveals a human practice of sectioning the bodies. This process occurred at different moments of the funerary use of the pit. No cutting marks were detected on the bones, but they can be hidden by bone degradation and by concretions or segmentation was done after all soft tissues had disappeared, with only the skeleton remaining. In addition, it is important to stress that it was a large pit, with large areas not used, so the traditional explanation of dismemberment is not consistent with this context. Other situations of Chalcolithic pit burials have been brought to public in some meetings, namely inside the enclosures of Porto Torrão or in other areas of the Beja District, but are not yet published. On the other hand, just like it happens with some hypogea, several excavated pit burials have no votive materials associated and have not yet been dated, which makes impossible a precise chronological attribution. But, as the dated ones show, they can be from Late Neolithic to Bronze Age. Nevertheless, all together, this new data shows that pit graves, with individual or collective use, are an important variable in the funerary practices of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic in the region, with primary and secondary depositions and that body manipulations occurred in some pits during a certain period of use. 3.3. Depositions inside ditches This is another recent discovery in South Portugal, although it was already known in some Spanish enclosures,

such as Valencina de la Concépcion, Pijotilla, San Blás or Marroquiés Bajos and is quite common in European ditched enclosures (Valera and Godinho 2010). At Perdigões enclosure, in ditch 3 a human humerus was present in a deposit with stones, animal bones and pottery shards, and a skull fragment was deposited in a niche excavated in the ditch wall. In ditch 4, several phalanges from one hand were concentrated in a very small area at the bottom of the ditch filling deposits and another hand phalange was recovered in one of the top layers of the same ditch. Both ditches are dated from Chalcolithic (second quarter to middle 3rd millennium BC) (Valera and Silva 2011). At Porto Torrão, at the bottom of a ditches recently excavated (with data not yet published) remains of several human primary and secondary depositions, with skeleton parts in anatomical connection, were recorded (Filipa Rodrigues, pers. comm.). Until now, only in the large enclosures dated from Chalcolithic, such as Perdigões, Porto Torrão or the above named ones in Spain, human depositions (mostly parts of skeletons) were recorded inside ditches. But we have to bear in mind that the smaller ditched enclosures have very small sections excavated (with the exception of Santa Vitória, that has a significant area of the ditch excavated, but the bones are not yet studded and published, and, like has been recently verified for Zambujal walled enclosure (Kunst 2011) human bones may be mix with animal ones, a situation that can be argued to be part of a specific ritual) and it was also detected in the walled enclosures of Castelo Velho (Jorge et al. 1998-99) and Leceia (Cardoso 2004). 3.4. Cremation secondary depositions Finally, the presence of cremation of human remains is starting to appear with a significant impact in some contexts, namely (and once again) in the large ditches enclosures (Figure 3). In Carrascal 2, the surround large necropolis at east of Porto Torrão, inside an atrium/ditch that gives access to several hypogea, and over the last floor of circulation inside the ditch, there was a secondary deposition of cremated human bones corresponding to a minimum of five individuals, associated to some unbroken pottery dating from Chalcolithic (Valera et al. in press b). But it is at Perdigões that, in the latest excavations, this funerary ritual is most significant. In the centre of the large set of enclosures a pit was excavated containing a conical deposit (revealing that it was dumped inside from the top of the pit using some sort of containers) of ashes, blocks of charcoal, innumerous cremated human bones (including the smaller ones) of several individuals submitted to different temperatures, some pottery also burned, a set of more than fifty harrow heads also totally burned and

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Ditches, pits and hypogea: new data and new problems in south Portugal Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic practices

Figure 3. 1: pit 4 of Sector Q of Perdigões ditched enclosure with the conical deposit of human cremated remains; 2: part of the human cremated remains from the previous pit; 3: deposition of human cremated remains at Carrascal ditch; 4: plan of the open deposits of human cremated remains at Sector Q of Perdigões ditched enclosure; 5: a detail of one of those deposits; ivory anthropomorphic figurines associated to these cremation deposits. fragments of some bone and ivory idols. It has been dated by radiocarbon from the middle of the third millennium BC (Valera and Silva 2011). Some bones present burning patterns that indicate that they were burned with flesh, a fact that, together with the submission to different temperatures, indicates cremation in open air. Some few meters apart from this pit, an area (still in excavation) revealed an apparently circular stone structure where several deposits of human burned bones (an some animal ones) were dispersed over the stones or in particular areas defined by them. It is not yet clear the type of structure in question, but there are deposits that

seem to be spatially organized by the stones and others that clearly cover them. The concentration of burned human bones with no anatomical connection is huge and the presence of small bones, such as small phalanges is a constant, revealing that a particular care was putted in the recollection of the remains in the original local of cremation. In this area, the cremated remains were accompanied by anthropomorphic ivory idols, dozens of ivory fragments, harrow heads and beads, most of them also burned, but charcoal or ashes were rare or inexistent (a different situation from the one observed in the nearby pit). Recent

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic radiocarbon (yet to be published) dates puts some of this deposits in the middle and 3rd quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. 4. Discussion In the discussion of this new set of data (that, we must remind, is just a small part of the data yet to be published and of the data concerning sites being excavated at the moment), I would like to stress four main ideas: a) diversity of the architectures and of the rituals; b) diversified treatment conceded to human bodies; c) articulation of the ditched enclosures with those funerary practices; d) diversity, that in some cases may have a diachronic expression, is the face of a long trend Neolithic cosmological structure. As to the first statement, it is clear now that the traditional dolmenic megalithism and tholoi type solutions are not the unique funerary architectures in Alentejo’s hinterland in Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. In the second half of the 4th millennium BC, when dolmens are probably still being built and were surely in use, hypogeal monuments started to be constructed (as the radiometric chronology of Sobreira de Cima shows) and circular pit were also being used as graves (as the radiometric chronology of pits 7 and 11 of Sector I of Perdigões also demonstrate). This diversity is present not just in architectonic terms, but also in ritual. There are significant disparities in the funerary assemblages. Pottery and schist decorated plaques, so common in dolmens, are totally absent in the hypogea, where blades, bladelets, microliths, axes, adzes and some adornment elements (ivory or Gycymeris bracelets, ‘green stone’ beads) and the abundant use of red ochre seems to constitute a different ritual protocol . The ritual use of ovicaprid phalanges, the display of the votive material beside the entrances or specific depositions in the closing structures (bladelets in Outeiro Alto, amphibolites ingots at Sobreira de Cima) are other specificities. In another way, at the known pit graves from the period, no tools were used in ritual, and only animal paws (Sus) and a shell were present. Different ritual prescriptions seem to be coincident with different architectures at the same general space and time. Unfortunately, human bone remains are rare in local megalithism, so many of the commentary on number or location of the inhumed are speculative and based on material assemblages. In contrary, the negative structures that are being discovered an excavated provide human remains in a general good condition, a fact that allows, not just the development of (ongoing) anthropological studies, but also a set of new problems concerning the ritual practices and body treatment in funerary practices. The preliminary anthropological studies showed that both genders are present as well as all age ranges at Sobreira de Cima. It can be observed a general tendency for

depositions in fetal positions and with rare associations of votive materials to particular individuals. The presence of human remains also allows observing manipulations of the bodies after primary depositions. In the case of hypogea, they can in part be interpreted as formations of ossuaries for obtaining more space for new depositions. But tomb 5 at Sobreira de Cima clearly showed a specific display of the back ossuaries and at Outeiro Alto 2 a body had no head. At pit 11 of Perdigões, the legs of one of the individuals were turned over the chest maintaining anatomical connections (showing that the pit has been hollow function as a chamber). In pit 7, part of the skeleton was later removed (or the initial deposition was one of parts of the body that maintain anatomical connections). So, the new data suggest that in Late Neolithic the funerary practices were diverse, not just in terms of the grave architecture (with all the differences that building a dolmen, excavate a pit or a hypogeum implies), but also that there were alternative prescriptions for the ritual and treatment of the bodies during and after the first deposition. This diversity seems to increase during the Chalcolithic. Dolmens still in use and tholoi started to be built; the construction of hypogeal and the use of pits graves continued, but the ditch of enclosures started to be brought to play a role in funerary practices. In South Portugal (as in South Spain – see above) the deposition of human remains in ditches have been identified until now only in large enclosures such as Perdigões or Porto Torrão. They tend to correspond to scattered bones, or parts of bodies in anatomical connection, that were traditionally interpreted as discarded rubbish (Gómez and Oliva 1986; Zafra et al 2003; Hurtado 2008). Recently (Valera and Godinho 2010), I argued that this is an European practice and discussed some patterns that indicate intention and meaning, suggesting that this is just another practice of body manipulation and funerary management of the dead, probably associated with other practices and other scenarios, and that at least some enclosures assumed an important role in this issue. In fact, as it was recently argued for Valencina (Costa et al. 2010), in these enclosures the presence of human remains and evidences of diversified funerary practices are everywhere excavations are done, challenging the very notion of ‘necropolis’ as a specific and specialized space or territory for the dead. If there are particular areas where funerary megalithic monuments are built (integrated in or next to those enclosures), human remains seem to be present and spread all over these enclosures, connect them, in a quite significant and articulated way, with death management as an element of Neolithic cosmologies. This involves the notion that we are dealing with communities that had specific perception and conceptions of the body and of death that resulted in diversified treatments of bodies, using different scenarios and performing different rituals, some of them possibly 110

Ditches, pits and hypogea: new data and new problems in south Portugal Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic practices articulated in a sort of ‘chaine operatoire’ that might connect different practices and spaces: it implies looking at funerary contexts not as close ones but as open contexts in connection. In Chalcolithic, we can observe primary collective depositions in hypogea in Carrascal 2 and in Monte de Cortes 2 or in several tholoi or dolmen reutilizations. At the same time, though, we have secondary depositions of bones of hundreds of individuals in tholoi at Perdigões eastern necropolis or at tholos one of Horta do João Moura (Porto Torrão). Pit burials also present different procedures. Collective primary depositions and parts of bodies are present at Ribeira de São Domigos 1 ou Monte das Covas 3 (reveling pits as real funerary chambers). At Alto de Brinches 3 we have an individual deposition in one pit and a segmentation and rearrangement of bodies in another. Primary depositions, management of the bodies resulting in secondary depositions and in segmentation of bodies, a rearrangement of the parts or even a previous segmentation of corps before deposition are procedures that becoming emergent with the new data. They reveal the complexity of death rituals and body managements during the period in the region that goes far behind the traditional discourse on megalithism, based in architectonic evolutionism and material culture and alert to imprudent social implications and conclusions. Finally, we start to have evidence that cremation appears in the third millennium BC with an unsuspected importance. The restricted deposition inside the ditch/atrium at Carrascal 2 (Porto Torrão) is associated to a funerary space of hypogea and tholoi. At Perdigões ditched enclosure the date for the deposit in the pit of Sector Q clearly puts cremation in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC and recent dates (unpublished) show that the neighbour open space with spreading of cremated human remains and associated materials (especially anthropomorphic ivory idols) were contemporaneous of that pit deposit and of the reuse of tomb 2 of the eastern necropolis with secondary bone depositions without any signs of submission to fire. In summary, the presented data revels that the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic funerary practices and architectures were much more diversified in South Portugal than was traditionally admitted and that the building and use of megalithic monuments and tholoi is just a part of the story, needing an urgent review and reintegration on a much more complex global picture. To my view, the understand of this diversity needs a new theoretical approach that consider that attitudes towards death and the corresponding practices integrated a cosmology that responded to specific conceptions of cosmos and of ontology. It implies looking at ‘megalithism’ not just a matter of architecture and votive materials, but as concept regarding an ideology and a set of diversified practices concerning death that are, in

their diversity, a cosmological and ontological forms of expression. The structural role of segmentation (Valera 2010b), physiological participation processes (Idem), human ontology (not just in terms of being but also in terms of body) are central issues to this research. The new physical anthropological record is, in this context, a precious acquirement, but only if escorted by a social anthropological, cognitive and cosmological approaches, capable of catch attitudes towards death as an active, diversified and interdependent element of a long trend world view that we may call Neolithic and that goes far into the 3rd millennium BC in South Portugal. References Araújo, A. C. and Lejeune, M. 1995. Gruta do Escoural: necrópole neolítica e arte rupestre paleolítica. Lisboa, IPPAR. Baptista, L. 2010. The Late Prehistory of the watershed of the Ribeiras of Pisão and Álamo (Beja, South Portugal): a research programme, Journal of Iberian Archaeology 13, 69–84. Bradley, R. 2003. A life less ordinary: the ritualization of the domestic sphere in Later Prehistoric Europe. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 13:1, 5–23. Bradley, R. 2005. Ritual and domestic life in Prehistoric Europe. London, Routledge. Cardoso, J. L. 2004. A Baixa Estremadura dos finais do IV milénio A.C. até à chegada dos romanos: um ensaio de história regional. Oeiras, Câmara Municipal de Oeiras. Costa, M. E., Díaz, M., García, L and Wheatley, D. W. 2010. The copper age settlement of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain): demography, metallurgy and spatial organization, Trabajos de Prehistoria 67(1), 85–117. Edmonds, M. 1993. Interpreting causewayed enclosures in the past and the present. In C. Tilley (ed.), Interpretative archaeology, 99–142. Oxford, Berg. Fernández, F. and Oliva, D. 1986. Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla): excavación de urgencia. Revista de Arqueologia 58, 19–33. Gomes, M. V. 1991. Corniformes e figuras associadas de dois santuários rupestres do Sul de Portugal. Cronologia e interpretação. Almansor 9, 17–74. Gonçalves, V. S. 1979. Importantes descobertas arqueológicas no povoado da Idade do Cobre de Vidais (Marvão)- Clio 1, 178–179. Hurtado, V. 2008. Los recintos com fosos de la Cuenca Media del Guadiana. ERA Arqueologia 8, 182–197. Jorge, S. O., Oliveira, M. L., Nunes, S. A. and Gomes, S. R. 1998-99. Uma estrutura ritual com ossos humanos no sítio pré-histórico de Castelo Velho de Freixo de Numão (Vª Nª de Foz Côa). Portugália XIX-XX, 29– 47. Kunst, M. 2011. Zambujal e insediamenti fortificati in Portogallo centrale. In Strategie insediative e metallurgia. I rapporti tra Italia e la Penisola Iberica nel primo Calcolitico, Rome.

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Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic Márquez, J. E. and Jiménez, V. 2008. Claves para el estudio de los Recintos de Fosos del sur de la Península Ibérica. ERA-Arqueologia 8, 158–171. Márquez, J. E and Jiménez, V. 2010. Recintos de Fosos. Genealogía y significado de una tradición en la Prehistoria del suroeste de la Península Ibérica (IV-III milenios a.C.). Málaga, Servicios de publicaciones de la Universidad de Málaga. Miguel, L. 2009. Ribeira de S. Domingos 1. Relatório Preliminar dos Trabalhos Arqueológicos. Unpublished report, Era Arqueologia. Miguel, L. and Godinho, R. (2009. Notícia do sítio arqueológico do Monte das Covas 3 (Beja) Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 4, 23–24. Morán, E. 2008. Organização espacial do Povoado Calcolítico de Alcalar (Algarve, Portugal). ERA Arqueologia 8, 138–147. Morán, E. 2010. O povoado calcolítico de Alcalar: organização do espaço e sequência ocupacional, in V. S. Gonçalves and A. C. Sousa (eds.), Transformação e mudança no centro e sul de Portugal: o 4º e o 3º milénios a.n.e., 325–331. Cascais, Câmara Municipal de Cascais. Morán, E. and Parreira, R. 2009. La exhibición del poder en el megalitismo del suroeste: tres casos de studio en el extreme Sur de Portugal, Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad de Granada 19, 139– 162. Moreno-García, M. and Cabaço, N. 2009. Restos faunísticos em contexto funerário: Fossas 7 e 11 dos Perdigões. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 4, 11–14. Moro, J. 2010. Ribeira de Pias 2. Relatório dos Trabalhos Arqueológicos. Unpublished report, Era- Arqueologia. Rodrigues, Z., Estrela, S., Alves, C., Porfírio, E. and Serra, M. 2010. Os contextos funerários do sítio de Alto de Brinches 3 (Serpa): dados antropológicos preliminares. 5º Encontro de Arqueologia do Sudoeste Peninsular. Almodôvar. Valera, A. C. 2009a. Estratégias de identificação e recursos geológicos: o anfibolito e a necrópole da Sobreira de Cima, Vidigueira, in A.S. Bettencourt and L. B. Alves (eds.), Dos montes, das pedras, e das águas. Formas de interacção com o espaço natural da pré-história à actualidade, 25–36. CITCEM/APEQ. Valera, A. C. 2009b. Cosmological bonds and settlement aggregation processes during Late Neolithic and Copper Age in South Portugal, in T. L. Thurston and R. B. Salisbury (eds.), Reimagining Regional Analyses: The Archaeology of Spatial and Social Dynamics, 234265. Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Valera, A. C. 2010a. Gestão da morte no 3º milénio AC no Porto Torrão (Ferreira do Alentejo): um primeiro contributo para a sua espacialidade. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 5, 57–62. Valera, A. C. 2010b. Marfim no recinto calcolítico dos Perdigões (1): “lúnulas”, fragmentação e ontologia dos objectos. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 5, 31–42.

Valera, A. C. and Costa, C. in press. Animal paws in funerary contexts in southern Portugal and the segmentation problem. Proceedingsof the XI ICAZ International Conference. Paris. Valera, A. C. and Evangelista, L. S. (eds.) 2010. The Idea of Enclosure in Recent Iberian Prehistory. Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress. Oxford, BAR Publishing. Valera, A. C. and Filipe, V. 2010. Outeiro Alto 2 (Brinches, Serpa): nota preliminar sobre um espaço funerário e de socialização do Neolítico Final à Idade do Bronze. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 5, 49–56. Valera, A. C. and Godinho, R. 2009. A gestão da morte nos Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz): novos dados, novos problemas. Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras 17, 371–387. Valera, A. C. and Godinho, R. 2010. Ossos humanos provenientes dos fossos 3 e 4 e gestão da morte nos Perdigões. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 6, 29–40. Valera, A. C., Godinho, R., Calvo, E., Moro, J., Filipe, V. and Santos, H. in press a. Um mundo em negativo: fossos, fossas e hipogeus entre o Neolítico Final e a Idade do Bronze na margem esquerda do Guadiana (Brinches, Serpa). 4º Colóquio de Arqueologia do Alqueva. Beja. Valera, A. C., Jorge, P. and Lago, M. 2008. O complexo arqueológico dos Perdigões. Breve percurso de uma Arqueologia de minimização a uma Arqueologia em construção e em sociedade. Almadan 16, 115–123. Valera, A. C., Lago, M., Duarte, C. and Evangelista, L. S. 2000. Ambientes funerários no complexo arqueológico dos Perdigões: uma análise preliminar no contexto das práticas funerárias calcolíticas no Alentejo. ERA Arqueologia 2, 84–105. Valera, A. C., Santos, H., Figueiredo, M. and Granja, R. in press b. Contextos funerários na periferia do Porto Torrão: Cardim 6 e Carrascal 2. 4º Colóquio de Arqueologia do Alqueva. Beja. Valera, A. C. and Silva, A. M. 2011. Datações de radiocarbono para os Perdigões (1): contextos com restos humanos nos Sectores I e Q. Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 7, 7–14. Valera, A. C., Soares, A. M. M. and Coelho, M. 2008. Primeiras datas de radiocarbono para a necrópole de hipogeus da Sobreira de Cima (Vidigueira, Beja). Apontamentos de Arqueologia e Património 2, 27–30. Zafra, N., Castro, M. and Hornos, F. 2003. Sucesión y simultaneidad en un gran asentamiento: la cronología de la macro-aldea de Marroquiés Bajos, Jaen. C. 25002000 cal ane. Trabajos de Prehistoria 60(2), 79–90.

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EARLY NEOLITHIC FUNERARY PRACTICES IN CASTELO BELINHO’S VILLAGE (WESTERN ALGARVE, PORTUGAL) Mário Varela GOMESa a. Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Av. de Berna 26C, 1069-061 Lisbon, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]). Abstract: In Castelo Belinho’s Neolithic village, several postholes of habitat structures, grain storage pits, ritual pits and fourteen grave pits were excavated. These presented different types of inhumation and offered the remains of at least twelve individuals. This record allowed the recognition of not only forms and funerary practices, but also of social and ideological aspects of the life of this early farming community. The palaeobiological study of the human remains of nine adults and three children, aged between five and ten years old, intended to determine the biological profile (sex and age at death), morphology and pathology, as well as physiological stress indicators. δ13C and δ15N isotopic values of human remains indicate that this population had a predominantly terrestrial protein diet (c. 80%). Twelve 14C determinations date Castelo Belinho’s settlement back to the second half of the 5th millennium BC, with evidence for Neolithic population in all accounts, practicing a successful food production economy. We hope these data will help enable a better understanding of the neolithization process in South Portugal. Keywords: Western Algarve, Castelo Belinho, Early Neolithic, grave pits, 5th millennium BC.

1. Geographic and cultural context The excavation of an Islamic structure named Castelo Belinho, conducted by the author and Rosa Varela Gomes, in 2004 and 2005, led to the identification of the most extreme southwest Neolithic village, in Western Algarve, dated back to the second half of the 5th millennium BC (Gomes 2008a, 2009, 2010) (Figure 1). Archaeological remains are scattered on the southern edge of an elongated hill, reaching 105m asl, which is part of the foothills of the Monchique Mountain. This settlement strategy seeks naturally defended high ground, from which a vast area of territory could be controlled. Surrounded by productive agricultural lands and pastures of typically Mediterranean red soils, it is located 5km away from the sea shore, and not very far from two important estuarine areas (Arade and Alvor rivers), comprising a distance an individual could travel in a day (Figure 1). The settlement’s architectural elements included longhouses with wooden posts (identified by holes in the ground), grain storage pits, cobbled hearths, and ritual and funerary pits for inhumation. All present a large variety of forms (Figure 1). Material culture consisted of chipped stone artefacts (cores, trapezes, end-scrapers, perforators, denticulates, tribulum or sickle implements, blades, bladelets, etc.), made either of quartzite, or more commonly, from flint of various sources. Pecked/polished artefacts of amphibolite, greywacke and syenite (axes, adzes, stone hammers, grindstones, polishers of axes or adzes, etc.) were also in evidence. Potsherds indicate the presence of various forms, predominantly hemispheric cups and jars. Some of these had impressed, incised and plastic decoration; and reddish slips were associated with some of these decorative techniques. Shell artefacts

(bracelets, pendants, beads, pins), faunal skeletic pieces (mammals, birds and molluscs), and burnt remains of plants are also present. Large axes and adzes with ware marks, numerous sickle implements and tribula, abundant grindstones, ceramic containers and storage pits indicate a successful sedentary society. Subterranean structures, where cereals would have been kept in the medium or long term, are testimonies of a developed farming economy. Some bone remains of ovicaprids and bovids indicate the exploitation of domestic animals, which complemented a consolidated production economy. Castelo Belinho’s population would also have diversified its diet with marine molluscs harvested in the neighbouring lagoons and estuaries, or at the coast. Storage pits were not associated to any specific house. The largest ones could have been for communal use, or used as water reservoirs, which reflects a strong cooperation between village dwellers. Their social organization may therefore have relied on a communitarian model based on several household units. The origin of longhouses, wooden structures built for domestic use by the earliest Neolithic communities of Eastern and Central Europe, is still uncertain. Their existence in France and the British Isles was tentatively explained by A. Whittle (1985, 231) as a derivation of elongated Mesolithic shell middens. This type of building—which was unknown in Iberia until the discovery of the Catalonian lakeside village of La Draga (Bosch et al. 2000) and of the ditched enclosure of Mas d’Is in Alicante (Bernabeu et al. 2003)—is also known in other sites of the Algarve (Vau, Portimão). Its existence here may be due to exogenous influxes from Central Europe, through the Mediterranean or the Atlantic.

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Figure 1. Castelo Belinho: its location in the south-western tip of Europe (top left), the surrounding topography and fluvial system –according to the Portuguese Military Chart n. 594, 1979 (top right) -, and exhumed structures.

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Early Neolithic funerary practices in Castelo Belinho’s village (western Algarve, Portugal) Regardless of the social cohesion and identity revealed by the village’s organization, with its longhouses where the space would have been shared by members of a household (according to their gender, as apparent by the spatial distribution of artefacts inside House 1), social differentiation and rank are evident in the variability of the houses’ areas and shapes, and in the dimensions of the graves. House areas and grave numbers allow us to estimate an average number of dwellers in Castelo Belinho between thirty and fifty people.

and size, these graves show a subcircular mouth and concave bottom, with diameters between 0.70/0.80m and 1.30m, and depths from 0.40m to 0.50m (Figures 2 and 4).

2. Funerary structures, ritual practices and grave goods

Another hemispheric grave (structure 13) contained bone remains of an individual of indeterminate sex and age. Unlike the previous graves, this had associated lithic artefacts, potsherds and faunal remains.

We consider a grave to be any structure dug in the sediments or in the bedrock containing inhumed human remains with signs of ritualism. Some other negative structures may also have had the same function, but with the bones completely decayed due to soil acidity; for methodological reasons we did not consider them as graves. Certain structures, similar to the ones with human remains, may have been cenotaphs or symbolic tombs, with parallels in the cemeteries dated to the earliest Neolithic times in Germany and France (Jeunesse 1997, 62).

The only exception is a small hemispheric grave (structure 45), measuring only 0.45m in diameter and 0.20m depth, with the remains of an adult (older than 20 years). Probably this is a secondary deposition (and therefore an ossuary), given the physical impossibility of burying an adult in such an exiguous space.

Structure 38 had the same morphology and revealed the remains of an adult, buried in lateral decubitus and foetal position. Associated with the remains were three small lithic tools (perforator, bladelet and end-scraper). Another grave (structure 52) of the same type revealed an adult male. This was associated with lithic artefacts (backed bladelet, double side retouched bladelet) and

Fourteen graves were detected at Castelo Belinho. These show high polymorphism and were scattered in the central area of the settlement (with a higher density in its southwest and, mainly, in west quadrant), alongside other negative structures. It is not unreasonable to consider the hypothesis of such distribution corresponding to a socioreligious practice related to astronomic orientations. Age and sex determinations presented below were obtained at different stages of the study of the human remains from Castelo Belinho.1 Two graves had shallow pit chambers, of subrectangular or oval perimeter (structures 58 and 59), benefiting from the substrate anfractuosities and delimited only by a few stones. Small stones and earth covered the corpses. These remains were poorly preserved due to their proximity to the surface, although in one of these pits (structure 58) we identified bone remains of a child, 5–7 years old, buried in lateral decubitus and in foetal position, oriented to NESW (Figure 2). Despite its poorly preserved state due to the building of a 17th-century wall above it, the other (structure 59) still held the remains of two individuals: one approximately eight years old, the other older than 20 years. Radiocarbon determinations indicated an older burial date for the child, though statistically both may be contemporaneous (Figure 3). Ongoing aDNA analysis may reveal a blood relationship between the two. Both structures 58 and 59 were devoid of any artefactual association. Hemispheric funerary chambers constitute the most numerous type of grave at Castelo Belinho (structures 1, 2, 13, 38, 45, 52). In terms of morphology   The study of the human remains was successively carried out by Dr. Luís Campos Paulo and Dr. Nathalie Antunes-Ferreira 1

Figure 2. A: grave in anfractuosities (structure 58); B: pit grave (?) with fragments of disarticulated bones (structure 1); C: pit grave (structure 2) and adjacent ritual/ depositional pit (structure 3); D: pit grave (structure 36). 115

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 3. Graves: morphology, grave goods, sex and age.

Figure 4. A: pit grave (structure 43) and associated gridding stone fragments; B: pit grave (structure 4) and adjacent storage pit (structure 5). 116

Early Neolithic funerary practices in Castelo Belinho’s village (western Algarve, Portugal)

Figure 5. Artefactual assemblage from structure 4: bracelets of Glycymeris bimaculata from structure 4 (on the left); chipped and polished stone, and potsherds (on the right).

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Figure 6. Pit grave (structure 53) and associated lithic artefacts.

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Early Neolithic funerary practices in Castelo Belinho’s village (western Algarve, Portugal) a shell (Glycymeris glycymeris) pendant. Two similar pendants were recovered during the excavation of the larger house (House 1) of the settlement. A hemispheric grave (structure 1), 1.05m in diameter and 0.50m in depth, revealed lithic artefacts (grindstone tools), potsherds, and scattered and highly fragmented bone remains (namely the cranium) of an adult. It is what we can designate a ‘fragmented body’, a widely known ritual relating to the dismemberment and/or handling of bone remains (Talalay 2004). Three other graves (structures 18, 21, 43) can be typologically classified as grain storage pits, given their cylindrical, shallow shape (Figure 4). Their diameters at the mouth vary between 0.70m and 1.20m, while the depths are more uniform, between 0.30m and 0.35m. Two of them (structures 18, 21) also had lithic artefacts (blade and denticulated bladelet) and pottery, while another had only lithic materials (structure 43). In this last one, the individual was buried in lateral decubitus and foetal position, and its head was turned to the south, next to a grindstone fragment. Finally, the fourth type is represented by two graves in grain storage pits (structures 4, 53), deliberately open as graves or reusing previous underground structures whose primary function would have been, in fact, cereal storage. Mouth diameters are 0.90m in both (but wider at the bottom), with depths between 0.90m and 1.00m. In these cases, the human remains were laid at the bottom: one in foetal position, the other with the lower limbs bent backwards. These structures revealed the greatest quantity of grave goods. Structure 4 stands out for its 22 bracelets made of Glycymeris bimaculata, 11 on each forearm of a 35year-old (or more) individual of indeterminate sex. Three flakes and one blade, all in flint, two stone hammers, two grindstone fragments, and several potsherds of a cup and a spherical vessel constitute the remaining grave goods, which were also associated with some faunal remains. Mention must also be made of the reddish colour of the sediments covering this individual, an observation that points to a probable use of red-ochre in the burial ritual. Radiocarbon dating indicates that this is the oldest grave at the site (Figure 3). This is a unique case in the entire Iberian Archaeology (Figure 5). On the other hand, structure 53 revealed the bone remains of a male over 20 years old, with whom two blades, two bladelets, one flake, a fragment of polished/pecked stone axe, a grindstone, and two small potsherds had been associated (Figure 6). Among the fourteen structures in which child remains were found, two revealed a couple of individuals. In both cases (structures 2 and 59), the child remains (approximately eight years old each) were accompanied by an adult aged 20 years or more. Only one other grave (structure 58)

had the remains of a child (five to seven years old). The remaining seven graves contained adults over 20 years old or, in one case, over 35 years old. It was impossible to determine the age of the individuals from four other graves (structures 5, 13, 18, 21). 3. Anthropological elements Sexual diagnosis was obtained only in three adults, from structures 43, 52, and 53, all older than 20 years of age and all males. Considering the inherent limitations to the collection, the available anthropological sample indicates the nonexistence of particular child mortality indexes, besides the above- mentioned cases. Infectious or traumatic pathologies that could have led to death were not detected. Some cases of dental caries (structures 4, 43), very light periostitis in one tibia (structure 53), and rare dental enamel linear hypolasias, indicating food stresses, were detected. Concerning palaeodiets,2 the obtained δ13C values, which are around or below -20/-21‰, indicates a predominantly terrestrial based diet. δ15N values, situated between 5‰ and 12‰, also point to the preferential consumption of terrestrial proteins. Globally speaking, the Neolithic inhabitants of Castelo Belinho consumed an average of 20% of marine foods (Figure 7). The scarcity of bone remains of mammals or birds permit us to conclude that subsistence strategies at the settlement were mostly based on the husbandry of domestic animals and, above all, on a cereal agriculture, a conclusion to which most of the site structures and recovered artefacts point (grain storage facilities, grinding stones, sickle and tribula implements, and large axes and adzes). 4. Chronology Twelve 14C determinations—processed at the Waikato Radiocarbon Laboratory, New Zealand (Wk); Beta Analytic, USA (Beta); and Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, Portugal (Sac)—indicate the second half of the 5th millennium BC as the time period during which Castelo Belinho was occupied (Figure 8). The material culture, composed of knapped flint, pecked/polished stone artefacts, pottery and shell adornments, corresponds to an evolved Early Neolithic cultural chronology and is therefore in good agreement with the radiocarbon results. Moreover, the results also demonstrate the existence of a single, continuous long period of occupation of the village. 5. Discussion Clearly, the detected graves at Castelo Belinho are integrated into the habitation area, which is evidenced by numerous postholes of the longhouses, cobble structures, grain storage pits, and characteristic material culture   A preliminary interpretation of the to Dr. Fiona Petchey. 2

119

13

C and

15

N isotopic values was due

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic

Figure 7. Radiocarbon dates and δ13C / δ15N isotopic values.

items. We can be more presumptive and recognize that some structures would have been located under the houses, although their strict contemporaneity cannot be securely demonstrated. Be that as it may, the fact is that the majority of the graves occupied the spaces between houses. These may have been of community use and housed inside many other types of structures (such as pits or grain storage facilities). The coexistence of habitation areas and graves in modern Portuguese territory dates back to the Mesolithic, as illustrated by the shell middens of Moita do Sebastião (Muge) and Samouqueira (Sines), demonstrating solidarities and kinship ties. In the former site a hut was identified with an adult necropolis on its east side, while at the opposite side there was a child necropolis next to structures related to economic activities, such as storage facilities, stone pavements and smoking structures similar to those found at Castelo Belinho. Later on, during the Middle Bronze Age in South Portugal, there were small habitation sites located next to their graveyards, as illustrated at Pessegueiro (Sines) or Vale da Telha (Aljezur). These examples show continuities and various recurrences throughout the time, which are mostly due to the performance or participation of the ancestors’ remains during the socio-religious activities of the mentioned societies. Figure 8. Calibrated radiocarbon dates

At Castelo Belinho, the individual interment in flexed position, inside negative structures opened in the sediments 120

Early Neolithic funerary practices in Castelo Belinho’s village (western Algarve, Portugal) or the bedrock, with the morphology of a pit or a grain storage pit, corresponds to a ritual common to all graves identified, despite their evident polymorphism. Though the flexed or foetal deposal in lateral decubitus of the studied corpses is similar in most of the graves, there is at least one exception (structure 53) where the corpse was buried in dorsal decubitus with the legs flexed backwards. The six reported cases in which the body orientation could be observed did not demonstrate any norm, despite the fact that two of them have their skulls to the east and feet to the west. It was also common practice to cover the corpses and fill in the funerary pits with earth—in one case there is also evidence for the use of red-ochre—and to seal them with a layer of imbricated stones, which may have formed small tumuli. These did not survive, given the subsequent occupations and uses of the site. The Muslim castle was responsible for the flattening of the surface and the destruction of some structures, but at the same time it preserved others by applying on the surface an artificial layer made of small stones, earth and lime. One constant is the presence of fragmented grindstones in the funerary assemblages. This has a noteworthy symbolic meaning, connected to the death-resurrection cycle, as well as to the farming economy. We had already detected this behaviour in South Portugal, in relation to the erection of standing stones and the building of megalithic tumuli (Gomes 1997a, 185; 1997b, 32; 2008b, 92-94). In effect, such tool types were conceived to respond to a symbolic activity since the Upper Palaeolithic and mainly during the Mesolithic, periods during which they were used in the grinding of pigments and later of wild fruits and/or cereals. During the Neolithic these tools may have assumed a primary importance in the grinding into flour of domestic cereals, symbolizing now the abundance of food and the fertility of the tilled land, thus merging religious and economic practices. These tools may have been ritually destroyed. Probably, this is the very same semiological context in which other artefacts—flint blades and bladelets, sickle and tribula implements, fragments of axes and adzes, and pottery—were placed inside the graves, thus representing a part of the whole ideological system. Some small flakes, chips and even small, smoothed potsherds, suggest the use of earth, collected from the settlement or from houses, which may have also assumed an eminent symbolic character of socio- religious nature. Sediments with artefact fragments coming from habitation areas and used in tumuli or in the infilling of funerary chambers, as those of Castelo Belinho, reflect a ritual behaviour also recorded in later Neolithic contexts or in the Bronze Age of South Portugal (Silva and Soares 1981, 159-164; 1983, 84-85; Gomes 1994, 84; 2008b, 94-95). The 22 bracelets made of Glycymeris bimaculata shells associated with the single individual found in structure 4— whose age was estimated at more than 30 years, a fact that makes him or her an elder considering the average life expectancy in Neolithic times—constitute an exceptional case in Iberian Prehistory. Those adornments, carefully

cut and polished, do not show any ware marks. The species wouldn’t have been difficult to capture, despite its sandy natural habitat, up to 24m deep, in southern Portugal and the Mediterranean. Note should also be made of the fact that throughout the Portuguese territory, from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic, the number of similar bracelets that have been recorded so far amount to approximately 20, and they are generally smaller and narrower. In the Algarve region, Glycymeris bracelets are restricted to a few pieces from the Ibn Amar cave (Lagoa) and from the Late Neolithic grave of Cerro das Cabeças (Silves), which we excavated (Gomes and Paulo 2003, 100-102). Castelo Belinho’s bracelets therefore constitute a unique assemblage of sophisticated prestige items. They resemble similar pieces, tied in layers, which are produced in some Pacific islands and New Guinea, and which were considered to have a high symbolic and economic value despite their infrequent practical use (Malinowski 1975, 99; Harrison 1992, 237). Shell artefacts are a testimony of the close relation between the Castelo Belinho dwellers and the sea, not only at the subsistence level (as demonstrated by the isotopic determinations), but also at the mythological and cultural memory level, inspired by the presence of this great stimuli to the imagination, support of various conceptualizations and universal cosmogony matrixes. It is in this framework of the socially valorised objects that we should also integrate the remaining shell adornments from Castelo Belinho (pendants, beads, and pin). At the opposite end of the scale of importance of the funerary assemblage (according to our modern perspective), there are three graves devoid of any artefactual objects (structures 2, 58, 59), all containing child burials (in two cases— structures 2 and 59— associated with some adult bones). It is important, however, not to exclude the possibility that these graves originally had perishable artefacts, namely in leather, vegetable fibres or wood. In any case, these cases clearly point to a significant status differentiation reflected in the type of grave and funerary assemblage. In fact, the three child graves were found in the southern area of the settlement, where no grain storage pits existed. On the other hand, the reuse of grain storage pits as graves points once more to meanings related to the farming economy, this time complemented by negative structures in which the morphology is a replicate of the ‘cosmic egg’ connected to the farming practices of the (re)birth of the bodies, as evidenced by the inhumation ritual itself when the foetal position of the corpses was chosen. By nature, an egg carries the idea of continuity and is, according to M. Eliade (1977, 489-490), an ‘epiphany of creation’. Burials in egg-shaped structures would have a uterine connotation, symbolically representing the act of planting the seed in the earth, expecting the emergence of a new life (Gimbutas 1989, 151). No other Early Neolithic burial ground is known in the extreme southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The closest Portuguese parallel was found at the site of Atafonas 121

Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic (Évora, Alentejo), a grave of similar morphology probably dating to the same time period as Castelo Belinho. It is a pit grave, dug in the bedrock, containing the remains of four individuals, without any kind of material items. Later, two other pits, structured by lithic rings, were associated with the former pit grave (Albergaria 2007, 6 and 16). The treatment of the dead—or at least of some of them— conducted by the population settled at Castelo Belinho corresponds to a time when the visibility of the graves was not yet a social necessity, even in the case of those with recognized higher social status. Their symbolism would still have a marked private character, restricted to the household and the community, evidencing strong ties of solidarity. On the other hand, the settlement marked its site-catchment area (including the tilled plots) through the visibility of the wooden longhouses, which demonstrates highly skilled knowledge of carpentry. Some may have been consecrated to cults. While longhouses in Central Europe would disappear c. 4000 BC (Brophy 2007, 94; Gomes 2008a), the first dolmenic tombs—or ‘protomegalithic’ tombs—would be built in South Portugal around 4500 BC, this time marking a distinct socioeconomic strategy and reflecting a different ideology. Archaeological evidence revealed by the Neolithic site of Castelo Belinho contradicts a recurrent model explaining the transition to farming in southwest Iberia. According to this model, agriculture and pastoralism were slowly adopted through the introduction of technical innovations in societies practicing a subsistence economy still based on coastal resources (the harvesting of estuarine and marine molluscs, among other resources), which would survive until later chronologies (Silva and Soares 1981). Quite to the contrary, the community settled at Castelo Belinho reveals a stable economic and social life, based on food production, and dwelling in collective and perhaps also in more restricted household structures. The solidarity ties, organization, and interaction in this settlement allow us to consider the existence of a real village, with room for both the living and the dead. Acknowledgements The Waikato radiocarbon dates and isotopic determinations (by Fiona Petchey), as well as the anthropological study of the human remains (by Nathalie Antunes-Ferreira) from Castelo Belinho were obtained through a collaboration with the research project entitled “The last hunter-gatherers and the first farming communities of the Iberian Peninsula and North of Morocco” (PTDC/HAH/64548/2006), directed by Juan F. Gibaja and António Faustino Carvalho, which was funded in 2008-2010 by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Ancient human DNA analyses are being conducted by a team from Complutense University (Madrid, Spain) in the context of the collaborations established with this project.

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