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Tumuli and Megaliths in Eurasia, 2024

Abstract

Artefacts usually collected from funerary contexts of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods are almost exclusively related to the depositions of human remains, but occasionally there are reports of some peculiar ones. The most common of these are usually macrolithic stone tools that are considered exogenous, related to older occupations of the vicinity, and incorporated into the site as part of the material used during the construction of the monuments. Along with these, it is not unusual to find coeval artefacts related to grinding activities. During the Proença-a-Nova field school, the excavations performed in Cimo do Vale de Alvito and Cabeço da Anta dolmens revealed the presence of large quantities of certain peculiar artefacts that fit into neither of these categories. Despite presenting some diversity in size and shape, they share common traits that include always being made of greywacke and having broadly consistent morphologies, localized shaping by knapping that gives them some ergonomics and clear macroscopic use-wear marks consistently located on the base and the sides of the bit edge. This gives these tools a broadly similar appearance with a gripping and a use area and designs that resemble cricket bats, hand shovels or stirrers, with a handle and a bit edge. Combining morphological, ergonomic and macroscopic use-wear approaches allows a parsimonious interpretation of these tool functions linked to activities related to the construction of the monuments. At Cabeço da Anta dolmen, we systematically collected these artefacts from a 14 x 1 m trench that cuts through the mound, between the camera and the periphery, in the southwest-northeast direction.

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