General and local spatial trends in Galician megalithic landscapes (North-Western Iberian Peninsula) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2019
It is well known that Neolithic megalithic landscapes are the result of complex locational logics governing where communities chose to site their funerary monuments. These logics in turn respond to broader environmental and cultural affordances, and the relationship between these has been a major topic in the megalithic archaeological literature for the last few decades. Thanks to new approaches in spatial statistical modelling, there is now considerable opportunity to revisit traditional megalithic locational concepts from a more systematic point of view, not least in Galician studies (NW Iberian Peninsula). In the paper that follows, we apply such a modelling approach to a large set of megalithic monuments located in the south of Galicia (Monte Penide and surroundings) with a view to exploring locational choices, spatial hierarchy and territoriality in these funerary landscapes. The results indicate that the distribution of megalithic mounds in this region reflects a preference for locations with particular environmental properties, while at a more local scale the spacing of these mounds seems to reflect some kind of social partitioning of the landscape. Via spatial cluster analysis and a further novel method for testing site hierarchy, we conclude that the mound sizes within nine different mound clusters exhibits a non-random hierarchical structure, with a larger mound per group and smaller ones around that, and with what appears to be a preference for the large monument to be at or near the meeting point of several watersheds and upland ridge-routes.
Approaching the landscape dimension of the megalithic phenomenon in Southern Spain.
Although the megalithic phenomenon in southern Iberia has received attention since the mid-nineteenth century, there has been very little attention paid to the role that megalithic structures played in the organization of prehistoric landscapes. Just as in other areas of Europe, however, southern Iberian megalithic structures must have played complex roles in the social organization of landscapes that go far beyond their use as funerary containers. Using examples from our work in southern Iberia, we employ GIS-based spatial analysis to explore for the first time various aspects of the landscape dimension of these monuments. We discuss three case-studies for which fresh field data have been recently made available. In the first (Almadén de la Plata) we find patterns of association between medieval transhumance routes and megaliths, and we use cost-surface modelling to suggest that medieval routes may reflect earlier, prehistoric patterns of movement which in turn suggest that megalithic structures functioned in this area as waypoints within an emerging mobility system for people and livestock. In the second case (Aroche) we show correlations between the locations of megaliths and theoretical territories defined by isochrones and contrast this pattern with the distribution of non-megalithic funerary sites of the Early Bronze Age, concluding that the spatial distribution of megaliths in this region may relate to their role as landmarks. Lastly we describe a far more specific relationship which we have encountered in the Antequera region, where we believe we have identified a relationship between the orientation of the megalithic structure of Menga, a prominent natural feature and several newly discovered prehistoric sites. Together, these three examples suggest that the current focus on typology, chronology and contents in the study of Iberian megaliths needs to be matched with efforts to identify and interpret the often highly complex structure of the prehistoric landscapes of which they form an integral part.
Regional patterning among the megaliths of Galicia (NW Spain)
Within the extensive plateau crossed by the upper Miño there are a vast number of tumuli. Their distribution is fairly homogeneous and they reach densities of up to 6 mounds per km2. The grave goods recovered from some of these monuments bear little relation to those in the coastal areas, especially so by the later part of the 3rd millenium BC. Recent surveys have found that some of the biggest concentrations of tombs are located near to natural passes or ridges that connect the inland plateau with the eastern districts of La Coruña and Pontevedra provinces. We suggest that proximity to crossing points between different areas was an important factor in the local setting of the mounds. On a larger scale the same principle might explain the occurrence of considerable clusters of monuments close to natural passes between regions that were especially important during this period.
J.C. Senna-Martínez, M. Diniz e A.F. Carvalho (eds) De Gibraltar aos Pirenéus. Megalitismo, vida e morte na Fachada Atlântica Peninsular, pp. 85-98, Fundaçâo Lapa do Lobo (Nelas), 2018
Funerary mounds, whether megalithic or not, feature prominently among the Galician archaeology and their sheer number and monumentality have attracted the attention of scholars ever since the end of the 19th century. The Barbanza peninsula, set in the western coast of Galicia, stands out for its numerous barrows, with a noticeable cluster of those on the high plateau, where spatial analyses were undertaken by researchers in the early 80’. One of the aspects on which research has most regularly focused regards the relationship between megaliths and movement, not just as the eventual correlation between mound location and paths across the landscape, but on a more general way by assessing the use of building materials or grave-goods of non-local origin. In the last decade, there has been a renewed effort at surveying the Barbanza peninsula leading to the discovery of scores of new mounds, thus significantly modifying the distribution of these monuments and breaking somewhat the paramount role of the high sierra with respect to this funerary phenomenon. Moreover, by employing new methodologies, such as Geographical Information Systems and spatial statistics, we can observe that mounds are indeed associated with transit routes and, at a local scale, with conspicuous areas more often than, for instance, rock art sites. Therefore, an image surges forward where megalithic architecture does not act exclusively as a static milestone but, rather, as a dynamic agent linked to a cognitive geography developed by communities in the Late Prehistory that undertake the exploitation of different landscapes and resources, from the very coast to the uplands. In the framework of this process, however, a marked variability can be observed regarding the conspicuity that these monuments might have had in the prehistoric landscape. This may suggest a multiplicity of roles or audiences, ranging from those intended to be real landmarks to others apparently designed to go unnoticed.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
As anywhere else, GIS is an essential tool in Galician archaeological research for examining and analysing spatial data. This is something quite clear in megalithic studies where in the last years these methods have been used for contrasting hypotheses regarding locational preferences drawn from fieldwork. As such, in this paper, a study of locational patterns of the megalithic sites located in the flattened top territories of A Serra do Barbanza (Galicia, NW Spain) is carried out. Using a site-predictive modelling approach, several environmental covariates were analysed to see their role in the distribution of mounds. Next, we study the clustering of megaliths via second-order modelling. The results obtained led us to conclude that the distribution of sites shows an aggregation at very local scales, a trend that can only be explained by intended site spacing dynamics that may have taken place over millennia. Using significance testing via Monte Carlo Simulation, the outcomes of this research allowed us to identify possible preferences regarding the selection of particular landscapes for the location of
Joussaume, R.; Laporte, L. y Scarre, C. (eds.): Origin and Development of the Megalithic Phenomenon of Western Europe. Proceedings of the International Symposium (Bougon, France, October 26th-30th 2002), 473-484. , 2006
This paper describes the results of the fieldwork stage (2000-2002) of a project dealing with the megalithic phenomenon in Almadén de la Plata (Sevilla, Andalusia, Spain), carried out jointly by the universities of Seville and Southampton. On the one hand, this project aims to understand the spatial and landscape dimensions of the megalithic monuments of this region, where the density and diversity of such monuments is very high. This has involved systematic surface survey of a number of designated areas in order to provide the empirical basis from which to understand spatial distributions (relationships between the monuments themselves, between the monuments and settlement areas and between monuments and landscape features). On the other hand, this project is looking at aspects of the internal organisation of megalithic burials in the area. Thus excavations carried out at the site of Dolmen de Palacio III have permitted the retrieval and recording of an almost completely intact Copper Age tholos tomb, as well as providing extremely useful information about patterns of re-use of the monument between the Neolithic and the Iron Age.
Between east and west: megaliths in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula
The Megalithic Architectures of Europe, 2015
The megalithic burial monuments of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula, together with those of Brittany, are amongst the oldest in Europe. They are exceptional because they are so clearly interwoven with early farming settlements, the latter providing occupational sequences that are topographically and ideologically linked to those of the megalith builders. The use of stonework and clay, the system of building burial mounds in concentric circles, and even the spatulae idols of the San Martin-El Miradero type are clear antecedents of classical Millaran forms. The megalithic tradition of the Iberian interior is a fundamental component of the Iberian megalithic tradition more generally. It occupied a key geographical position in relation to the rest of Europe, and will yield greater insights as research projects continue.
Monuments on the move. Assessing megaliths' interaction with the NW Iberian landscapes 1
Forthcoming publication: M. Hinz (Ed.) Megaliths, Societies and Landscapes: Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation in Neolithic Europe. Universität zu Kiel, Kiel (Germany)., 2015
Monuments, as such, have implicitly a perennial character and they act as presumed means for consecrating or marking out especial places. That would be the case of megalithic mounds, which add their funerary character to the aforementioned features. But, in the last decades, an increasing emphasis has been placed on the relationship between megaliths and movement, at first understood in the simpler sense of a correlation between mound location and paths across the landscape, but later on taking on a more structural character, having to do with the internal change (mobilization) of the building components, the incorporation of allochthonous materials both into the construction itself (vg. bringing in orthostats on non-local stones) and exotic grave goods. In that way, they appear to evoke more or less distant places and the displacements implied to gathering them in the framework of the tomb. Those observations can now be better substantiated in areas such as the Barbanza Peninsula (Galicia, Spain), where a relatively thorough catalogue of megaliths is available, showing –to start with– that these are far from being bound to the high sierra, though showing higher concentrations over there. The enlisting of Geographical Information Systems and statistics will show how mounds are associated with transit routes and, more locally, with conspicuous areas more often than, for instance, rock art sites. As a result, we may contemplate megalithic architecture not as something exclusively or mainly static but, on the contrary, dynamic and linked to a cognitive geography developed by communities in the Late Prehistory that carry on the exploitation of different landscapes and resources, from the very coast to the uplands.
Megalithic Skyscapes in Galicia
THE MARRIAGE OF ASTRONOMY AND CULTURE: THEORY AND METHOD IN THE STUDY OF CULTURAL ASTRONOMY, 2017
We present the results of our analysis of two singular Neolithic monuments and two prominent megalithic groups in Galicia. The two singular monuments are the dolmen of Dombate (Baio, Coruña county), perhaps the largest megalithic chamber in Galicia (or at least the most investigated and well-known) that houses an elaborate decorative program with engravings and paintings, and Forno dos Mouros (Bocelo mountains, Coruña county), also housing paintings and belonging to a bigger group aligned along an historical path following the mountain ridge. Both chambers house interesting illumination effects. The group analysis concerns the Barbanza (Coruña county) and Leboreiro, (Ourense county and borderland with Portugal) necropoleis. There, we find that apart from chamber orientation, location and spatial relations of the monuments within the landscape, the monuments incorporate skyscape associations that complemented and dialogued with that of the chamber orientations. Besides, if the particular directions that we find are related to the movements of the sun and/or moon they may indicate the appropriate ritual time for the dead. Of course, skyscape is not the only or the main factor to explain the location of the mounds within the necropolis but are part of a complex system of relations making those monuments part of a cultural landscape. When taking all factors into consideration a complex picture emerges where we can envisage the ways of construction of social time and space in the megalithic period.