Symbolism, Exchange and Differential Grave Building Efforts during the Neolithic of the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The Necropolis of Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús 1-2: An Example of Unequal Objects and Grave Goods Distribution (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2015
This palaeodietary study presents new carbon and nitrogen isotope data for human and animal skeletal remains from the Middle Neolithic necropolis of Bòbila Madurell-Can Gambús (Vallès Occidental, Spain). The necropolis is divided into two sectors, Bòbila Madurell and Can Gambús, which differ in terms of their demography and the wealth of their tombs. This study examines each sector separately in order to assess how far these demographic and grave good differences also correspond to diversity in the community. The results show that a diet based on C3 terrestrial resources is found homogeneously in both sectors of the community. The protein component of the diet consisted mainly of meat, milk and other dairy products from livestock as well as C3 plant protein from the typical cereals and legumes grown in this period. The results also show the existence of slight intra-population sex and age differences in the Can Gambús sector, while these are not perceptible in the Bòbila Madurell sector. This allows inferences not only about the diet of the Neolithic communities that lived in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula but also about their customs, which would be reflected in social differentiation as regards the consumption of certain kinds of food. These are important data that can be added in future studies of socioeconomic patterns in Neolithic societies in the rest of Europe.
There is a significant number of funerary contexts for the Early Neolithic in the Iberian Peninsula, and the body of information is much larger for the Late Neolithic. In contrast, the archaeological information available for the period in between (ca. 4800-4400/4200 cal BC) is scarce. This period, generally called Middle Neolithic, is the least well-known of the peninsular Neolithic sequence, and at present there is no specific synthesis on this topic at the peninsular scale. In 2017, an exceptional funerary context was discovered at Dehesilla Cave (Sierra de Cá diz, Southern Iberian Peninsula), providing radiocarbon dates which place it at the beginning of this little-known Middle Neolithic period, specifically between ca. 4800-4550 cal BC. Locus 2 is a deposition constituted by two adult human skulls and the skeleton of a very young sheep/goat, associated with stone structures and a hearth, and a number of pots, stone and bone tools and charred plant remains. The objectives of this paper are, firstly, to present the new archaeological context documented at Dehesilla Cave, supported by a wide range of data provided by interdisciplinary methods. The dataset is diverse in nature: stratigraphic, osteological, isotopic, zoological, artifactual, botanical and radiocarbon results are presented together. Secondly, to place this finding within the general context of the contemporaneous sites known in the Iberian Peninsula through a systematic review of the available evidence. This enables not only the formulation of explanations of the singular new context, but also to infer the possible ritual funerary behaviours and practices in the 5 th millennium cal BC in the Iberian Peninsula.
European Journal of Archaeology
Early Neolithic funerary practices and the meaning of complete ceramic vessels found isolated are poorly researched topics in western Iberia. However, recent archaeological salvage excavations at Armazéns Sommer and Palácio Ludovice in Lisbon have revealed individual burial pits of male individuals laid in a foetal position and directly associated with necked vessels. These discoveries suggest that finds of isolated vessels, known since the beginning of the twentieth century in Portugal and usually found fortuitously apparently without archaeological context, may also have originally belonged to similar burials, unnoticed by their finders. This hypothesis opens new perspectives for the interpretation of such finds, which are inventoried in the present article.
Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic
Gibaja Bao, J.; Carvalho, A. F. and Chambon, P. (Coord.): Funerary practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic, BAR, International Series, Oxford, Archaeopress, 2012
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.
Documenta Praehistorica (https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/9589), 2021
An intact archaeological context named Locus 1 has recently been discovered at Dehesilla Cave (southern Spain). The ritual funerary deposition consists of a complete pottery jar with part of a human calvarium over the mouth, and was occulted by large stone blocks. This paper offers a presentation of the new data provided mainly by the stratigraphic, osteological, pottery, lithic and radiocarbon analyses. A systematic review of the relevant evidence in the Iberian Peninsula during the Early Neolithic (c. 5600–4800 cal BC) provides a context for this finding and supports its interpretation with reference to several possible anthropological scenarios.