Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:20:41.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Death, Relics, and the Demise of Huts: Patterns of Planned Abandonment in Middle BA Central Iberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Alejandra Sánchez-Polo  and
Antonio Blanco-González
Alejandra Sánchez-Polo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Prehistoria, Ha Antigua y Arqueología, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Antonio Blanco-González
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper addresses the formation processes at an unparalleled Bronze Age settlement in the Iberian Meseta. The site of El Cerro (Burgos, Spain) presents a series of challenging features: the simultaneous inhumation of three subadults alongside a dwelling quarter and adjacent pits, some of them filled with apparent formality, including such anachronistic elements as Neolithic and Beaker items and several placed deposits, such as a leg of a cow. A critical evaluation of the contextual dataset, a re-fitting operation, and an assessment of the abrasion and size of a ceramic sample were carried out. The archaeological peculiarities of the site are explained as a contextually specific cultural response to a grievous and traumatic episode: the death of three young siblings, which entailed the abandonment of the settlement through prescribed practices. Some depositions are a product of recognizable intentionality, while others are regarded as unintended cumulative outcomes.

Le présent article traite des processus de formation d'un lieu unique de l'Âge du Bronze de la Meseta ibérique. Le site de El Cerro (Burgos, Espagne) présente toute une série de caractéristiques complexes: inhumation simultanée de trois enfants à côté d'un quartier d'habitations et fosses adjacentes, dont quelques-unes avaient apparement été remplies avec cérémonie et contenaient des éléments anachroniques, notamment des objets provenant du Néolithique et de la Culture des Gobelets campaniformes, ainsi que plusieurs dépôts, comme par exemple une jambe de vache. On réalisa une évaluation critique de l'ensemble contextuel de données, une opération de réaménagement et une évaluation de l'abrasion et de la taille d'un échantillon sélectif de céramique. Les particularités archéologiques du site sont interprétées comme réponse culturelle relevant d'un contexte spécifique pour gérer un épisode grave et traumatisant: la mort d'une jeune fratrie, qui entraîna l'abandon du lieu en suivant des pratiques prescrites. Plusieurs dépôts laissent reconnaître un certain degré d'intentionalité, tandis que d'autres semblent plutôt être des accumulations involontaires. Translation by Isabelle Gerges.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag behandelt die Formationsprozesse in einer bislang einzigartigen bronzezeitlichen Siedlung in der iberischen Meseta. Der Fundplatz El Cerro (Provinz Burgos, Spanien) weist eine Reihe von herausragenden Merkmalen auf, darunter die gleichzeitige Bestattung dreier Kinder neben einem Wohnviertel und angrenzenden Gruben, von deren Inventaren sich einige auffällig wiederholten und altertümliche Elemente des Neolithikums und der Becherkulturen sowie verschiedene besondere Deponierungen, darunter das Bein eines Rindes, enthielten. Eine kritische Beurteilung der kontextuellen Daten, eine Nachbesserungsmaßnahme sowie eine Beurteilung des Abriebs und der Größe einer bestimmten Keramikauswahl wurden durchgeführt. Die archäologischen Besonderheiten des Fundplatzes werden als kontextuell spezifische kulturelle Reaktion erklärt, mit einer schmerzlichen und traumatischen Episode—dem Tod dreier Geschwister im Kindesalter—umzugehen, was die Aufgabe der Siedlung im Zuge vorgeschriebener Praktiken nach sich zog. Einige Niederlegungen weisen ein erkennbares Maß an Intentionalität auf, während andere als unbeabsichtigte Akkumulationen gewertet werden. Translation by Heiner Schwarzberg.

Keywords

Middle Bronze AgeIberiadepositionsite formation processesdeviant burialpotteryabrasionfragmentationÂge du Bronze moyenMeseta ibérique (Espagne)processus de formation culturelsinhumation dévianteabrasion et fragmentation de la céramiquedépôt intentionnelMittelbronzezeitIberische Meseta (Spanien)kulturelle FormationsprozesseSonderbestattungKeramikabrieb und -fragmentationintentionelle Deponierung
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , 2014 , pp. 4 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abarquero, F.J., Blanco-González, A., Esparza, A. & Rodríguez Marcos, J.A. 2013. The Central Iberian Meseta at the Time of the Thera Eruption: An Overview. In: Meller, H., Bertemes, F., Bork, H.-R. & Risch, R., eds. 1600 – Kultureller Umbruch im Schatten des Thera-Ausbruchs? Halle: Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 9, pp. 315–326.Google Scholar
Blanco-González, A. 2011. From Huts to ‘the House’: The Shift in Perceiving Home Between the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in Central Iberia (Spain). Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 30 (4): 393–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blasco, M.C., Blanco, J.F., Liesau, C., Carrión, E., García, J., Baena, J., Quero, S. & Rodríguez, M.J. 2007. El Bronce Medio y Final en la región de Madrid. El poblado de la Fábrica de Ladrillos (Getafe, Madrid). Madrid: Ayuntamiento de Madrid.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 2002. The Past in Prehistoric Societies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brück, J. 1999a. Ritual and Rationality: Some Problems of Interpretation in European Archaeology. European Journal of Archaeology, 2 (3): 313–44.Google Scholar
Brück, J. 1999b. Houses, Lifecycles and Deposition on Middle Bronze Age Settlements in Southern England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 65: 145–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brudenell, M. & Cooper, A. 2008. Post-Middenism: Depositional Histories on Later Bronze Age Settlements at Broom, Bedfordshire. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 27 (1): 15–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, J. & Gaydarska, B. 2007. Parts and Wholes. Fragmentation in Prehistoric Context. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Contreras, F. & Alarcón, E. 2012. La cultura de Cogotas I y las comunidades argáricas del Alto Guadalquivir: una perspectiva actual. In: Rodríguez Marcos, J.A. & Fernández Manzano, J., eds. Cogotas I. Una cultura de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, pp. 165–85.Google Scholar
Edwards, B. 2009. Pits and the Architecture of Deposition. Narratives of Social Practice in the Neolithic of North-East England. PhD dissertation, University of Durham.Google Scholar
Esparza, A., Velasco, J. & Delibes, G. 2012a. HUM 2005-00139: Planteamiento y primeros resultados de un proyecto de investigación sobre la muerte en Cogotas I. In: Rodríguez Marcos, J.A. & Fernández Manzano, J., eds. Cogotas I. Una cultura de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, pp. 259–320.Google Scholar
Esparza, A., Velasco, J. & Delibes, G. 2012b. Exposición de cadáveres en el yacimiento de Tordillos (Aldeaseca de la Frontera, Salamanca). Perspectiva bioarqueológica y posibles implicaciones para el estudio del ritual funerario de Cogotas I. Zephyrus, 59 (1): 95–128.Google Scholar
Estremera, S. 2003. Primeros agricultores y ganaderos en la Meseta Norte. El neolítico de la cueva de La Vaquera (Torreiglesias, Segovia). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.Google Scholar
Garrow, D. 2012. Odd Deposits and Average Practice. A Critical History of the Concept of Structured Deposition. Archaeological Dialogues, 19 (2): 85–115.Google Scholar
Garrow, D., Beadsmoore, E. & Knight, M. 2005. Pit Clusters and the Temporality of Occupation: An Earlier Neolithic Site at Kilverstone, Thetford, Norfolk. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 71: 139–57.Google Scholar
Gerritsen, F. 1999. To Build and to Abandon. The Cultural Biography of Late Prehistoric Houses and Farmsteads in the Southern Netherlands. Archaeological Dialogues, 6 (2): 78–97.Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1995. Ritual and Rubbish in the Iron Age of Wessex: A Study on the Formation of a Specific Archaeological Record. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Hingley, R. 2009. Esoteric Knowledge? Ancient Bronze Artefacts from Iron Age Contexts. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 75: 143–65.Google Scholar
Jimeno, A. & Fernández, J.J. 1991. Los Tolmos de Caracena (Soria) (Campañas 1981 y 1982). Aportación al Bronce Medio de la Meseta. Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura.Google Scholar
Lamdin-Whymark, H. 2008. The Residue of Ritualised Action: Neolithic Deposition Practices in the Middle Thames Valley. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
LaMotta, V. & Schiffer, M.B. 1999. Formation Processes of House Floor Assemblages. In: Allison, P., ed. The Archaeology of Household Activities. London: Routledge, pp. 19–29.Google Scholar
Liesau, C. 2012. Depósitos con ofrendas de animales en yacimientos Cogotas I: antecedentes y características. In: Rodríguez Marcos, J.A. & Fernández Manzano, J., eds. Cogotas I. Una cultura de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, pp. 219–57.Google Scholar
Lillios, K.T. 1999. Objects of Memory: The Ethnography and Archaeology of Heirlooms. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 6 (3): 235–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Negredo, M. & Palomino, A.L. 1997. Excavación arqueológica en el yacimiento de ‘El Cerro’, La Horra (Burgos). Unpublished report for the Cultural Heritage Department of the Autonomous Government of Castile and Leon.Google Scholar
Palomino, A.L., Negredo, M.J. & Abarquero, F.J. 1999. Cabañas, basureros, silos y tumbas en el yacimiento de El Cerro, La Horra (Burgos): a vueltas sobre el significado de un campo de hoyos en la Edad del Bronce de la Meseta. Numantia, 7: 21–41.Google Scholar
Pollard, J. 2002. The Nature of Archaeological Deposits and Finds Assemblages. In: Woodward, A. & Hill, J.D., eds. Prehistoric Britain. The Ceramic Basis. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 22–33.Google Scholar
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, F.K., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Manning, S., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J. & Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2009. INTCAL09 and MARINE09 Radiocarbon Calibration Curves, 0-50,000 Years Cal BP. Radiocarbon, 51 (4): 1111–50.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Marcos, J.A. 2007. Estudio secuencial de la Edad del Bronce en la Ribera del Duero (provincia de Valladolid). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.Google Scholar
Sánchez-Polo, A. 2010. La muerte en la arqueología. Visiones cruzadas/posiciones encontradas [online]. El Futuro del Pasado, 1: 173–87 [accessed 10 January 2013]. Available at: <http://www.elfuturodelpasado.com/elfuturodelpasado/eFdP_1.html>Google Scholar
Sánchez-Polo, A. 2011. Los ‘campos de hoyos’ del grupo Cogotas I y prácticas de ritualización: aportación al estudio de la Edad del Bronce del interior peninsular. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Salamanca.Google Scholar
Sánchez-Polo, A. 2012. Depósitos de cerámicas, molinos y elementos de hoz. Una propuesta de la Edad del Bronce del interior peninsular desde la Arqueología Posprocesual. Arkeogazte, 2: 73–93.Google Scholar
Sørensen, M.L.S. 1996. Pottery Evidence for Formation Process in the Late Bronze Age Deposits. In: Needham, S. & Spence, T., eds. Refuse and Disposal at Area 16 East, Runnymede, Volume 2. London: British Museum Press, pp. 61–73.Google Scholar
Webley, L. 2007. Using and Abandoning Roundhouses: A Reinterpretation of the Evidence from Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age Southern England. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 26 (2): 127–44.Google Scholar
Woodward, A. 2002. Beads and Beakers: Heirlooms and Relics in the British Early Bronze Age. Antiquity, 76: 1040–7.Google Scholar