Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T05:19:04.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Earliest Evidence of Neolithic Collective Burials from Eastern Iberia: Radiocarbon Dating at the Archaeological Site of Les Llometes (Alicante, Spain)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Domingo C Salazar-García ,
Oreto García-Puchol ,
María Paz de Miguel-Ibáñez  and
Sahra Talamo
Domingo C Salazar-García*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València, València, Spain. Department of Archaeogenetics, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
Oreto García-Puchol
Affiliation:
Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València, València, Spain.
María Paz de Miguel-Ibáñez
Affiliation:
Área de Prehistoria, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
Sahra Talamo*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
*
*Corresponding authors. Emails: domingocarlos.salazar@uv.es; sahra.talamo@eva.mpg.de.
*Corresponding authors. Emails: domingocarlos.salazar@uv.es; sahra.talamo@eva.mpg.de.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the Valencia region of Spain, the dominant use of natural caves for collective burials during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods has been documented. Collective burials are central to the hypothesis about social relationships in Copper Age societies from Iberia, and key to interpreting kinship-based societies. Les Llometes (Alcoi, Alicante) is one of the biggest collective burial sites existing in eastern Iberia. This article presents the direct 14C dates on 25 skeletal remains at the site. The results indicate that the site was used as a burial place from the end of the 5th millennium cal BC until the end of the 4th millennium cal BC, and is a first milestone for future studies that will shed light on the transition towards social structure through the use of a cemetery space. Moreover, this research is one of the few investigations of Late Neolithic collective burials in Iberia that comprises an extensive accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C data set of almost all the individuals reported at a single site. This case also serves to highlight the utility of revisiting materials from historic excavations by 14C dating all the skeletal remains that define the minimum number of individuals, and therefore ensuring a more complete picture of the prehistoric human record.

Keywords

Late NeolithicIberiahuman burialsAMS 14C
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 679 - 692
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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

REFERENCES

Ambrose, SH. 1990. Preparation and characterization of bone and tooth collagen for isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 17(4):431–451.Google Scholar
Bernabeu, J. 2010. El mundo funerario entre el VI y el II milenio A.C. In: Pérez Fernández A, Soler Mayor B, editors. Restos de Vida, Restos de Muerte. Valencia: Diputación de Valencia. p 45–54.Google Scholar
Bernabeu, J, Molina, L, García-Puchol, O. 2001. El mundo funerario en el horizonte cardial valenciano. Un registro oculto. Saguntum 33:27–36.Google Scholar
Bernabeu, J, Moreno, A, Barton, CM. 2012. Complex systems, social networks and the evolution of social complexity. In: Cruz Berrocal M, García Sanjuán L, Gilman A, editors. The Prehistory of Iberia Debating Early Social Stratification and the State. London: Routledge. p 23–37.Google Scholar
Bernabeu Aubán, J, Molina, Ll, Orozco, T, Díez, A. 2006. Three millennia of prehistory in Mediterranean Spain (5600–2000 cal BC). In: Díaz del Río Sanjuán LG, editors. Social Inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 97–116.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Lee, S. 2013. Recent and planned developments of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 55(2–3):720–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, TA, Nelson, DE, Vogel, JS, Southon, JR. 1988. Improved collagen extraction by modified Longin method. Radiocarbon 30(2):171–177.Google Scholar
Cámara, JA. 2000. Bases teóricas para el estudio del ritual funerario utilizado durante la prehistoria reciente en el sur de la península Ibérica. Saguntum 32:97–114.Google Scholar
Cámara, JA, Molina, F. 2006. Selection of data, determinism and scientific relevance in interpretations of social development in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Southeast. In: Díaz del Río P, García Sanjuán L, editors. Social Inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 21–35.Google Scholar
Campillo, VD. 1996. Troballes paleopatològiques en jaciments prehistòrics de les comarques centrals valencianes. Recerques del Museu d´Alcoi 5:53–65.Google Scholar
Castro, PV, Escoriza, T, Oltra Puigdomenech, J. 2006. Sociological hypotheses for the communities of the Iberian Mediterranean basin (VI to II millennia cal BC). In: Díaz del Río P, García Sanjuán L, editors. Social Inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 117–131.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. 1990. Emerging Complexity. The Later Prehistory of Southeast Spain, Iberia and the West Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. 2003. Archaeology of Complexity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. 2008. Producing inequalities: regional sequences in later prehistoric southern Spain. Journal of World Prehistory 21(3–4):195–260.Google Scholar
Díaz del Río, P, García Sanjuan, L. 2006. Social Inequality in Iberian Late Prehistory, BAR International Series 1525. Oxford: Archaeopress. 194 p.Google Scholar
Díaz Zorita, M, Eleazar Costa, M, García Sanjuan, L. 2012. Funerary practices and demography from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age in southern Spain. In: Gibaja J, Carvalho A, Chambon F, editors. Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 51–65.Google Scholar
García-Borja, P, Salazar-García, DC, Pérez Fernández, A, Pardo Gordo, S, Casanova Vañó, 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) 62:175–195.Google Scholar
García-Borja, P, Salazar-García, DC, Martins, H, Pérez-Jordá, G, Sanchis-Serra, A. 2012. Dataciones radiocarbónicas de la Cova de la Sarsa (Bocairent, València). Recerques del Museu d’Alcoi 21:17–24.Google Scholar
García-Borja, P, Pérez Fernández, A, Biosca Cirujeda, V, Ribera i Gomes, A, Salazar-García, DC. 2013. Los restos humanos de la Coveta del Frare (La Font de la Figuera, Vlència). In: García Borja P, Revert Francés E, Ribera i Gomes A, Biosca Cirujeda V, editors. El Naiximent d’un Poble. Història i Arqueologia de la Font de la Figuera. La Font de la Figuera: Ajuntament de la Font de la Figuera. p 47–60.Google Scholar
García Puchol, O, Gómez Pérez, O. 2011. Simbolismo y ritualidad. Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica. In: Pérez Jordà G, Bernabeu J, Carrión Y, García Puchol O, Gomez Puche M, editors. La Vital (Gandia, Valencia). Vida y muerte en la desembocadura del Serpis durante el III y el I milenio a.C. Valencia: Diputación Provincial de Valencia. p 265–274.Google Scholar
García Puchol, O, Aura, JE, McClure, SB. 2012a. Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices in the central mediterranean region of Spain. In: Gibaja JF, Carvalho AF, editors. Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 41–50.Google Scholar
García Puchol, O, Cotino Villa, F, Miret Estruch, C, Pascual Benito, JL, McClure, SB, Molina Balaguer, L, Alapont Martín, L, Carrión Marco, Y, Morales, JV, Blasco Senarbe, J, Culleton, B. 2012b. Cavidades de uso funerario durante el neolítico final/calcolítico en el territorio valenciano: trabajos arqueológicos en Avenc dels Dos Forats o Cova del Monedero (Carcaixent, Valencia). Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina 28:139–206.Google Scholar
García Puchol, O, Bernabeu Aubán, J, Carrión Marco, Y, Molina Balaguer, L, Pérez Jordà, G, Gómez Puche, M. 2013a. A funerary perspective on the Bell Beaker period in the Westerm Mediterranean. Reading the social context of individual burials at La Vital (Gandía, Valencia). Trabajos de Prehistoria 70(2):264–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García Puchol, O, McClure, SB, Blasco Senabre, J, Cotino Villa, F, Porcelli, V. 2013b. Increasing contextual information by merging existing archaeological data with state of the art laser scanning in the prehistoric funerary deposit of Pastora Cave, Eastern Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(3):1593–1601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García Puchol, O, Molina Balaguer, L, Cotino, F, Pascual Benito, JL, Orozco, T, Pardo, S, Carrión, Y, Pérez, G, Clausí, M. 2014. Hábitat, Marco radiométrico y producción artesanal durante el Neolítico final y Horizonte Campaniforme en el corredor de Montesa (Valencia). Los yacimientos de Quintaret y Corcot. Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina 30:159–211.Google Scholar
Gibaja, AF, Carvalho, AF, Chambon, P, editors. 2012. Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. Oxford: BAR International Series.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, TFG, Jacobi, RM, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2006. AMS radiocarbon dating of ancient bone using ultrafiltration. Radiocarbon 48(2):179–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kromer, B, Lindauer, S, Synal, H-A, Wacker, L. 2013. MAMS – a new AMS facility at the Curt-Engelhorn-Centre for Achaeometry, Mannheim, Germany. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 294:11–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lillios, KT, Artz, JA, Waterman, AJ, Mack, J, Thomas, JT, Trindade, L, Luna, I. 2014. The rock-cut tomb of Bolores (Torres Vedras): an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the social landscape of the Late Neolithic/Copper Age of the Iberian Peninsula. Trabajos de Prehistoria 71(2):282–304.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClure, SB, Garcia Puchol, O, Culleton, BJ. 2010. AMS dating of human bone from Cova de la Pastora: new evidence of ritual continuity in the prehistory of eastern Spain. Radiocarbon 52(1):25–32.Google Scholar
McClure, SB, García-Puchol, O, Roca de Togores, C, Culleton, B, Kennett, D. 2011. Osteological and paleodietary investigation of burials from Cova de la Pastora, Alicante, Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(2):420–428.Google Scholar
McClure, SB, Podrug, E, Moore, AMT, Culleton, BJ, Kennett, DJ. 2014. AMS 14C chronology and ceramic sequences of early farmers in the eastern Adriatic. Radiocarbon 56(3):1019–1038.Google Scholar
Nocete, F, Lizcano, R, Peramo, A, Gómez, E. 2010. Emergence, collapse and continuity of the first political system in the Guadalquivir Basin from the fourth to the second millennium BC: the long-term sequence of Úbeda (Spain). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29(2):219–237.Google Scholar
Pascual Pérez, V. 1963. Hallazgos prehistóricos en Les Llometes (Alcoy). Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina 10:39–58.Google Scholar
Pérez Fernández, A, Soler Mayor, B, editors. 2010. Restos de Vida, Restos de Muerte. Valencia: Diputación de Valencia.Google Scholar
Pérez Jordà, G, Bernabeu, J, Gomez Puche, M. 2011. Producción, demografía, competencia. Servicio de investigación prehistórica. In: Pérez Jordà G, Bernabeu J, Carrión Y, García Puchol O, Gomez Puche M, editors. La Vital (Gandia, Valencia). Vida y muerte en la desembocadura del Serpis durante el III y el I milenio a.C. Valencia: Diputación Provincial de Valencia. p 247–253.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.Google Scholar
Roca de Togores Muñoz, C, Soler Díaz, J. 2010. Trepanaciones en la prehistoria. Los casos datados por C14 de las cuevas de La Pastora (Alcoy) y En Pardo (Planes). In: Pérez Fernández A, Soler Mayor B, editors. Restos de Vida, Restos de Muerte. Valencia: Diputación de Valencia. p 117–140.Google Scholar
Rojo-Guerra, MA, Garrido Pena, R. 2012. From pits to megaliths: Neolithic burials in the interior of Iberia. In: Gibaja JF, Carvalho AF, Chambon F, editors. Funerary Practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Salazar-García, DC. 2009. Estudio de la dieta en la población neolítica de Costamar. Resultados preliminares de análisis de isótopos estables de carbono y nitrógeno. In: Flors Ureña E, editor. Torre la Sal (Ribera de Cabanes, Castellón). Evolución del paisaje antrópico desde la prehistoria hasta el medioevo, M.P.A.C. 8. Castellón: Servicio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Prehistóricas-Diputación de Castellón. p 411–418.Google Scholar
Salazar-García, DC. 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: Perez Jordá G, Bernabeu Aubán J, Carrión Marco Y, García-Puchol O, Molina Balaguer LL, Gómez Puche M, editors. La Vital (Gandia, Valencia). Vida y muerte en la desembocadura del Serpis durante el III y el I milenio a.C, T.V. 113. València: Museu de Prehistòria de València-Diputación de Valencia. p 139–143.Google Scholar
Salazar-García, DC. 2012. Isótopos, dieta y movilidad en el País Valenciano. Aplicación a restos humanos del Paleolítico medio al Neolítico final [PhD thesis]. València: Universitat de València.Google Scholar
Salazar-García, DC. 2014. Estudi de la dieta en la població de Cova dels Diablets mitjançant anàlisi d’isòtops estables del carboni i del nitrogen en collàgen ossi. Resultats preliminars. In: Aguilella Arzo G, Roman i Monroig D, García Borja P, editors. La Cova dels Diablets (Alcalà de Xivert, Castelló). Prehistòria a la Serra d’Irta. Castellón: Diputació de Castelló. p 67–78.Google Scholar
Siret, H, Siret, L. 1887. Les premiers âges du métal dans le sud-est de l’Espagne. Anvers: Imprimerie Polleunis, Ceuterick et Lefébure.Google Scholar
Soler, JA. 2002. Cuevas de inhumación múltiple en la Comunidad Valenciana. Real Academia de la Historia-Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante.Google Scholar
Soler, JA, Roca de Togores, C, Ferrer, C. 2010. Cova d´En Pardo. Precisiones sobre la cronología del fenómeno de la inhumación múltiple (Planes, El Comtat, Alicante). In: Pérez Fernández A, Soler Mayor B, editors. Restos de Vida, Restos de Muerte. Valencia: Museu de Prehistòria de Valencia-Diputació de València.Google Scholar
Soler Díaz, J, Roca de Togores Muñoz, 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. Saguntum Extra 2:369–377.Google Scholar
Talamo, S, Richards, M. 2011. A comparison of bone pretreatment methods for AMS dating of samples >30,000 BP. Radiocarbon 53(3):443–449.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:687–695.Google Scholar