Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Damaged Burials or Reliquiae Cogotenses? On the Accompanying Human Bones in Burial Pits Belonging to the Iberian Bronze Age

  • Research
  • Published:
Archaeologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social Sciences and Humanities are increasingly interested in the relationship between society and material culture, and archaeology can provide, among other contributions, its chronological depth and the variability and certain regularities in mortuary rituals. In this respect, archaeological literature frequently cites cases of a few human bones redeposited at mortuary sites, often burials of adults accompanied by some bones of an infant, but without a clear pattern being discernable. In contrast, research on the Bronze Age Cogotas I archaeological culture in the Iberian Peninsula (MBA and LBA, ca. 1800–1100 cal BC) has identified what seems to be an emerging pattern: primary burials of very young children accompanied by the bone of an adult, possibly female, who had died before, even long before, as the statistical analysis of the radiocarbon dates of the individuals involved appears to corroborate. This may therefore be a ritualised mortuary practice that included bone relics, but its explanation is not simple, due to the polysemic nature of such relics. The creation and maintenance of real or fictitious kinship ties, a special protection for dead infants, possible gender aspects, ideas about fertility and renewal, strengthening interpersonal relationships, legitimisation of emerging inequality, etc., are some of the possible components of this social practice which was until now unknown in the Iberian prehistory, but also little known in other areas in European prehistory.

Résumé

Les sciences sociales et humaines s’intéressent de plus en plus à la relation qui existe entre la société et la culture matérielle, et l’archéologie peut fournir, parmi autre chose, sa profondeur chronologique et la variabilité et certaines régularités dans le domaine des rites mortuaires. À cet égard, la littérature archéologique mentionne souvent des cas où quelques ossements humains sont déposés dans des sites mortuaires, souvent des sépultures d’adultes accompagnées de quelques os de nourrisson, sans qu’un modèle puisse toutefois être nettement discerné. À l’opposé, des recherches réalisées sur la culture archéologique de Cogotas I de l’âge du bronze, dans la péninsule ibérique (MBA et LBA, vers 1800 à 1100 avant notre ère), ont identifié un modèle apparemment émergent: des sépultures primaires d’enfants très jeunes accompagnées de l’os d’un adulte, possiblement d’une femme, décédée précédemment, voire longtemps avant, si on en croit l’analyse statistique des datations au radiocarbone des individus impliqués. Il pourrait donc s’agir d’une pratique mortuaire symbolique impliquant des reliques ossuaires, dont l’explication n’est cependant pas simple en raison de la nature polysémique desdites reliques. La création et le maintien de liens de parenté réels ou fictifs, une protection spéciale pour les nourrissons décédés, des aspects possiblement reliés au genre du défunt, des idées sur la fertilité et le renouveau, le renforcement de relations interpersonnelles, la légitimation d’inégalité en émergence, voilà quelques éléments possibles de cette pratique sociale jusqu’ici inconnue dans la préhistoire ibérique, mais aussi très peu réputée dans d’autres sphères de la préhistoire européenne.

Resumen

Las ciencias sociales y las humanidades están cada vez más interesadas en la relación entre la sociedad y la cultura material, y la arqueología puede proporcionar, entre otras contribuciones, su profundidad cronológica, y la variabilidad y ciertas regularidades en los ritos funerarios. En este sentido, frecuentemente la literatura arqueológica cita casos de algunos huesos humanos que han sido redepositados en sitios mortuorios, a menudo entierros de adultos acompañados por algunos huesos de un niño, pero sin que se pueda discernir un patrón claro. En contraste, la investigación sobre la cultura arqueológica de Cogotas I en la Península Ibérica (Bronce Medio y Tardío, ca. 1800–1100 cal AC) ha identificado lo que parece ser un patrón emergente: entierros primarios de niños muy pequeños acompañados hueso de un adulto, posiblemente de un una mujer, que había muerto antes, incluso mucho antes, como parece corroborar el análisis estadístico de las fechas de radiocarbono de los individuos involucrados. Por lo tanto, esta puede ser una práctica mortuoria ritualizada que incluye reliquias óseas, pero su explicación no es simple, debido a la naturaleza polisémica de tales reliquias. La creación y mantenimiento de vínculos de parentesco reales o ficticios, una protección especial para infantes muertos, posibles aspectos de género, ideas sobre fertilidad y renovación, fortalecimiento de las relaciones interpersonales, legitimación de la desigualdad emergente… son algunos de los posibles componentes de esta práctica social que hasta ahora era desconocida en la prehistoria ibérica, pero también poco conocida en otras áreas de la prehistoria europea.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1

(modified and redrawn from Abarquero Moras 2005)

Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The estimation of the age of the subadults was based on the stage of formation and eruption of the teeth in both dental arcades (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994) and, whenever possible, on the measurements of the main long bones (Scheuer and Black 2000). The age and sex of the adults was estimated with greater or lesser certainty. For the cranium from Zamora Cathedral Square, the age at death was estimated from the degree of closure of the cranial sutures (Buikstra and Ubelaker, 1994), and the sex from the morphological characteristics of greatest diagnostic value, according to the same authors—mastoid process, supra-orbital margin, supra-orbital ridge, nuchal crest, size, etc.—which resulted in its classification as belonging to a female individual. For the mandible fragment at Tres Chopos (Villegas), the age at death would be about 35–45 years, according to its morphological characteristics (ibid.) and the dental wear, following the criteria of Brothwell (1989); it would also belong to a female (with a greater degree of uncertainty) due the robustness and thickness of the preserved bone portion and the size of the teeth. Finally, for the third metacarpal from Las Vegas (Jabares) the sex was estimated with the APDPE (antero-posterior diam. proximal epiph.) discriminant function proposed for this bone by Scheuer and Elkington and developed for the Spanish population by Barrio et al. (2006): if “less than 0, values will correspond to females”. The value calculated for the Las Vegas bone is—1.7315, which would suggest its attribution to a female.

References

  • Abarquero Moras, F. J. (2005). Cogotas I. La difusión de un tipo cerámico durante la Edad del Bronce. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abarquero Moras, F. J., Blanco-González, A., Esparza Arroyo, A., & Rodríguez Marcos, J. A. (2013). The Central Iberian Meseta at the time of the Thera eruption: An overview. In H. Meller, F. Bertemes, H. R. Bork, & R. Risch (Eds.), 1600—Kultureller Umbruch im Schatten des Thera-Ausbruchs? (pp. 315–326). Halle: Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag. (Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 9).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alacet Arqueólogos. (2005). Realización de sondeos arqueológicos previos en el solar de la antigua Residencia de Nuestra Señora de la Paz, en la plaza de la Catedral c.v. a la Calle Obispo Manso (Zamora). Report prepared for the Autonomous Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: Consultable in the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage.

  • Andersson, M., Karsten, D., Knarrström, B., & Svensson, M. (2004). Stone Age Scania. Lund: National Heritage Board.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnáiz Alonso, M. A., & Montero Gutiérrez, J. (2008). El registro funerario de Tres Chopos-Abarre (Villegas, Burgos). Problemática y perspectivas en el estudio de las prácticas rituales de Cogotas I. Férvedes, 5, 237–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnáiz Alonso, M. A., & Montero Gutiérrez, J. (2011). Funerary expression and ideology in the Cogotas Culture settlements in the northern Meseta of the Iberian Peninsula. In T. Moore & X. L. Armada (Eds.), Atlantic Europe in the first millennium BC: Crossing the divide (pp. 558–574). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrio, P. A., Trancho, G. J., & Sánchez, J. A. (2006). Metacarpal sexual determination in a Spanish population. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 51(5), 990–995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barroso, R., Bueno, P., González, A., Candelas, N., Rojas, J. M., & López Sáez, J. A. (2014). Enterramientos de la Edad del Bronce en la Meseta Sur peninsular a partir del Sector 22, Yuncos (Toledo). Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia, 65, 117–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco-González, A. (2014a). Tracking the social lives of things: Biographical insights into Bronze Age pottery in Spain. Antiquity, 88, 441–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco-González, A. (2014b). Sitios en altura y vasijas rotas: Reconsiderando la etapa de ‘plenitud’ de Cogotas I (1450–1150 AC) en la Meseta. Trabajos de Prehistoria, 71(2), 305–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco-González, A. (2018). De cabañas a casas. Estrategias sociales en la Prehistoria final de la Meseta (1400–400 AC). In A. Rodríguez Días, I. Pavón Soldevila, & D. M. Duque Espino (Eds.), Más allá de las casas Familias, linajes y comunidades en la protohistoria peninsular (pp. 295–326). Cáceres: Universidad de Extremadura.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, M., & Parry, J. (1982). Introduction: Death and the regeneration of life. In M. Bloch & J. Parry (Eds.), Death and the regeneration of life (pp. 1–44). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blockley, S. M. (2005). Two hiatuses in human bone radiocarbon dates in Britain (17000 to 5000 cal BP). Antiquity, 79(305), 505–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borić, D. (2003). ‘Deep time’ metaphor: Mnemonic and apotropaic practices at Lepenski Vir. Journal of Social Archaeology, 3(1), 46–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, R. (1998). The significance of monuments. On the shaping of human experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brereton, G. (2013). Cultures of infancy and capital accumulation in preurban Mesopotamia. World Archaeology, 45(2), 232–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronk Ramsey, C. (2009). Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon, 51, 337–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brothwell, D. R. (1989). The relationship of tooth wear and aging. In M. Y. Iscan (Ed.), Age markers in the human skeleton (pp. 303–318). Springfield: Charles Thomas Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brück, J. (2004). Material metaphors. The relational construction of identity in Early Bronze Age burials in Ireland and Britain. Journal of Social Archaeology, 4(3), 307–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brück, J. (2006a). Fragmentation, personhood and the social construction of technology in middle and Late Bronze Age Britain. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16(3), 297–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brück, J. (2006b). Death, exchange and reproduction in the British Bronze Age. European Journal of Archaeology, 9(1), 73–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brück, J. (2009). Women, death and social change in the British Bronze Age. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 42(1), 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bueno Ramírez, P., Barroso Bermejo, R., & de Balbín Berhmann, R. (2005). Ritual campaniforme, ritual colectivo: La necrópolis de cuevas artificiales del valle de Las Higueras, Huecas (Toledo). Trabajos de Prehistoria, 62(2), 67–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buikstra, J. E., & Ubelaker, D. H. (Eds.). (1994). Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey. (Research series, 44).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cámara Serrano, J. A., Sánchez Susí, R., Riquelme Cantal, J. A., Martín Flórez, S., Afonso Marrero, J. A., Pau, C., et al. (2016). Culte aux ancêtres dans la période chalcolithique de la péninsule ibérique? Le sacrifice d’animaux, la circulation des restes humains et la différence de traitement entre hommes et femmes dans les tombes du site archéologique à «Marroquíes» (Jaén, Espagne) trouvées dans les fouilles de la «Tranche 3» du système du tramway. L’Anthropologie, 120(2), 145–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caro Dobón, L., & Fernández Suárez, M. E. (2007). Enterramiento en fosa del Bronce Final en la ciudad de Zamora. In F. J. Barca Durán & J. Jiménez Ávila (Eds.), Enfermedad, Muerte y Cultura en las Sociedades del Pasado. Actas del VIII Congreso Nacional de Paleopatología (pp. 91–100). Cáceres: Fundación Academia Europea de Yuste.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, H. (2014). Beakers and the Beaker culture. In J. Czebreszuk (Ed.), Similar but different: Bell beakers in Europe (2nd ed., pp. 11–34). Leiden: Sidestone Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, J. (2000). Fragmentation in archaeology. People, places and broken objects in the prehistory of South-Eastern Europe. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, J. (2010). ‘Deviant’ burials in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Central and South Eastern Europe. In K. Rebay-Salisbury, M. L. Stig Sørensen, & H. Jessica (Eds.), Body parts and bodies whole changing relations and meanings (pp. 30–45). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, J., & Gaydarska, B. (2007). Parts and wholes: Fragmentation in prehistoric context. Oxford: Oxbow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie, R. L. (1949). Short Cist at Durie, Scoonie, Fife. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 83, 230–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conneler, Ch. (2011). The mesolithic. In T. Insoll (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of ritual and religion (pp. 358–370). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crespo, M., Herrán, J. I., & Puente, M. J. (2005). Intervención arqueológica en el ‘Pico Castro’, Dueñas, Palencia. 2a Fase. Octubre–Noviembre de 2005, Report prepared for the Autonomous Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: Consultable in the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage.

  • Croucher, K. (2012). Death and dying in the Neolithic Near East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Delibes de Castro, G., Fernández Manzano, J., Fontaneda Pérez, E., & Rovira Llorens, S. (1999). Metalurgia de la Edad del Bronce en el piedemonte meridional de la Cordillera Cantábrica: La Colección Fontaneda. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., De Juana, S., Galán, A. B., & Rodríguez, M. (2009). A new protocol to differentiate trampling marks from butchery cut marks. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36(12), 2643–2654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumas-Champion, F. (1989). Le mort circoncis. Le culte des crânes dans les populations de la Haute Bénoué (Cameroun/Nigeria). Systèmes de pensée en Afrique noire, 9, 33–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esparza Arroyo, Á., Velasco-Vázquez, J., & Delibes de Castro, G. (2012a). HUM 2005-00139: Planteamiento y primeros resultados de un proyecto de investigación sobre la muerte en Cogotas. In J. A. Rodríguez-Marcos & J. Fernández-Manzano (Eds.), Cogotas I. Una cultura de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica (pp. 259–320). Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esparza Arroyo, Á., Velasco-Vázquez, J., & Delibes de Castro, 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, LXIX, 95–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esparza, Á., Palomo Díez, S., Velasco Vázquez, J., Delibes, G., Arroyo Pardo, E., & Salazar García, D. C. (2017). Familiar Kinship? Palaeogenetic and Isotopic Evidence from a Triple Burial of the Cogotas I Archaeological Culture (Bronze Age, Iberian Peninsula). Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 36, 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, C. (2004). The archaeology of personhood. An anthropological approach. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, A. (2014). Burials and Beakers: Seeing beneath the veneer in Late Neolithic Britain. In J. Czebreszuk (Ed.), Similar but different: Bell Beakers in Europe (2nd ed., pp. 173–192). Leiden: Sidestone Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramsch, A., & Meier, T. (2013). An archaeological outline of ritual dynamics and social space. In S. Bergerbrant & S. Sabatini (Eds.), Counterpoint. Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen (BAR Int. S. 2508) (pp. 193–198). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, R. J. (1994). The Bronze Age in Northern and Northeastern Spain 2000–800 BC. In C. Mathers & S. Stoddarts (Eds.), Development and decline in the Mediterranean Bronze Age (Vol. 8, pp. 73–97). Sheffield: JR Collins, Sheffield Archaeological Monographs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helms, M. W. (1998). Access to origins: Affines, ancestors, and aristocrats. Austin: University of Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Insoll, T. (2015a). Material explorations in African archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Insoll, T. (2015b). Constructing Ancestors in Sub-Saharan Africa. In C. Renfrew, M. J. Boyd, & I. Morley (Eds.), Death rituals, social order and the archaeology of immortality in the ancient world: ‘Death Shall Have No Dominion’ (pp. 153–167). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsson, Å. M. (2009). Organized chaos. Defleshing, cremation and dispersal of the dead in Pitted Ware Culture. In I. M. Back Danielsson, I. Gustin, A. Larsson, N. Myrberg, & S. Thedéen (Eds.), Döda personers sällskap: Gravmaterialens identiteter och kulturella uttryck. [On the Threshold: Burial Archaeology in the Twenty-first Century] (pp. 109–130). Stockholm: Stockholm University. (Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 47).

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Roy, M., Rivollat, M., Mendisco, F., Pemonge, M. H., Coutelier, C., Couture, C., et al. (2016). Distinct ancestries for similar funerary practices? A GIS analysis comparing funerary, osteological and aDNA data from the Middle Neolithic necropolis Gurgy “Les Noisats” (Yonne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science, 73, 45–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J., & Terry, J. (2004). The excavation of an early Bronze Age cemetery at Holly Road, Leven, Fife. Tayside Fife Archaeological Journal, 10, 23–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liesau, C., Ríos, P., Vega, J., Menduiña, R., & Blasco, C. (2014a). Buscando los ancestros: La manipulación de los restos de las tumbas campaniformes en Camino de Las Yeseras (San Fernando de Henares, Madrid). In Actas de las Novenas Jornadas de Patrimonio Arqueológico. Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, pp. 137–148.

  • Liesau von Lettow-Vorveck, C., Esparza Arroyo, A., & Sánchez Polo, A. (2014). ¿Huesos en la basura o depósito ritualizado? Los perros descuartizados de La Huelga (Dueñas, Palencia). Zephyrus, 74, 89–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lillios, K. T. (1999). Objects of memory: The ethnography and archaeology of heirlooms. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 6(3), 235–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyman, R., & Fox, G. (1997). A critical evaluation of bone weathering as an indication of bone assemblage formation. In W. Haglund & M. Sorg (Eds.), Forensic taphonomy. The postmortem fate of human remains (pp. 223–247). Boca Raton: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, D. (2011). Funerary rites afforded to children in Earlier Bronze Age BritaIn case studies from Scotland, Yorkshire and Wessex (Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD by Research, University of Edinburgh). https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17600. Accessed 20 May 2018.

  • McSweeney, K., & Bacvarov, K. (2017). Processed Babies: Early Bronze Age Infant Burials from Bulgarian Thrace. In E. Murphy & M. Le Roy (Eds.), Children, death and burial. Archaeological discurses (pp. 91–106). Oxford: Oxbow.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf, P., & Huntington, R. (1991). Celebrations of death: The anthropology of mortuary ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, W. H. (2012). The bamboo fire: Field work with the New Guinea Wape (2nd ed.). London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguema-Obam, P. (1984). Aspects de la religion Fang. Paris: ACCT-Karthala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oosterhout, D. (1998). Fertility and the mediating body in Inanwatan, south coastal Bird Head’s of Irian Jaya. In J. Miendema, et al. (Eds.), Perspectives on the Bird’s Head of Irian laya, Indonesia. Proceedings of the Conference (Leiden 13–17 October 1997) (pp. 127–162). Amsterdam: Atlanta Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, P. (2011). The Palaeolithic origins of human burial. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Bronk Ramsey, C., et al. (2013). IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon, 55, 1869–1887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Marcos, J. A., & Fernández-Manzano, J. (Eds.). (2012). Cogotas I. Una cultura de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Marcos, J. A., Marcos, G. J., Martín, M. A., Misiego, J. C., & Sanz, F. J. (1999). Excavaciones arqueológicas en ‘Las Vegas’ (Jabares de los Oteros). In J. M. Vidal Encinas (Ed.), Protección del patrimonio cultural y obras públicas. Actuaciones Arqueológicas en la autopista del Camino de Santiago (1994–1997) (pp. 48–70). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León - GICAL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Polo, A., & Blanco-González, A. (2014). Death, Relics, and the Demise of Huts: Patterns of Planned Abandonment in Middle BA Central Iberia. European Journal of Archaeology, 17(1), 4–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanday, P. R. (1981). Female power and male dominance: On the origins of sexual inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheuer, L., & Black, S. (2000). Developmental juvenile osteology. London: Elsevier Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stefanović, S., & Borić, D. (2008). The newborn infant burials from Lepenski Vir: In pursuit of contextual meanings. In C. Bonsall, V. Boroneanţ, & I. Radovanović (Eds.), The iron gates in prehistory: New perspectives (BAR Int. Ser.1893) (pp. 131–169). Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver, M., & Reimer, P. J. (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C Age calibration program. Radiocarbon, 35(1), 215–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stutz, L. N., Larsson, L., & Zagorska, I. (2013). The persistent presence of the dead: Recent excavations at the hunter-gatherer cemetery at Zvejnieki (Latvia). Antiquity, 87(338), 1016–1029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarlow, S., & Nilsson Stutz, L. (Eds.). (2013). The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of death and burial. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, L.-V. (1982). La Mort africaine: Idéologie funéraire en Afrique Noire. Paris: Payot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilley, C. (1996). An ethnography of the Neolithic. Early prehistoric societies in southern Scandinavia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turek, J. (2000). Being a Beaker child. The position of children in Late Eneolithic society. In I. Pavlů (Ed.), In memoriam Jan Rulf (Památky archeologické Suppl. 13) (pp. 424–438). Praha: Archeologický ústav AV ČR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dyke, R. M., & Alcock, S. E. (2003). Archaeologies of memory: An introduction. In R. M. Van Dyke & S. E. Alcock (Eds.), Archaeologies of memory (pp. 1–13). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Velasco Vázquez, J., & Esparza Arroyo, A. (2016). Muertes ritualizadas en la Edad del Bronce de la Península Ibérica: Un enterramiento inusual en Los Rompizales (Quintanadueñas, Burgos). Munibe. Antropologia-Arkeologia, 67, 75–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallin, P. (2015): Perfect death: Examples of pitted ware ritualisation of the dead. In: Ancient death ways: Proceedings of the workshop on archaeology and mortuary practices. Uppsala, 16–17 May 2013, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, pp. 47–64

  • Walsham, A. (2010). Introduction: Relics and remains. Past and Present, 206(suppl_5), 9–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, J. (1982). Of flesh and bones: The management of death pollution in Cantonese society. In M. Bloch & J. Parry (Eds.), Death and the regeneration of life (pp. 155–186). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss-Krejci, E. (2011a). Changing perspectives on mortuary practices in late Neolithic/Copper Age and early Bronze Age Iberia. In K. T. Lillios (Ed.), Comparative archaeologies: The American Southwest (AD 900–1600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000–1500 BC) (pp. 153–174). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss-Krejci, E. (2011b). The formation of mortuary deposits. In S. C. Agarwal & B. A. Glencross (Eds.), Social bioarchaeology (pp. 68–106). Chichester: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for supporting this research financially (Projects HAR2009-10105 and HAR2013-43851-P); the Autonomous Government of Castile and Leon, for the support of our Museum-based research; Prof. Tomasz Goslar (Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory) for the AMS dating; our friends Dr. Miguel Ángel Arnaiz Alonso (University of Burgos), Javier Quintana López, and Oscar Alonso Gregorio (Alacet), Jesús Misiego Tejeda (Strato) and Manuel Crespo Díez (TeMa) for their generous help with the sites excavated by them in Villegas, Zamora, Jabares de los Oteros and Dueñas; and Peter Smith for the English version. The authors also want to thank the anonymous reviewers who provided many valuable contribution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GIR PrehUSAL, Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Salamanca, 37071, Salamanca, Spain

    Ángel Esparza-Arroyo & Alejandra Sánchez-Polo

  2. Department of Historical Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35071, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Javier Velasco-Vázquez

Authors
  1. Ángel Esparza-Arroyo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alejandra Sánchez-Polo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Javier Velasco-Vázquez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ángel Esparza-Arroyo.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Esparza-Arroyo, Á., Sánchez-Polo, A. & Velasco-Vázquez, J. Damaged Burials or Reliquiae Cogotenses? On the Accompanying Human Bones in Burial Pits Belonging to the Iberian Bronze Age. Arch 14, 346–376 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-018-9351-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-018-9351-0

Key words

Search

Navigation