In recent prehistoric societies, not all members of the community had the right to a permanent burial. Around 4000 years ago, funerary rites began to change, collective burials gave way to personalised tombs, some of which were for children. In some cases, as in the Cerro de La Encantada (Granátula de Calatrava, Ciudad Real) over 400 years a small number of children received special treatment. This round table will present a group of funerary structures from the Bronze Age of La Mancha and will address the problems posed by the study of prehistoric child tombs.
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The research addresses the analysis of the local responses of Cantabrian hunter-gatherer societies to the environmental transformations of various orders that characterised the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods.
These transformations ranged from the continuous rise in sea levels and the parallel reduction of habitable territory to the drastic modification of the vegetation cover, as well as changes in the terrestrial and marine faunas. Alongside this, the migratory movements of other human groups affected by these changes are also shown to be a source of novelty in these social responses that we see at the local scale.
During the Aurignacian and Gravetian, the morphology of hunting lithic points is conditioned by the use of abrupt retouch. However, in the Solutrian, the hunting tools change radically and for about 5,000 years the systematic use of flat, invasive and bifacial retouch will characterise the different projectile points.
The appearance of flat retouched points in the Lower and Middle Solutrian could be explained by the generalised use of the propellant. The appearance of points with different modifications to facilitate their insertion in the Upper Solutrian would be related to the appearance of the bow as a new propulsion system for these projectiles.
Goldsmithing during the Iron Age is one of the most characteristic manifestations of the pre-Roman peoples who inhabited the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. however, its study and dating have been hampered by the lack of archaeological contexts.
Recent discoveries of several craftsmen’s workshops in the context of fortified settlements and the identification of gold mines exploited prior to the Roman conquest, not only by panning, as was assumed, but by complex gallery mining, have greatly modified our knowledge of precious metal mining and metallurgy during the Iron Age. The conference aims to report on the fortified settlements that have provided data on the manipulation and transformation of these metals, as well as the archaeological records that support their synchrony with the mining operations. These are expressive testimonies of metallurgical activity in a territory with abundant and rich metal deposits and a mining tradition dating back to the Chalcolithic period. Their study opens up new perspectives for research into the provenance of the raw materials used (including their isotopic characterisation), the dating of castreño goldsmiths’ work and the role played in the establishment of large-scale gold mining after the Roman conquest.
With an extension of more than 20 ha, the large moat enclosure of Camino de las Yeseras is a strategic and long-occupied site located in the centre of the peninsula. Thanks to the close collaboration between management archaeology and the Camino de las Yeseras research team of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, it has been possible to undertake interdisciplinary studies of pits, huts and funerary spaces.
Some 10,000 structures documented over almost two thousand years of prehistoric occupation make up a complex landscape of the past. The treatment of ancestors and the management of the domestic and wild animal world stand out, forming a sophisticated system of beliefs of societies in which their rituals in time and space form surprising records.
Traditionally, research into the origins of art, of symbols, has considered this creative capacity to be associated exclusively with our species, Homo sapiens.
The application of new dating techniques now makes it possible to argue that earlier human groups, such as the Neanderthals, developed artistic expression. Studies in the caves of La Pasiega, Ardales and Maltravieso confirm the first non-figurative expression inside the caves. These data are consistent with other data (pendants, body decoration, burials, etc.) that propose a break with the traditional paradigm that holds that symbolism is an exclusive and singular capacity of our species.
The different works on megalithic art by the team of the Prehistory Department of the UAH have characterised the informative potential of the study of the decorations of Iberian megalithic supports, within the framework of systematic elaborate funerary scenarios. Components of the past visible in the reuse of supports, figurines, recovery of ancient corpses…, are added to applications of artificial colour to establish some patterns of funerary rituals that extend to other areas of Atlantic Europe.
Research into the role of the first large stones in the most ancient megalithic constructions, which had been located almost exclusively in Brittany in France, offers a rich record in Iberia, which constitutes a very revealing argument for the presence of a megalithic system at least as old as the Breton one. The demonstration that the study of the paint applied to some of these pieces offers C14 dating opens up a new line of research that already has initial results in Iberia, France and the Orkney Islands, based on the results obtained in this project.
This presentation will present some of the methodological aspects that we have developed and the results already obtained.
In the scientific-academic field, why prehistoric art is important to study prehistoric art and what issues can be relevant and incident in our society (for example, because it helps us to understand what symbols are and how we use them; because it is a way of tracing areas such as inter- and multiculturalism, and even globalisation, as well as the links between these and the feelings generated in the field of culture and their implications in territoriality; because it helps us understand elements linked to communication and the durability of information; etc.).
In its social projection, how prehistoric art is made to participate, through talks, exhibitions, etc., in our society and how it does or does not affect the citizens. The impact on tourism, in rural areas, etc.
And finally, the role of Palaeolithic art in Cultural Heritage and how it (and Spanish, or even peninsular) is representative of understanding Spain as a potential in cave heritage. Can it be an element of Marca España or whatever you want to call it or say?
Although archaeological research began as early as the 1840s, the Menga dolmen, the true ‘flagship’ of the Antequera dolmen site (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016) has been largely unknown until very recently.
In this conference we present the main results of the scientific research carried out in the last eight years in this great monument. Special attention will be paid to the study of the evidence collected during the excavations carried out between 2005 and 2006, which has been a decisive step forward in the understanding of the origins, temporality, biography, architecture and social and cultural significance of this great dolmen.
This research has been carried out as part of the projects “Megalithic Biographies: The Monumental Landscape of Antequera in its Temporal and Spatial Context” and “Nature, Society and Monumentality: High Resolution Archaeological Investigations of the Megalithic Landscape of Antequera”, funded under the National R&D Plan of the General Secretariat for Research of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and developed between 2014 and 2021.
Porto Maior (As Neves, Galicia) is currently the oldest dated archaeological site in Galicia, with a chronology of the main occupation levels between 312,600 and 210,700 years ago. Of particular importance is level PM4, dated to around 210,000 years ago, as it is the only European case of an occupation level characterised by an extensive anthropic accumulation of large Acheulean bifaces and cleavers. This type of occupation scenario was exclusive to the African continent and the Near East, and its recognition in Porto Maior provides a key reference to prove a close relationship between the Iberian and African Acheulean.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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