This work presents the results of the scientific study of the great megalithic tomb of Montelirio (Castilleja de Guzmán, Seville), excavated between 2007 and 2010. The exhaustive research carried out over almost 10 years, involving 45 specialists from 16 universities and research centres in five different countries (Germany, Spain, the United States of America, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) has included the deployment of some of the most cutting-edge research methods and techniques in modern archaeology. Taken together, the results reveal one of the most fascinating and enigmatic prehistoric monuments on the European continent, in which a mostly female collective of people were buried, accompanied by unparalleled grave goods including objects unseen anywhere else in the world, such as sophisticated robes made from tens of thousands of perforated beads and ornaments of shell, ivory and amber. The innumerable details revealed by the painstaking research undertaken bring us closer in previously unknown detail to the way of life of Copper Age societies (c. 3200-2300 BCE), and in particular to their technology, craftsmanship, patterns of contact and exchange, social organisation and worldview. With this study, Montelirio joins the select group of ‘classic’ megalithic monuments of Andalusian, Iberian and European Recent Prehistory, confirming the cultural and social emergence of the lower Guadalquivir valley in the third millennium B.C.E., the true genesis of the development process of the city of Seville.
Collection: Multimedia
Project: 10. Churches and religions in Europe., 9. Travels and travelers: economic, social and cultural connections.
Chronology: -
Scope: Secondary Education
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C3LhFYOiFc
Resource type: Video
Format: Multimedia
Owner: Arqueological National Museum of Spain (MAN) (Modernalia)
Abstract: This work presents the results of the scientific study of the great megalithic tomb of Montelirio (Castilleja de Guzmán, Seville), excavated between 2007 and 2010. The exhaustive research carried out over almost 10 years, involving 45 specialists from 16 universities and research centres in five different countries (Germany, Spain, the United States of America, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) has included the deployment of some of the most cutting-edge research methods and techniques in modern archaeology. Taken together, the results reveal one of the most fascinating and enigmatic prehistoric monuments on the European continent, in which a mostly female collective of people were buried, accompanied by unparalleled grave goods including objects unseen anywhere else in the world, such as sophisticated robes made from tens of thousands of perforated beads and ornaments of shell, ivory and amber. The innumerable details revealed by the painstaking research undertaken bring us closer in previously unknown detail to the way of life of Copper Age societies (c. 3200-2300 BCE), and in particular to their technology, craftsmanship, patterns of contact and exchange, social organisation and worldview. With this study, Montelirio joins the select group of 'classic' megalithic monuments of Andalusian, Iberian and European Recent Prehistory, confirming the cultural and social emergence of the lower Guadalquivir valley in the third millennium B.C.E., the true genesis of the development process of the city of Seville.
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