Degenerative joint disease (DJD) is one of the most common pathological conditions identified in the archaeological record and remains a health problem in modern populations. This study aimed to evaluate DJD of the vertebral column in a sample from a Chalcolithic collective burial at El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) dated to 4,880–4,390 years cal. BP. Most of the human remains recovered were commingled and are in a good state of preservation. Traditionally, far too little attention has been paid to skeletal remains from secondary contexts. Bearing in mind the limitations inherent to this type of study, in this work, we applied an adapted methodology to examine the degree of vertebral degeneration considering the skeletal changes associated with DJD (i.e., osteophyte formation, porosity, lipping and/or eburnation). All data were evaluated at the 0.05 level using the chi‐squared statistic, and comparisons were made between age groups and between the spine regions. Our results showed a higher prevalence of DJD in the lumbar region, although eburnation was the least observed marker in the sample. Additionally, significant differences were found between age groups, with a greater manifestation of DJD in vertebral elements associated with the adult group. These results are consistent with those of other studies and are based on the hypothesis that DJD is highly correlated with age. Overall, the degree of vertebral degeneration is low, but taken together, these results suggest that some individuals from El Mirador cave may have suffered from DJD. Furthermore, the methodology proposed has demonstrated that valuable information can be obtained from commingled skeletal assemblages.

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Entre 1939 i 1956 es comptabilitza que s'afusellaren 2.237 persones al municipi de Paterna en aplicació de les sentències de mort dictades en consells de guerra. La majoria d'elles encara avui es troben enterrades en fosses comunes al cementiri municipal de la localitat. Amb el recent fenomen de les exhumacions i el canvi de color polític al territori valencià, s'han pogut intervenir diverses fosses i recuperar més de 900 víctimes. El present article procura exposar els resultats dels treballs científics realitzats la darrera dècada al cementiri de Paterna per tal de fer una lectura de la repressió a través de l'arqueologia i l'antropologia forense. S'exposen les exhumacions científiques realitzades des d'un punt de vista arqueològic, s'ofereix un balanç actualitzat i s'incideix en la importància de la interdisciplinarietat en el desenvolupament dels treballs. Així doncs, es tracta d'analitzar les dades recopilades de les intervencions per inferir coneixement històric entorn del fenomen repressiu a la capital valenciana durant la dictadura franquista.Paraules clau: repressió franquista, fosses comunes, exhumacions, ciències forenses, arqueologia, memòria històrica. * Article emmarcat en el projecte: PID2019-104418RB-I00, Más allá del subtierro: del giro forense a la necropolítica en las exhumaciones de fosas comunes de la guerra civil (NECROPOL).Court martials between 1939 and 1956 in Paterna (Valencia) handed down 2,237 death sentences. Most of the executed were buried in mass graves in the municipal cemetery. Due to the recent exhumations stemming from political changes in Valencia, a number of mass graves were explored bringing to light about 900 victims of the repression. This article advances the results of forensic archaeological and anthropological analyses of these exhumations, placing a special emphasis on interdisciplinarity. Its intention is to analyse the data stemming from the interventions so as to gain a better grasp of the repression in this Valencian capital during the Franco dictatorship.

Every conflict referred to as a war results in the horror of loss and death. This is true of any war, and the Spanish Civil War is a good example. Many people disappeared and were never found again, mainly because nobody ever looked for them. There were several counteroffensives on the eastern war front in Spain's Levante region during 1938, which, although ending in Pyrrhic victories for the Republican Army, were forgotten for years, as were the bodies of the soldiers abandoned to the elements on the battlefields. In 2014, this research project was developed to locate, exhume, and identify four graves containing the bodies of Republican soldiers found at the site of Peña Salada, Spain. The graves were found to contain five individuals, including some considered to be juvenile soldiers, aged between 14 and 20. They displayed many signs of violence, and it was possible to infer differences in injuries from bladed weapons and firearms. There was also evidence of the pillaging and desecration of the burial site. The genetic profiles of the five individuals were obtained in order to create a DNA database, which would make it possible to compare their profiles with those of potential family members who still live with the uncertainty of not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones. This study offers the first scientific evidence of the participation of juvenile soldiers on the Levante Front, within the context of the Spanish Civil War.