Inspired by the biographical approach to the study of material culture, a radiocarbon dating programme was undertaken to explore the chronology and temporality of the megalithic monuments in south-eastern Iberia. Instead of one or two dates per tomb, the normal way of approaching this complex issue, we carried out a complete radiocarbon dating series of single tombs based on human remains. We focused our attention on four tholos-type tombs in the cemetery of El Barranquete (Almería, Spain). According to the new radiocarbon series modelled in a Bayesian framework, four main conclusions can be drawn: that the cemetery shows a very long period of funerary activity, which began in the late fourth millennium and ended in the last centuries of the second millennium calbc; that continuity of ritual practices attained an unexpected importance during the Bronze Age; that interments, which fall into cultural periods that would be unthinkable if only the typological properties of the grave goods were considered, occurred; and that each tomb had a complex and very different biography.
An excavation carried out at the megalithic necropolis of Panoria in 2015 offered an excellent opportunity for dating a widespread variety of polygonal, rectangular, and trapezoidal-shaped tombs with short passages for which, surprisingly, there were previously no known radiocarbon (14C) measurements available. Based on the anthropological remains, a series of 1914C dates was obtained and modeled in a Bayesian statistical framework. The results stress a long period of use that began in the Late Neolithic (3525–3195 cal BC), reaching the most intensive ritual activity during the Copper Age and ending in the Early Bronze Age (2125–1980 cal BC). Throughout this period, tombs were built at different times and used at different temporal scales and intensities, ranging from a few decades to centuries.
In 2012, a radiocarbon dating programme was undertaken to explore the chronology and temporality of megalithic monuments in south-eastern Iberia. After obtaining a new radiocarbon series of 90 dates that have changed many of our current approaches to this phenomenon, we have expanded the radiocarbon programme to one of the most iconic megalithic necropolises in Iberia, the cemetery of Los Millares. The new radiocarbon series modelled in a Bayesian framework was analysed in the context of the site including the settlement and the surrounding "forts". The results led us to four main conclusions: (i) that mortuary activity began in last centuries of the 4th millennium cal BC (3219-3124 cal BC, 68% probability), preceding the settlement foundation by up to 230 years; (ii) that the tombs appear to have been used at different times and with different intensities; (iii) that "forts" were built when most of the settlement was abandoned and only the inner enclosure would remain inhabited; and (iv) that the end of the funerary and housing activities occurred in similar chronological intervals, before ca. 2200 cal BC.
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