Monte do Vale do Ouro 2: os enterramentos das fossas da Pré-história recente

Abstract

Os contextos funerários da Pré-história Recente do Alentejo têm vindo a ser estudados e debatidos com base em novos dados que têm surgido devido aos trabalhos de Arqueologia de salvamento, principalmente relativos à grande quantidade de estruturas negativas. É neste contexto que surge a escavação de duas fossas no sítio do Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 que revelaram restos ósseos humanos, objecto de análise no presente trabalho.A fossa 97, datada do Calcolítico, revelou 4 deposições pertencentes a um indivíduo adulto feminino e três não adultos. Nos três enterramentos mais completos desta fossa foram encontrados sinais de exposição a fogo de baixa intensidade e de forma não regular ao longo do esqueleto, confirmada por análises de Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIC). O esqueleto adulto feminino, onde estas alterações são mais visíveis, encontrava-se depositado numa posição menos usual (e diferente da dos restantes), em decúbito dorsal, o que poderá estar relacionado com a exposição ao fogo acima mencionada.Na fossa 102, datada da Idade do Bronze regional, foram identificadas três fases de inumação correspondendo a 4 indivíduos, 3 adultos e 1 não adulto. Entre os dados antropológicos é de realçar as evidências encontradas do uso de dentes com fins não mastigatórios, atestada pela presença de dois incisivos laterais superiores com um sulco profundo na junção cimento-esmalte. Este poderia estar relacionado com a passagem contínua de um fio ou fibra. Um caso de impactação de um 2º prémolar inferior foi observado na mandíbula da criança inumada nesta fossa, provavelmente relacionado com a sua posição incorrecta no alvéolo. Esta condição é inédita para o presente período cronológico.
 Prehistoric pit burials from Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 - In recent years, new data have become available due to the work of rescue archaeology in the South of Portugal (Beja district) that has uncovered a whole new set of Late Prehistoric funerary contexts comprising mainly negative structures (pits, ditches and hypogea). In the archaeological site of Monte do Vale do Ouro 2, two prehistoric pits revealed human bones. The aim of this work is to document and interpret the funerary contexts of these pits based on the analysis of the human bones.Pit 97 dated to the Chalcolithic revealed the presence of four individuals, one adult female and three non-adults. The mortuary practice of these individuals seems to have involved the exposure to low temperatures confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIC) analysis, which represent a burial practice not yet documented in this region for this period.In pit 102, dated to the Bronze Age, three adults and one non-adult were exhumed. Among the more relevant data are the evidence of the non-masticatory use of teeth. In two upper lateral incisors, probably antimeres, a profound groove was register near the cement-enamel junction of the lingual part of the teeth suggesting the use of the teeth in daily life, such as processing plant fibers. The non-adult recovered from this pit display a impaction of the second lower premolar, which represents the first archaeological case reported of this condition for the Iberian Bronze Age.

Non‐masticatory dental wear patterns in individuals exhumed from the Middle Bronze Age rock‐cut tombs of Torre Velha 3 (Serpa, Portugal)

“…Regarding the occlusal mesial‐distal groove in the upper canine of the female 1799, similar patterns have been reported in several archaeological sites of the Old World, such as Kovuklukay, Anatolia (Erdal, ); Uan Muguggiag, Libya (Minozzi et al, ), Kuyavia, Poland (Lorkiewicz, ); Eynan, Israel (Eshed, Gopher, & Hershkovitz, ). In the Bronze Age Necropolis of Monte do Vale de Ouro 2 (Ferreira do Alentejo, Portugal), a lingual sulcus on the cement‐enamel junction of both upper lateral incisors was registered and also interpreted has non‐masticatory habitual behavior (Pereira, ; Pereira, Silva, & Valera, ). At the necropolis of Casas Velhas, an interproximal/occlusal groove was also observed on the mesial side of an upper left second premolar of a female adult (Silva et al, ).…”

The embodiment of craft production in Bronze Age Portugal: Exceptional dental wear grooves in an individual from Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 (Ferreira do Alentejo, Portugal)

“…Two mortuary contexts were recovered among the 112 identified archaeological features. The mortuary contexts consisted of two pits, one dated to the Chalcolithic (Pit 97) and the other to the Bronze Age (Pit 102) (see, Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b, for additional archaeological context). The latter is of concern in the present analysis.…”

“…Unfortunately, poor preservation of human remains has severely limited bioarchaeological reconstructions of human lifeways in southwest Iberia (Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2017). However, among the few bioarchaeological studies from the Bronze Age of southern Portugal (Fidalgo, Porfírio, & Silva, 2016; Fidalgo & Silva, 2020; Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017a; Pereira, Silva, & Valera, 2017b; Silva et al, 2018; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2017), patterns of dental wear related to the nonmasticatory use of the dentition for manipulative tasks have provided some of the most informative reconstructions of Bronze Age human habitual behaviours for the region (Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016).…”

“…Insights into the nondietary, or nonmasticatory, use of the anterior dentition for manipulative behaviours (use of ‘teeth as tools’) are increasingly well‐documented in the later prehistory of the Western Mediterranean and Iberia through the analysis of dental wear features (Carrasco, Bonilla, Mateo, & Sanjuán, 2017; Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Lozano et al, 2020; Lozano, Bermúdez de Castro, Arsuaga, & Carbonell, 2017; Marado et al, 2017; Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016; Sperduti et al, 2018; Tanga, Quintili, Tinarelli, D'Anastasio, & Viciano, 2016; Willman, Lozano, Hernando, & Vergès, 2020b). In this context, we contribute an analysis of two incisors from a Bronze Age context at the site of Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 that exhibit an exceptional case of dental wear grooves on their lingual surfaces (Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b). Dental wear grooves have been reported in several food‐producing contexts from the later prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula (Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Lozano et al, 2020; Lozano, Bermúdez de Castro, Arsuaga, & Carbonell, 2017; Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016) and typically correspond to a limited number of behaviours interpretable through analogy (see below).…”

“…In this context, we contribute an analysis of two incisors from a Bronze Age context at the site of Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 that exhibit an exceptional case of dental wear grooves on their lingual surfaces (Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b). Dental wear grooves have been reported in several food‐producing contexts from the later prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula (Fidalgo, Silva, & Porfírio, 2020; Lozano et al, 2020; Lozano, Bermúdez de Castro, Arsuaga, & Carbonell, 2017; Pereira et al, 2017a, 2017b; Silva, Gil, Soares, & da Silva, 2016) and typically correspond to a limited number of behaviours interpretable through analogy (see below). Dental wear features are an embodiment of the manipulative tasks and behaviours that produced them.…”