Precisiones sobre el enterramiento colectivo neolítico de Cerro Virtud (Cuevas de Almanzora, Almería)

Abstract

El estudio del enterramiento colectivo de Cerro Virtud confirma la importancia de este yacimiento en el desarrollo cronológico y cultural del Neolítico Medio en el Sureste de la Península Ibérica. Además de tratarse de un poblado al aire libre y contar con la primera evidencia de actividad metalúrgica de época neolítica documentada en el Occidente de Europa, presenta un enterramiento colectivo sobre el que se centra este artículo. Los resultados del análisis antropológico indican la presencia de, al menos, once individuos inhumados, unos en posición primaria y otros desplazados. Se aportan las nuevas dataciones de carbono 14 que sitúan cronológicamente al enterramiento en la primera mitad del V milenio cal AC. ABSTRACT Different results from the collective burial of Cerro Virtud confirm the importance of this settlement for our understanding of the Neolithic in southeastern Iberian Peninsula. The site has both open air settlement and collective burial.It also has the first evidence of Neolithic metalworking in western Europe. The article focuses on the collective burial. Padilla, s/n. 45002 Toledo.El artículo fue remitido en su versión final el 9-1-99.Anthropological analysis shows eleven individuals, some of them in primary positions and others displaced. A radiocarbon sequence of the burial is also pesented. The burial chronology is in the first half of V millennium cal EC.Palabras clave: Neolítico Medio. Almería. Enterramiento Colectivo. Dataciones Cl4. Paleopatología. Antropología Física.

A Community in Life and Death: The Late Neolithic Megalithic Tomb at Alto de Reinoso (Burgos, Spain)

“…Given the estimated period of use, the MNI calculated at 47 for Alto de Reinoso suggests that an average of one or two people died every year; this number would include infants, which were largely absent. The MNI is within the range typically observed at Neolithic megalithic tombs situated relatively close to Alto de Reinoso such as La Peña de la Abuela [ 114 ], La Sima [ 115 ] and La Tarayuela [ 116 ], and also at other Spanish sites further afield such as San Juan ante Portam Latinam [ 62 ] in the Basque country, Cerro Virtud in Almeria [ 117 ] and Cueva de Malalmuerzo in Andalucia [ 118 ] and at Late Neolithic sites in Portugal [ 119 ]. All the data and findings generated at Alto de Reinoso in relation to the tomb, its size, the number of burials and its period of use attest to relatively uniform funerary rites at that time in the Meseta and (in some cases far) beyond.…”

“…In a comparative study on the demographic structures in megalithic graves in northern Spain Fernández-Crespo and de-la-Rúa [ 122 ] presented results similar to those found at Alto de Reinoso with a shortage of children less than five years, although they also pointed to examples of a lack of mature and senile adults. However, compared to Cerro Virtud [ 117 ], La Peña de la Abuela [ 114 ], La Tarayuela [ 116 ] and La Sima [ 114 ] the tomb at Alto de Reinoso contained more children and adolescents, whilst yielding fewer compared to San Juan ante Portam Latinam [ 62 ] and Cueva de Malalmuerzo [ 118 ].…”

Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull‐cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia)

“…In southern Iberia, Early Neolithic funerary deposits include primary burials such as at Cueva de los Murciélagos (Valdiosera et al, ), Cueva de la Mujer (García‐Sánchez & Jiménez‐Brobeil, ), Cerro Virtud (Montero, Rihuete, & Ruiz et al, ), and Sima de La Maquila (Mengíbar, Muñoz, & González, ), along with secondary deposits found at different caves (Botella, Jiménez, et al, ; Botella et al, ; Carrasco et al, ; Díaz‐Zorita, Costa, & García‐Sanjuán, ; Martín‐Socas et al, ). These records point to a wide variability of archeological contexts where human remains played a role, and where primary and secondary depositions are documented along with cannibalism.…”

Radiocarbon Dates from the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 31

“…Taken overall, the samples for Cerro Virtud provide the first reliably contextualised absolute dates for the Neolithic in lowland south‐east Spain, extending its duration to a possible fifteen hundred years. Cerro Virtud is the first example of non‐megalithic, Neolithic collective burial to be excavated in this region, although there are parallels in other parts of southern Spain (Montero Ruíz et al . 1999).…”