Search

The study of human remains from the perspective of forensic taphonomy facilitates a holistic understanding of ancient funerary behavior, and it is even more important when dealing with commingled assemblages. This is the case of Cova Foradada (Calafell, Spain), where more than 2500 disarticulated, fragmented, and commingled human remains, both burned and unburned, were recovered, belonging to at least 23 individuals. This study aims to reconstruct the taphonomic history of the site and identify the funerary treatments applied. Radiocarbon dating indicates the use of the cave at the beginning and end of the Neolithic, and taphonomic analysis has enabled us to differentiate a third period of funerary use. The results of this study have revealed that burned and unburned remains present in the cave constitute two different accumulations separated in time that were mixed due to multiple post-depositional agents and processes, including anthropogenic activities. The cremation pattern of the burned remains evidences the cremation of green bones, probably whole bodies, inside the cave, representing an intermediate practice between collective burials and the individual cremation characteristic of the Late Bronze Age. There is, therefore, repeated use of the same space with a sepulchral concept, from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, but involving different funerary practices: inhumation and cremation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neolithisation was a relatively fast process that affected both the interior and coastal zones of the Iberian Peninsula, but it was also a heterogeneous process that had diverse impacts on genomic and cultural diversity. In the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic, a change in funerary practices, cultural material and trade networks occurred, and genomic heterogeneity decreased, suggesting human mobility and genetic admixture between different Iberian populations. Dental morphology has emerged as an effective tool for understanding genomic variability and biological affinities among ancient human populations. But, surprisingly, less attention has been paid to the morphological traits of inner dental tissues in Holocene European populations and their utility for the study of population dynamics. We applied 3D geometric morphometric methods on the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) of the first upper molars to explore the biological affinities of north-eastern Iberian Peninsula populations from the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age. Our results show that the EDJ morphologies of the northern Iberian Peninsula populations were generally homogeneous, indicative of genetic admixture as a result of human mobility and exchange networks. However, differences in the EDJ traits in remains from the Can Sadurní site are indicative of distant biological affinities with nearby populations. Additionally, the hypocone associated dentine area and the position of the trigon dentine horns relative to each other on the occlusal surface best describe the variability found among the samples studied. This study highlights the utility of EDJ morphology as a genetic proxy in Holocene population dynamic studies when paleogenomic studies are absent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last years, the knowledge of the children’s diet is a topic of growing interest in dental anthropology. Our aim seeks to establish patterns of interpopulation and intrapopulation variability in dietary microwear among children from four Iberian sites dated to the Neolithic through Bronze Age. Buccal and occlusal surfaces are compared to assess whether their differential rates of microwear turnover correspond with dietary differences linked to social and biological maturation (e.g., weaning and shifts to adult-like diets). This study is based on the analysis of 46 deciduous molars (Udm1, Udm2, and Ldm2). Occlusal and buccal surfaces were observed using an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) following standard microwear methodologies. The results show that from an interpopulation perspective, there are differences in the number of buccal scratches between Valdavara and the other sites. From an intrapopulation perspective, there was a greater number of buccal striations in the older age category from Cova de la Guineu and more occlusal pitting in the older age category from Cova dels Galls Carboners. This study shows the utility of the combined approach to buccal and occlusal microwear analysis as a means of understanding child dietary maturation in prehistory, showing that feeding practices and/or food choice can explain differences between specific age categories of children in addition to differences between archeological sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods are poorly understood in northeastern Iberia. Most of the information comes from the sepulchral structures rather than habitat settlements. The high number of individuals usually recovered from this types of collective burial spaces, together with the low number of direct radiocarbon dates available on them, forces us to be cautious and consider all the studied assemblages as belonging to the so-called Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic time period. To evaluate human dietary patterns of the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic populations from the northeast of Iberia, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on 78 humans and 32 faunal bones from Cova de la Guineu (Font-rubí, Barcelona) and Cueva de Abauntz (Arraitz, Navarra), both of them sepulchral sites. Results show a common dietary pattern in both sites, indicating an homogeneous protein diet based on C3 terrestrial resources and no isotopic evidence of the consumption of C4 plants. Only one individual from Cueva de Abauntz, who directly dates to the first moments of the use of the cave as a burial place, suggests a different protein intake. The inter-population analysis shows a significant difference between both human and faunal δ13C values, suggesting an environmental influence on the isotope values depending on the geographic location. This effect should not be discarded and always assessed with baseline isotopic values in future studies at each area of Iberia and for different chronological moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]