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This palaeodietary study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from human and faunal skeletal remains from the Copper Age settlement of Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán, located in Seville, Spain. Montelirio, the only Valencina-Castilleja human group from which we have obtained reliable palaeodietary results, had a diet based on C3 terrestrial resources, including both plants and animals. The protein component of the diet consisted mainly of meat, milk and dairy products from livestock as well as C3 plant protein from cereals and pulses. This study compares data from Montelirio, the Copper Age group from Valencina-Castilleja, with the published data from other Iberian Late Neolithic-Copper Age (LN-CA) societies. This comparison reveals a homogeneous diet with some exceptions. Overall, the LN-CA diet in the Iberian Peninsula consisted mainly of animal proteins from meat, milk and dairy products from livestock as well as C3 plant sources from the characteristic agriculture of the societies of these periods. This study also demonstrates the minor use of aquatic resources from the Neolithic to the Copper Age period in the Iberian Peninsula. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the third millennia bc, there is a change in the funerary patterns of the populations in Catalonia. This novelty usually has been usually related to a change in the economical source of the human groups that become less sedentary as the stockbreeding becomes more important. In the present study, we analyse this change, reflected in the mortuary practices, by the study of diet and health markers such as caries, dental calculus or enamel hypoplasias and of biological affinities based on dental non-metric traits. It has been included a total amount of 317 permanent teeth from Cova del Pantà de Foix sites, a sepulchral cave found at the south-west of the city of Barcelona and dates from the third millennia bc. The 74.2% of them present dental calculus deposits, which are usually related to a high protein intake. Nevertheless, the high prevalence of carious lesions (15.3% of the teeth) suggests that the main dietary contribution comes from carbohydrates. Furthermore, when this group is compared with one from the Middle Neolithic Age, which presents a lower calculus prevalence, no biological differences are observed. This lack of differences among these groups denote that the origin of the high amount of calculus deposit is environmental, which is consistent with the elevated observation of hypoplasias of the crown enamel. The absence of dietary, biological and economical differences indicates that the population substrate during the Neolithic in Catalonia is the same and that the transition in the funerary rite is related to a substantial change only regarding to mortuary practices. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of grave goods, including animal deposits, offers a deeper understanding of social issues. This paper presents the results of the analysis of human and animal bone samples from the Iberian necropolis of El Poblado, Murcia. The examination focusses on 18 deposits of ovicaprids radii and ulnae, mostly of the left side, that were derived from 14 cremation tombs of the 74 studied. By considering the human and animal remains together, it is possible to highlight differences in the rituals of certain graves and variations in animal symbolism related to human sex and age. This provides a new understanding of the social and cultural differentiation that existed in the Iberian communities of this period. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]