RT Journal Article
T1 Funerary practices in megalithic tombs during the Argaric Bronze Age in South-Eastern Iberia: the cemetery of Los Eriales
A1 Milesi García, Lara
A1 Aranda Jiménez, Gonzalo
A1 Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta
A1 Robles Carrasco, Sonia
A1 Hamilton, Derek
A1 Vílchez Suárez, Miriam
A1 Sánchez Romero, Margarita
A1 Becerra Fuello, Paula
K1 Ritos y ceremonias fúnebres-Península Ibérica
K1 Edad del cobre-Península Ibérica
AB The transition between the Copper Age and the Argaric Bronze Age in south-eastern Iberia has traditionally been understood in an evolutionary framework that would have involved the replacement of some cultural forms by others. The chronology of megalithic societies has changed this assumption, revealing that the continuity of ancestral funerary practices is also a key feature of the Bronze Age. In this context, the new radiocarbon series from Los Eriales discussed in this paper can be considered a key contribution. Three main aspects stand out according to their statistical analysis: i) Los Eriales should be considered the most recent Iberian megalithic cemetery, as ritual activity began in the last centuries of the third millennium cal BC; ii) funerary activity took place during short events of intensive ritual depositions spanning a few decades, mainly in the 21st and 18th centuries; and iii) Los Eriales cemetery was mainly used during the Argaric period, which means the coexistence of two very different funerary practices: collective megalithic rituals and individual intramural inhumations. The continuity of megalithic rituals can be explained in terms of resilience to the social fragmentation that characterised Argaric societies.
PB Elsevier
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/26346
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/26346
LA eng
NO Lara Milesi García, Gonzalo Aranda Jiménez, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Sonia Robles Carrasco, Derek Hamilton, Miriam Vílchez Suárez, Margarita Sánchez Romero, Paula Becerra Fuello, Funerary practices in megalithic tombs during the Argaric Bronze Age in South-Eastern Iberia: The cemetery of Los Eriales, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 49, 2023, 103972, ISSN 2352-409X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103972.
NO Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA.This research was supported by the FEDER programme–University of Granada (A-HUM-123-UGR18 and B-HUM-174-UGR20), the Regional Government of Andalusia (P18-FR-4123), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-114282GB-I00).
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 4 mar 2026