An approach about territorial control and mobility in Sierra Harana (Granada, Spain) during Late Prehistory is presented in this paper, according to rock shelters with schematic rock art distribution. Different aspects have been analysed by using tools provided by Geographic Information Systems (GIS): the relationship between rock shelters and hydrographic network and water springs, and, mainly, their visual control. The association between rock shelters with schematic rock art and burial caves use during the Neolithic period is observed in the study area. A strong link between rock shelters and traditional pathways is also attested. These facts can be read as a way to mark symbolically certain routes that could be aimed to short transhumance practice.
Summary
A large sample of human bones from a series of archaeological sites in the south‐eastern Iberian Peninsula was selected for δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analysis. Except for some contrast samples, the remains date from the first half of the second millennium cal BC and are ascribed to the Argar Culture, which developed during the Bronze Age in south‐eastern Iberia. Most authors have considered that this region reached a high degree of social hierarchical organization at this time, as demonstrated by the funerary record, both with regard to the grave goods and to the evidence of physical effort and diseases on the human remains. Results of the isotope analysis revealed the existence of differences among the settlements studied, as well as differences over time within every settlement and among the various individuals tested. Some variances can be assigned to social classes/status and others are linked to chronological factors. In particular, changes in δ13C can be explained by the increasing aridity of the first half of the second millennium cal BC, although other causes can be put forward too.
This paper provides information on three aspects regarding the complexity of the archaeological site of Marroquíes (Jaén, Spain): 1) the composition of the population buried in rock-cut tombs and the different treatment that individuals experienced, especially in relation to their integration into multiple or collective burials and sometimes bones removal; 2) the composition of livestock and its diverse use in ritual; 3) the chronological frame of the burials as an essential step to develop (and especially support) any hypothesis about prehistoric populations, and to understand the changes that many bodies experienced along the period of worship that affected them. The available dates have shown that these strategies were developed primarily from the second half of the Third Millennium BC.
Recientes investigaciones en el yacimiento calcolítico de Los Millares, Santa Fe de Mondújar, Almería, han permitido reconocer diferentes representaciones figurativas asociadas a la muralla más exterior o Muralla I, construida en torno a 2900 cal AC. La erección de esta muralla supuso una importante ampliación del poblado al ocupar zonas anteriormente destinadas a necrópolis. Se propone que algunos elementos pertenecientes al área de necrópolis fueron respetados y reutilizados para justificar, a través de los ancestros, la capacidad de acceder al asentamiento a través de la puerta principal –con la estatua-menhir situada junto a esta–, la exclusión de aquellos no vinculados –con todas las representaciones en ambos extremos de la muralla–, la integración de nuevas poblaciones –con la Tumba 63 incluida en el trazado de la muralla–, el rol de determinados personajes –con la estatua-menhir y la estela de la Tumba 63– y, en definitiva, los derechos a ocupar y explotar un territorio. Se señala además la relación de estos procesos con los identificados tradicionalmente en las tumbas de la necrópolis.
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