Radiocarbon Dating of a Late Antique Necropolis From Felanitx (Mallorca, Balearic Islands)

Abstract

The excavation of a building in the village of Felanitx in the eastern part of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands) has revealed the existence of a small necropolis. The inhumations did not provide grave goods except for a bronze belt buckle for which the typological study suggests a Late Antique chronology. The stratigraphical sequence however seems to suggest a possible evolution of the space across time since some graves are cut by others. In order to obtain an absolute date for the necropolis and to verify if there are chronological differences between the graves, a total of 6 human bones samples have been 14C dated by AMS. The results of the radiocarbon dating confirm a Late Antique chronology (4th to 7th century AD) for the graves but do not suggest a chronological evolution. Despite the fact that the knowledge of the necropolis is still fragmentary, the results are extremely important because they provide an absolute date for a Late Antique necropolis in the Mallorcan rural area.