Estudio tafonómico forense de cuevas sepulcrales del noreste de la península ibérica: Prácticas funerarias y violencia interpersonal entre el Neolítico y la Edad del Bronce (Cova Foradada y Roc de les Orenetes)

Identifier:  TDX:4294

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4294

Authors:  Moreno Ibáñez, Miguel Ángel

Abstract:
he human remains from two collective burials in cave in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula have been studied from a forensic taphonomic perspective: Cova Foradada (Calafell, Tarragona) and Roc de les Orenetes (Queralbs, Girona). The objectives of this study were three: the study of funerary practices, with a special focus on the reuse of space and post-depositional taphonomic alterations of the assemblages; the analysis of evidence of interpersonal violence; and the paleopathological study of the remains. In Cova Foradada, the funerary reuse of the space was documented in two differentiated phases, on one hand, a collective burial without cremation during the Neolithic - Chalcolithic period, and on the other hand, subsequent cremations. Additionally, intentional anthropogenic emptying of the cave was documented. Roc de les Orenetes represents a collective burial with at least individuals corresponding to two phases, the Late Chalcolithic - Early Bronze Age, and a later phase of the Bronze Age. In both sites, evidence of perimortem interpersonal violence was found. In the case of Cova Foradada, a cranial trauma was documented, the study of which, through macroscopic and experimental analysis, allowed it to be associated with a blow from a stone axe. In Roc de les Orenetes, multiple cutting traumas were found on the postcranial skeleton in a minimum of 6 individuals, related to the use of metallic cutting objects and lithic projectiles. This assemblage represents the scenario of recurrent interpersonal violence at higher altitudes in the Pyrenees.