The best radiocarbon dated site in all recent Iberian prehistory
Members of the department of Prehistory and Archaeology of the University of Seville have published a study that includes 130 radiocarbon datings, obtained in laboratories in Oxford and Glasgow (United Kingdom) and in the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores – CAN (National Accelerator Centre) – at the University of Seville.
Together with the 45 previous
datings, with 180 C14 datings, the Archaeological Site in Valencina de la
Concepción (Seville
This project, the result of a
five-year collaboration between the Universities of Seville, Huelva, Cardiff
and the Museum of Valencina, includes a statistical modelled complex of the
radiocarbon datings to give a more precise approximation of the time of use of
the Valencina site, and to know in a more detailed manner the social processes
and cultural phenomena that occurred there during the near thousand years that
it was inhabited, between 3200 and 2300 BCE.
Among the main conclusions that are
highlighted by the experts is that the oldest parts of the site, which date
from the 32nd century BCE, were funerary in nature, specifically hypogeum
cavities that were used for collective sequential burials (for example, this is
the case with the hypogea that were found in La Huera, Castilleja de Guzmán,
and in Calle Dinamarca, Valencina).
“This data is important in the
debate about the nature of this great site during its long history, as it is
clear that funerary practices had a determining importance in its genesis”,
comments the University of Seville Professor of Prehistory Leonardo García
Sanjuán.
On the other
hand, obtaining a series of C14 dates for four of the great Megalithic
monuments of the site has allowed for a first orientative sequence to be
established for its construction and use. In this respect, it is necessary to
highlight that the oldest monuments, built between the 30th and 28th centuries
BCE (Cerro de la Cabeza, Structure 10.042-10.049 and the Montelirio tholos)
were characterised by the use of great slabs of slate to line the walls and the
chambers, which were probably made of mud dried by the sun, and by their
‘canonical’ solar orientation (to the rising or setting of the sun).
After what seems like a long period
in the reduction of activity in the 27th century BCE, the tholos of La Pastora
was probably built, with very different architectural characteristics: without
great slabs of slate, but with a roofed chamber with a false stone dome, an
important technical and aesthetic innovation, and with a “heretical”
orientation towards the south east, facing away from the sunrise. “It is very
probable that these changes in the monumental architecture were due to were due
to changes in the social and ideological sphere, including, perhaps, religious
“heterodoxies”, the researcher adds.
Mylonite
arrowheads found in the Montelirio tholos: Photography: Miguel Ángel Blanco de
la Rubia. Credit: ATLAS Research Group (University of Seville
Thirdly, the experts have shown the
end of the occupation of this part of the province of Seville
According to the data obtained from
the radiocarbon dating, all these individuals almost died at the same time,
which opens the possibility of a violent episode (killing, crime or sacrifice).
The fact that several of the skulls were treated in a ritual manner, showing
marks of having had the flesh removed and that this ‘special’ mortuary deposit
appears to be associated with the greatest collection of pottery beakers found
on the site, suggests that the episode had great symbolic significance.
The paleoenvironmental data for the
Mediterranean and Europe indicate that between
the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE, a period of greater aridity and dryness began
globally, which could have had severe consequences for many of the planet’s
societies, including droughts. At this time, the Iberian
Peninsula saw the end of chalcolithic way of life and the
abandonment of some of the most important sites with ditched enclosures, as now
seems to be the case with Valencina de la Concepción. In broad strokes, this
coincides with the end of the Old Kingdom in the Nile Valley
This project has been published
in Journal of World Prehistory,
whose cover is dedicated to the stone arrow heads from the Montelirio tholos.
It is the second time in less than a year that the work of this research group
in the Archaeological Area of Valencina-Castilleja has been featured on the cover
of this prestigious review.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario