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Death, Relics, and the Demise of Huts: Patterns of Planned Abandonment in Middle BA Central Iberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Alejandra Sánchez-Polo  and
Antonio Blanco-González
Alejandra Sánchez-Polo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Prehistoria, Ha Antigua y Arqueología, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Antonio Blanco-González
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
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Abstract

This paper addresses the formation processes at an unparalleled Bronze Age settlement in the Iberian Meseta. The site of El Cerro (Burgos, Spain) presents a series of challenging features: the simultaneous inhumation of three subadults alongside a dwelling quarter and adjacent pits, some of them filled with apparent formality, including such anachronistic elements as Neolithic and Beaker items and several placed deposits, such as a leg of a cow. A critical evaluation of the contextual dataset, a re-fitting operation, and an assessment of the abrasion and size of a ceramic sample were carried out. The archaeological peculiarities of the site are explained as a contextually specific cultural response to a grievous and traumatic episode: the death of three young siblings, which entailed the abandonment of the settlement through prescribed practices. Some depositions are a product of recognizable intentionality, while others are regarded as unintended cumulative outcomes.

Le présent article traite des processus de formation d'un lieu unique de l'Âge du Bronze de la Meseta ibérique. Le site de El Cerro (Burgos, Espagne) présente toute une série de caractéristiques complexes: inhumation simultanée de trois enfants à côté d'un quartier d'habitations et fosses adjacentes, dont quelques-unes avaient apparement été remplies avec cérémonie et contenaient des éléments anachroniques, notamment des objets provenant du Néolithique et de la Culture des Gobelets campaniformes, ainsi que plusieurs dépôts, comme par exemple une jambe de vache. On réalisa une évaluation critique de l'ensemble contextuel de données, une opération de réaménagement et une évaluation de l'abrasion et de la taille d'un échantillon sélectif de céramique. Les particularités archéologiques du site sont interprétées comme réponse culturelle relevant d'un contexte spécifique pour gérer un épisode grave et traumatisant: la mort d'une jeune fratrie, qui entraîna l'abandon du lieu en suivant des pratiques prescrites. Plusieurs dépôts laissent reconnaître un certain degré d'intentionalité, tandis que d'autres semblent plutôt être des accumulations involontaires. Translation by Isabelle Gerges.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag behandelt die Formationsprozesse in einer bislang einzigartigen bronzezeitlichen Siedlung in der iberischen Meseta. Der Fundplatz El Cerro (Provinz Burgos, Spanien) weist eine Reihe von herausragenden Merkmalen auf, darunter die gleichzeitige Bestattung dreier Kinder neben einem Wohnviertel und angrenzenden Gruben, von deren Inventaren sich einige auffällig wiederholten und altertümliche Elemente des Neolithikums und der Becherkulturen sowie verschiedene besondere Deponierungen, darunter das Bein eines Rindes, enthielten. Eine kritische Beurteilung der kontextuellen Daten, eine Nachbesserungsmaßnahme sowie eine Beurteilung des Abriebs und der Größe einer bestimmten Keramikauswahl wurden durchgeführt. Die archäologischen Besonderheiten des Fundplatzes werden als kontextuell spezifische kulturelle Reaktion erklärt, mit einer schmerzlichen und traumatischen Episode—dem Tod dreier Geschwister im Kindesalter—umzugehen, was die Aufgabe der Siedlung im Zuge vorgeschriebener Praktiken nach sich zog. Einige Niederlegungen weisen ein erkennbares Maß an Intentionalität auf, während andere als unbeabsichtigte Akkumulationen gewertet werden. Translation by Heiner Schwarzberg.

Keywords

Middle Bronze AgeIberiadepositionsite formation processesdeviant burialpotteryabrasionfragmentationÂge du Bronze moyenMeseta ibérique (Espagne)processus de formation culturelsinhumation dévianteabrasion et fragmentation de la céramiquedépôt intentionnelMittelbronzezeitIberische Meseta (Spanien)kulturelle FormationsprozesseSonderbestattungKeramikabrieb und -fragmentationintentionelle Deponierung
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , 2014 , pp. 4 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2014 

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