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The Copper Age Mound Necropolis in Salve, Lecce, Italy: Radiocarbon Dating Results on Charcoals, Bones, Cremated Bones, and Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Gianluca Quarta*
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Ida Tiberi
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Salento, Italy
Marco Rossi
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Giorgia Aprile
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Studi Storici, Università degli Studi di Foggia, Foggia, Italy
Eugenia Braione
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Marisa D'Elia
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
*
2. Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Archaeological surface surveys carried out near Salve in southern Italy led to the identification of about 90 stone mounds spread over an area of about 100 ha. Systematic archaeological investigations allowed to identify the mounds as funeral structures with some having megalithic features. In the necropolis, both the inhumation and cremation rituals are evident, in some cases within the same mound. This article presents the results of an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating campaign carried out on different kinds of samples recovered from several structures: unburned and cremated bones, charcoals, and organic residues extracted from pottery sherds. The results allowed to assess the chronology of the site and to shed new light on the different funeral practices in Copper Age southern Italy.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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