How did the dead turn up to the burial? A technological and experimental approach to the late Bronze Age wooden biers from Cova des Pas (Minorca, Balearic Islands)

DOI: 10.1007/s12520-015-0258-z URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12520-015-0258-z Filiació URV: SI Inclòs a la memòria: SIThis paper aims to introduce the wooden biers recovered at the Cova des Pas (Minorca, Balearic Island) Late Bronze Age site (1100¿800 BC). At least four biers were associated with 66 individuals buried individually and consecutively, most of them during the last 100 years of use (900¿800 BC). Technological methodologies complemented by experimental reproduction were used to understand the woodworking process and the functional design purpose in the construction. Our results show that the biers were manufactured from several species using specific woodworking techniques generally related to efficiency and expeditious reasons. On the basis of technological analysis, we took in consideration the particularities of the context to discuss the implications in the collective funerary practices of such apparently functional objects and its symbolic and ritual significance

Site formation processes, human activities and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from archaeobotanical records in cave and rock-shelter sites in NE Iberia

The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential of cave and rock-shelter sites for palaeoecological and archaeobotanical research. Climate conditions in the Mediterranean region and the depositional and post-depositional dynamics involved in the formation processes of open-air sites cause, in many cases, poor conservation of archaeobotanical remains, especially in the case of pollen, affected by oxidation and other taphonomic agents. However, more stable temperature and humidity, as found in cave and rock-shelter sites, provide optimum conditions for the preservation of vegetal remains. This study presents integrated archaeobotanical data from several NE Iberian sites, with occupations from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. On the one hand, the diachronic study of the pollen record in archaeological stratigraphies reconstructs vegetation evolution and abrupt climate changes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene. On the other hand, archaeopalynology reveals the need to consider different taphonomic agents in the interpretation of pollen records in archaeological cave and rock-shelter sites, especially the anthropogenic input of plants to the archaeological contexts. The study of anthracological remains offers a picture of the surrounding wooded landscape, and provides data to characterise vegetal resource management and to verify which plants were brought to the cave. Finally. the carpological record shows the presence of edible wild fruits from bushes and trees in the Pleistocene and beginnings of the Holocene, and cultivated and synanthropic plants from the Middle Holocene onwards

Late survival of Neanderthals at the southernmost extreme of Europe

4 pages, 1 table, 1 figure.The late survival of archaic hominin populations and their long contemporaneity with modern humans is now clear for southeast Asia1. In Europe the extinction of the Neanderthals, firmly associated with Mousterian technology, has received much attention, and evidence of their survival after 35 kyr BP has recently been put in doubt2. Here we present data, based on a high-resolution record of human occupation from Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar, that establish the survival of a population of Neanderthals to 28 kyr BP. These Neanderthals survived in the southernmost point of Europe, within a particular physiographic context, and are the last currently recorded anywhere. Our results show that the Neanderthals survived in isolated refuges well after the arrival of modern humans in Europe.We thank all those who have participated in this project. The project Palaeomed was co-funded by the Government of Gibraltar and the European Union Interreg IIIB Programme Medocc. Palynological and geochemical investigations were funded by Fundación Séneca, Murcia, Spain, and Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, DGI, Spain, respectively. Geomorphological work was funded by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, DGI, Spain.Peer reviewe

L’Abri du Maras. À Saint-Martin d’Ardèche, des habitats néandertaliens du début du dernier glaciaire

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