Rituales con restos humanos en ámbito ilergete: reflexiones a partir de las evidencias de El Molí d’Espígol (Tornabous, Lérida)

El Molí d’Espígol is the most important Iberian site within the historical territory of the Ilergetes. A critical Anthropological study of the already known human remains, as well as the discovery of new material coming from recent excavations conducted at the site, has resulted not only in an increase of the perinatal burials, but also in the identification of bone fragments belonging to adult individuals. Synthesis of the evidence coming from the Ilergetan territory permits us to advance some hypotheses on the social meaning of those practices among this Iberian people are advanced.El Molí d’Espígol es el hábitat ibérico más destacado del territorio histórico del pueblo ilergete. El estudio de los restos humanos ya anteriormente conocidos, sumado a la identificación de nuevas evidencias, ha permitido no solo aumentar el elenco de las inhumaciones perinatales del asentamiento, sino también confirmar la existencia de restos humanos de adulto. A partir del estudio de síntesis sobre la presencia de restos humanos en contextos de hábitat hallados en el territorio histórico de los Ilergetes, se plantea la significación social de tales prácticas en el ámbito de dicho pueblo ibero

TMG 1 (2014): Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World: Rethinking the Black Death, ed. Monica Green

The plague organism (Yersinia pestis) killed an estimated 40% to 60% of all people when it spread rapidly through the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe in the fourteenth century: an event known as the Black Death. Previous research has shown, especially for Western Europe, how population losses then led to structural economic, political, and social changes. But why and how did the pandemic happen in the first place? When and where did it begin? How was it sustained? What was its full geographic extent? And when did it really end? Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World is the first book to synthesize the new evidence and research methods that are providing fresh answers to these crucial questions. It was only in 2011, thanks to ancient DNA recovered from remains unearthed in London’s East Smithfield cemetery, that the full genome of the plague pathogen was identified. This single-celled organism probably originated 3000-4000 years ago and has caused three pandemics in recorded history: the Justinianic (or First) Plague Pandemic, around 541-750; the Black Death (Second Plague Pandemic), conventionally dated to the 1340s; and the Third Plague Pandemic, usually dated from around 1894 to the 1930s. This ground-breaking book brings together scholars from the humanities and social and physical sci­ences to address the question of how recent work in genetics, zoology, and epi­de­miology can enable a rethinking of the Black Death\u27s global reach and its larger historical significance. It forms the inaugural double issue of The Medieval Globe, a new journal sponsored by the Program in Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This issue of The Medieval Globe is published with the support of the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/medieval_globe/1000/thumbnail.jp

Medieval Barcelona’s Jewish community: an initial anthropological look at the results of archaeological excavations in 2001 at the Jewish necropolis in Montjuïc (Barcelona)

Aquest article inclou els resultats preliminars dels estudis antropològics realitzats a les restes òssies recuperades durant la campanya de l’any 2001 a la necròpolis jueva de Montjuïc (Barcelona). Aquests estudis estan inclosos dins del projecte de recerca sobre la necròpolis jueva de Montjuïc, promogut pel Servei d’Arqueologia de Barcelona (ICUB) amb l’objectiu d’ampliar el coneixement d’aquest important conjunt històric i arqueològic. L’anàlisi antropològica inclou la determinació del sexe i l’edat dels individus emprant la metodologia que inclou els marcadors clàssics i d’altres de més recents, així com la presa de diferents mesures dels ossos i l’estudi de les patologies òssies i dentals. Els resultats indiquen que la població jueva de Barcelona es diferencia de la resta de la població de la ciutat. Tanmateix, tot i que els individus presentaven indicadors de malalties, sobretot de tipus articular i deguts a l’edat que assoliren, l’estat de salut d’aquest grup seria millor que el d’altres poblacions barcelonines, a causa probablement dels beneficis de pertànyer a la classe mitjana-alta, com indiquen els documents històrics. Paraules clau: necròpolis jueva, Montjuïc, Barcelona, edat mitjana, antropologiaThis paper includes the preliminary results of anthropological studies conducted on the skeletal remains recovered during archaeological excavations in 2001 at the Jewish necropolis in Montjuïc (Barcelona). The studies in question are part of a research project on the necropolis which the Barcelona Archaeology Service (Barcelona Institute of Culture) is promoting to further knowledge of this important historical and archaeological site. The anthropological analysis carried out included determining individuals’ sex and age, using classic methods and newer ones, as well as taking different bone measurements and studying bone and dental pathologies. The results suggest that Barcelona’s Jewish community differed from the rest of the city’s population. While the individuals examined showed signs of diseases, particularly those affecting the joints and attributable to age, the group appears to have enjoyed better health than others that were part of Barcelona’s population, probably due to them belonging, as historical documents indicate, to the upper middle class.Keywords: Jewish necropolis, Montjuïc, Barcelona, Middle Ages, anthropolog

La comunitat jueva de la Barcelona medieval: una primera aproximació antropològica dels resultats de la campanya de 2001 de la necròpolis jueva de Montjuïc (Barcelona)

Aquest article inclou els resultats preliminars dels estudis antropològics realitzats a les restes òssies recuperades durant la campanya de l'any 2001 a la necròpolis jueva de Montjuïc (Barcelona). Aquests estudis estan inclosos dins del projecte de recerca sobre la necròpolis jueva de Montjuïc, promogut pel Servei d'Arqueologia de Barcelona (ICUB) amb l'objectiu d'ampliar el coneixement d'aquest important conjunt històric i arqueològic. L'anàlisi antropològica inclou la determinació del sexe i l'edat dels individus emprant la metodologia que inclou els marcadors clàssics i d'altres de més recents, així com la presa de diferents mesures dels ossos i l'estudi de les patologies òssies i dentals. Els resultats indiquen que la població jueva de Barcelona es diferencia de la resta de la població de la ciutat. Tanmateix, tot i que els individus presentaven indicadors de malalties, sobretot de tipus articular i deguts a l'edat que assoliren, l'estat de salut d'aquest grup seria millor que el d'altres poblacions barcelonines, a causa probablement dels beneficis de pertànyer a la classe mitjana-alta, com indiquen els documents històrics.This paper includes the preliminary results of anthropological studies conducted on the skeletal remains recovered during archaeological excavations in 2001 at the Jewish necropolis in Montjuïc (Barcelona). The studies in question are part of a research project on the necropolis which the Barcelona Archaeology Service (Barcelona Institute of Culture) is promoting to further knowledge of this important historical and archaeological site. The anthropological analysis carried out included determining individuals' sex and age, using classic methods and newer ones, as well as taking different bone measurements and studying bone and dental pathologies. The results suggest that Barcelona's Jewish community differed from the rest of the city's population. While the individuals examined showed signs of diseases, particularly those affecting the joints and attributable to age, the group appears to have enjoyed better health than others that were part of Barcelona's population, probably due to them belonging, as historical documents indicate, to the upper middle class

The Black Death and Its Consequences for the Jewish Community in Tàrrega: Lessons from History and Archeology

In 2007, excavations in a suburb of the Catalan town of Tàrrega identified the possible location of the medieval Jewish cemetery. Subsequent excavations confirmed that multiple individuals buried in six communal graves had suffered violent deaths. The present study argues that these communal graves can be connected to a well-documented assault on the Jews of Tàrrega that occurred in 1348: long known as one of the earliest episodes of anti-Jewish violence related to the Black Death, but never before corroborated by physical remains. This study places textual sources, both Christian and Jewish, alongside the recently discovered archeological evidence of the violence