@misc{10481/106587,
year = {2025},
month = {9},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/106587},
abstract = {The archaeological excavations undertaken at the Chalcolithic necropolis of Los
Milanes have revealed a previously unknown variability in funerary practices in the
south-eastern Iberia. For the first time, a megalithic tomb housed a large funerary
deposit (28,740 bone fragments) of exclusively cremated human bone remains. For
a comprehensive characterization of the funerary ritual, a cutting-edge multi-proxy
approach has been undertaken including the osteological study of cremated bone
remains, radiocarbon chronology, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflectance mode (FTIR-ATR), and carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope
analyses. As a result, the cremation ritual consisted of multi-depositional events of
at least 21 individuals chronologically concentrated in the first quarter of the third
millennium, principally in the 28th century cal BC. The absence of charcoal/ashes
in the funerary chamber and the underrepresentation of anatomical regions such as
lower limb and trunk suggest that the cremation took place elsewhere and the bone
remains were carefully collected and placed as secondary burial depositions. Different proxies including colour patterns, heat‐induced fractures, the presence of cyanamide in calcined bones would also suggest the cremation of principally complete
corpses, burnt soon after death. The ritual of cremation coexisted with inhumations
during the third millennium cal BC, suggesting a variability in the body manipulation
that previously went unnoticed. Unlike inhumations, through cremation, bodies would
have been reduced until being indistinguishable, transforming radically the nature of
human beings and their ontological status.},
organization = {Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(PID2023-148744NB-I00)},
organization = {European Regional Development
Fund, FEDER–programme (C-HUM-005-
UGR23)},
organization = {Spanish Ministry
of Science and Innovation (PRE2021-097306;
PID2020-114282GB-I00)},
organization = {ERC Starting Grant
LUMIERE (Landscape Use and Mobility in
EuRope)},
organization = {European
Union’s Horizon 2020 (grant agreement 948913)},
organization = {FWO (11A6221N)},
publisher = {Plos One},
title = {Funerary practices of cremation at the megalithic societies of South-Eastern Iberia: The cemetery of Los Milanes},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0330771},
author = {Becerra Fuello, Paula and Aranda Jiménez, Gonzalo and Vílchez Suárez, Miriam and Robles Carrasco, Sonia and Milesi García, Lara and Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta and Snoeck, Christophe and Stamataki, Elisavet and Lescure, Javier and Sánchez Romero, Margarita},
}