https://hdl.handle.net/10481/14608 Sun, 12 Apr 2026 05:38:15 GMT 2026-04-12T05:38:15Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112721 Island subsistence during the Late Bronze and Iron Age in Menorca: insights from stable isotopes and Bayesian mixing models at the Biniadrís Cave (Spain) Marciales Daza, Mauricio; Timm, Monice; Moreno Onorato, Auxilio; Escudero Carrillo, Javier; Ramis, Damià; Ferrer, Antoni; León, Maria José; Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta The Biniadrís cave, a Late Bronze and Early Iron Age funerary site in Menorca, Spain, offers exceptional preservation for investigating dietary patterns in the Western Mediterranean. Stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in bone collagen have proven valuable for examining variability in animal protein intake. This study integrates previous results from human remains from the Biniadrís cave and, incorporates the analysis of faunal bone collagen using Bayesian modelling to reconstruct the paleodiet of this population during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. By integrating data from zooarchaeological assemblages across multiple archaeological contexts, both domestic and funerary, a comprehensive baseline is established to understand the protein consumption patterns of individuals in Menorca. The combination of stable isotope analysis and zooarchaeological data enables the interpretation of dietary habits and subsistence strategies employed by the Late Bronze and Iron Age populations. Furthermore, Bayesian mixing models were employed to quantify the proportional contribution of protein from different sources, providing an important understanding of dietary contributions from various animal species and revealing differences through time. The findings suggest increase in pig as a significant food source from the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age in Menorca, supplemented by cattle and goat, reflecting the importance of pig husbandry. This dietary pattern is consistent with dry-land farming, which constituted the predominant agricultural strategy during this period. The study highlights the broader implications of these dietary practices for understanding social and economic aspects of the Late Bronze Age/ Iron Age society in Menorca, including farming practices, animal husbandry, and resource management. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112721 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112683 Unpacking lithic assemblage variability in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: A multivariate approach to the structure of the Iberian Aurignacian Canessa, Timothy; De la Peña Alonso, Paloma The Aurignacian technocomplex of the Early Upper Palaeolithic remains a long-standing focal point for understanding the expansion of modern humans across Europe. Diagnostic assemblages occur across vast swathes of the continent, suggesting the existence of broadly connected groups and traditions around 43–32 ka cal BP. However, while its extensive distribution is often regarded as proxy evidence for the spread of modern human groups, artefact assemblages are known to be synchronically and diachronically variable in ways that reveal an inconsistent representation of diagnostic traits. In the Iberian Peninsula, this variability is exemplified by an idiosyncratic material record in which diverse Aurignacian assemblages occur alongside undiagnostic or ‘culturally indeterminate’ ones, leading many Aurignacian occupations to be disputed. In this paper, we assimilate this regional record through quantitative analyses of techno-typological attributes from all sufficiently published and chronologically relevant assemblages of the Early Upper Palaeolithic. Using two multivariate techniques, we first explore associations between assemblages and thereafter test whether inter-assemblage variability is related to spatial and temporal distances. Our results cast light on the spatial structure of variability by revealing that inter-assemblage differences increase with spatial distance but show no linear relationship to temporal distance. This spatial finding challenges the cross-regional applicability of the Aquitaine model of techno-typological change, whilst the absence of temporally structured variability suggests a heterogeneous representation of diagnostic traits across and within temporal classes of assemblages. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112683 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112034 La complejidad del ritual funerario en el Neolítico: canibalismo en la Cueva del Ángel (Lucena, Córdoba) Bermúdez Miranda, Francisco; Hidalgo Molina, José María; Solano García, José Antonio El propósito de este trabajo es exponer los resultados del estudio tafonómico efectuado en los restos óseos humanos excavados en la Sima del Ángel (Lucena, Córdoba) en la campaña de 2013. De los casi 1000 restos exhumados, en algunos se constató la presencia de marcas de corte y alteraciones por calor. Dichas huellas de manipulación intencional ponen en relación los hallazgos de la Sima del Ángel con otros yacimientos del Neolítico andaluz que, en la mayoría de los casos, se han interpretado como el resultado de una práctica caníbal.; The aim of this paper is to expose the results of the taphonomic analysis held on the human osteological remains excavated at Sima del Ángel (Lucena, Córdoba) on 2013 campaign. On some of the almost 1000 exhumed remains, the presence of cut marks and heat-induced changes was confirmed. Such traces of deliberate manipulation relate the findings at Sima del Ángel with other sites from Andalucian Neolithic, most of which are interpreted as produced during a cannibalistic practice. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112034 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111772 Isotopic evidence for mobility at largescale human aggregations in Copper Age Iberia: the mega-site of Marroquíes Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta; Beck, Jess; Bocherens, Hervé; Díaz-del-Río, Pedro Settlements incorporating large-scale human aggregations are a well-documented but poorly understood phenomenon across late prehistoric Europe. The authors’ research examines the origins and trajectory of such aggregations through isotope analysis of human skeletal remains from the mega-site of Marroquíes in Jaén, Spain. The results indicate that eight per cent of 115 sampled individuals are of non-local origin. These individuals received mortuary treatments indistinguishable from those of locals, suggesting their incorporation into pre-existing social networks in both life and death. This research contributes to our understanding of the extent and patterning of human mobility, which underlies the emergence of late prehistoric mega-sites in Europe. Research was made possible by the University of Michigan, Museum of Jaén, the Briggite-Schlieben-Lange programme, the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (HAR2013-47776-R), the National Science Foundation (BCS-1440017), the SFB 1070 ‘Ressourcenkulturen’ at Tübingen University and Proyectos conjuntos CSIC—Fundación Presidente de Rusia para la Investigación Fundamental (2010RU0086) and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Fellowship (746216).; To view supplementary material for this article, please visit https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.33 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111772 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111702 Island bioarchaeology and ritual knowledge transfer at Biniadrís cave (Menorca, Spain): a longue durée perspective Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111702